Anish Narayanan Kutty, director of Digital Media Networks & Distribution, spoke to ttvnews at the event in Cannes about the new IPs they are presenting to the market and their search for new opportunities for alliances.
*By Luis Cabrera, from Cannes, France
Armed with a catalog of exciting new IP and many shows with proven success, Toonz Animation India made its way to another edition of MipJunior, to showcase their vast lineup and find new opportunities in the changing media landscape.
“From a content perspective, these are exciting times,” said Anish Narayanan Kutty, director of Digital Media Networks & Distribution at Toonz Animation, in conversation with ttvnews in Cannes. “The industry is changing, so we also have to change along with it.”
“This year, we are bringing some great shows,” he highlighted. “One of them is called CID Squad, which is a co-production with Sony in India. It is an animated spin-off of an iconic live-action series. The series has been ongoing for 25 years, so Sony decided to do an animated spin-off. We have done 26 episodes now. We are finishing production by December.”
The company is also presenting the third season of Zoonicorn, the IP that they produce along with Zoonicorn LLC from US. “All three seasons have been super successful. We have landed on Sky in the UK with all three seasons, on Hong Kong Television in Hong Kong, MediaCorp, Astro, and multiple other places.”
When it comes to new opportunities for partnerships, the executive explained the group is looking at digital.
“We have a huge catalogue. We are probably one of the biggest catalogue holders of kids content. It’s always important that we find the right opportunities to bring it to the audience. And as you know, the audience is shifting from linear to digital a lot. So, we also need to find avenues where we take the content to the audience now. YouTube is, of course, one thing that we have recently launched,” he explained.
“For us, YouTube is more about building a brand. You can’t create an IP and upload a video on YouTube. You have to treat the audience on YouTube just like a TV channel. You should understand your audience. Why are they coming to you? Why, what do they want to watch? And probably we might have to curate content for them.”
“But the idea is to build brands, not just a single episode or let’s say a set of 20 episodes. You have to build IPs and brands out of YouTube. I think that’s where we are heading into,” he added.
In this regard, the executive highlighted the recent launch of a series called Hungry Pets on one of their biggest channels called ChoToons TV. “We have now done four or five episodes now and the response has been great. For a new show, it’s really, really good,” he said.
In terms of international expansion, the executive explained it’s all about thinking locally. “It has to work first at home,” he said. “One of our most popular IPs is Ratatat. We produced this in partnership with Viacom, Nickelodeon in India. We have done 14 seasons, 750 episodes. It was one of the driver shows for Nickelodeon in India. It’s a very classic chase comedy series.”
“So we took it internationally after, of course, it was a success in India. That’s why we have so many episodes. We renamed it as Ratatat. And it has done wonders for us, not just on linear, but on YouTube as well. So at a point in time, ChoToons TV was one of the top slapstick comedy channels and Ratatat was the primary reason for it,” he said.
“And even from a very linear perspective, they have sold it to at least 150 countries. So it’s a very classic example where the show conceptualized in India has been a success on linear worldwide plus YouTube worldwide. And we are also now in multiple other digital platforms, including Roku, Peacock, Tubi, and many other platforms like Starsplay and Telcos in the Middle East,” he added.
Present at Mipcom, the company is looking for new partners to further increase their international footprint. “There is always something new that you can do with partners, right? You meet a lot of people you have already worked with and certain people you have been discussing for a long while. And even then you will find something new to work with people.”
“So we have brought in some great concepts. We are working with Keith Chapman for one of his shows called Paddy Paws that he has conceptualized and developed. So that is one of the key IPs that we have put forward from a co-production and partnering, commissioning stage,” he revealed.
“For us, it’s very clear. We need partners with contributing partners. We want someone who complements our services, their services, and it basically creates a whole, wherein a successful whole as a whole, we are able to bring a fantastic show into the market,” he concluded.
