Children today are in-house consultants who actively participate in family decisions. Brands are encashing this factor and making most by placing their ads on kids’ channels. Karan Bhardwaj reports
If you belong to the group growing up in the 80s, you would easily recall that the only ads we were exposed to, while watching cartoons, were either of baby products or food and beverage commercials. But kids today enjoy variety. Sample this. Pogo, in recent months, has got new advertisers like Monte Carlo, Micromax, Symphony, Danone Narang Beverages. New advertisers for Cartoon Network are Himalaya Drug Co, Camlin, loreal, Adlabs Imagica, Piramal, Hero Motor Corp amongst others.
New trend in television industry suggests that there is an increase in unconventional advertising on channels showing content for kids. Companies realise that kids in the nuclear families today enjoy the power to affect the purchasing decision of the parents, and therefore through ads on cartoon channels they target parents. Juhi Ravindranath, Vice President, Ad Sales, South Asia, Turner International India, says one key thrust in the kids business has been the increasing interest shown by ‘non-traditional’ advertisers — those that target parents primarily. Turner International India has Cartoon Network and Pogo in India.
“There have been FMCG categories that target mothers such as mosquito repellents (which have grown their second age by over 50 per cent) and completely new categories like automobiles (Maruti, Honda motorbikes, Hero Motorcorp), mobile handsets (Micromax, lG, MTS, Samsung Galaxy Tab) and consumer electronics (lG, Hitachi and Samsung),” she shared.
Kids are in-house consultants who actively participate in family decisions. This is inspiring the new wave of advertising on these channels. Nina Elavia Jaipuria, Business head, Kids cluster of Viacom 18, said, “We cater to tech savvy and informed audience. Children dominate every single household purchase. A father would never ignore the colour choice of his daughter while getting the walls of her room painted. Everybody knows children have strong preferences. They want what they adore. Advertisers capitalise on this factor. First few words that kids learn nowadays are Coke or Maggie.” Nickelodeon has now advertisers in the category of automobiles, DTH and insurance. Bhavna Mittal, General Manager, Communications of GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals limited told us, “We spend like 30 per cent our ad budget on kids channels.”
Rajiv Bakshi, Vice-President, Marketing (South Asia), Discovery Networks shared on behalf of Discovery Kids, “Viewership increases manyfold during summers. Every brand is jumping on the bandwagon. It is the democratisation in household purchase which is fuelling to unconventional advertising on the channel. It’s a 60-40 ratio. Sixty per cent ads are for kids while 40 per cent are for elders but this ratio keeps changing,” he said.
Cartoon Network New Generations 2012, a survey conducted by Cartoon Network last year revealed a majority of parents watch television with their kids. After serials, cartoons are their most preferred genre. Seventy five per cent parents spend time watching TV at least five to six times a week with their kids. This number went up to 80 per cent for parents of younger children.
Consider 47-year-old Delhi-based entrepreneur Rajesh Rastogi. He spends at least an hour in evening watching cartoons. “They are quite fascinating. Even concepts are engrossing. I watch Chhota Bheem, it’s anytime better than daily soaps,” he said.
But is he happy with his son demanding the gadget he liked while watching a cartoon with himIJ Or is he happy to shell out extra money on some technology that the child doesn’t even require at his ageIJ Rajesh hs no clear answer to this. In fact, most parents face this dilemma. “These advertisements have inculcated adult lifestyle at an early age among children and have made them brand conscious,” commented Ninu Dahiya, a mother of five-year-old boy.
Adman Prahlad Kakkar points out the future investment of the advertisers. “They want to create a brand identity in kid’s mind right from the childhood. As he/she grows up, they are quite familiar with the product and would like to trust that particular product,” he said adding that advertisers today aim for long-lasting relationship. However, he mentioned that this trend is not likely to grow in coming years since kids viewership is limited. “It’s a niche market. Children understand what they like. Parents won’t let their offsprings misled by tempting products,” he said.