Himalayan News Service

New Delhi, July 25:

Walt Disney Television International, the world’s largest kids and family entertainment company, is looking to capture the untapped Indian pre-school television market. With its special programme block “Playhouse Disney” targeted at children between two and five years, the channel aims to capture the 100 million children in this age group. “India is a key market and is central to our emerging market growth,” said Nachiket Pantvaidya, production and programming director of Walt Disney Television International (India). “At present, most of the cartoon programmes are targeted at children in the age group of five to 15 years. And Disney’s target of pre-schoolers is a well-thought out strategy. “In India no one has yet tapped these pre-schoolers and hence it is definitely a good move to introduce special shows for this untapped audience,” Pantvaidya said.

The channel started its Indian wing last December with an aim to capture the 350 million Indians below the age of 15. However, the channel believes that these programmes are not just marketing mantras but aim at inculcating high learning values through a concept called whole child curriculum. “All the programmes for our pre-schoolers are based on whole child curriculum that is designed to stimulate learning with imagination.” “This curriculum-based programme is an outcome of experts’ suggestions and aims to develop social and life skills while encouraging academic learning through creativity and artistic expressions among kids,” explained Pantvaidya, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. At present Disney has a reach of around 16 million cable and satellite homes in India and expects to reach 20 million homes by the end of this year. To keep the audience loyalty, the channel is making its content in Hindi. Along with famous “Winnie the Pooh”, “Jojo Circus”,

“Rolie Polie Olie” and “Stanley”, Playhouse also includes four locally produced segments — “Hanste Khelte”, “Sair Sapata”, “Pet Pooja”, and “Studio Activities”. “We want our audience to identify with our programmes. Since Hindi is the common Indian language, we are producing it in Hindi. We are also working to increase our local content in local language,” said Pantvaidya.