MUMBAI: Advertisers need to forge strategic partnerships with kids broadcasters rather than just doing FCT deals to engage this extremely critical demographic. This was the key takeaway from a panel discussion at the recently concluded Ficci Frames 2013.

The panel comprising broadcasters, researchers and marketers deliberated on the reasons why kids channels are not able to monetise their content, despite being the defacto home of this target group.

Kellogg?s Marketing Director India & South Asia Harpreet S Tibb said the objective of an advertiser is to reach their target group through different mediums.

Kids consume a lot of content outside of children channels; they watch reality shows and movies on Hindi entertainment channels.

Today?s kids, he contended, are increasingly becoming screenagers consuming content not just on television but also online.

"In such a scenario, kids channels should come up with diverse and differentiated content that is valuable and meaningful for kids. Kids today are gravitating towards newer mediums. They behave differently in different age groups," Tibb said. "We are looking at long-term partnerships wherein we can co-create content."

Disney-UTV Executive Director Kids Network Vijay Subramaniam, however, feels that the advertisers have refused to see the true potential of the genre.

"Advertisers haven?t seized the opportunity to tap into this segment. Advertisers who have been on kids channels have reaped the benefits," he asserted.

He also believes that co-creating content is easier than done as kid?s content is based on storytelling and characters and not on the needs of an advertiser.

Subramaniam also underlined the fact that kids are now decision makers in many household purchases and advertisers can tap into the pester power of this influential TG.

Turner International India Senior Director and Head of Kids vertical Krishna Desai also feels that kids exert a strong influence on parents, even though it might not necessarily mean that their views are ultimate.

On the issue of investment towards content, Desai said the kids genre suffers from a double whammy of an under-indexed ad market and subscription revenue, whose value is yet to be unlocked. Licensing & Merchandising is too small at this stage and is built over period of time.

"With both the revenue streams constrained there is only so much that you can do in terms of investing in content," Desai contended.

Turner?s Desai pointed out that animated content transcends boundaries, otherwise kids wouldn?t be consuming so much of content on kids channels. He also pointed out that the Indian animation industry is still at a nascent stage which makes producing a local animation show a huge task.

Disney?s Subramaniam said the key part of any content is story-telling which is universal and cuts across geographies. Dubbing, he said, is also one part of localisation, which also demands that a content has to be locally relevant.

"There are concepts that kids embrace and not so much about international or local content," Subramaniam affirmed.

IMRB International Group Business Director, Media and Panel Group, Ashish Karnad said the dubbing indeed had a huge impact on ratings of international content.

"The ratings of international dubbed content went up post dubbing," he observed.

Karnad also opined that kids like other TGs are becoming platform-agnostic. They love characters and platform doesn?t matter, he said, while citing the example of Chhota Bheem and Doraemon.

Subramaniam had a different take. "You create stories using brand values of a channel. Characters are built over a period of time," he said.

MUMBAI: Data is king and it will drive the revenues of the entertainment industry, said Accenture managing partner, communications and high tech Ashish Khanna.

Khanna went on to add that data has become very dynamic and the challenge before the industry is to get it all together. ?Today, data should be an enabler to provide real time content for great consumer experience.?

Khanna was speaking at Ficci Frames 2013 on ?Unleashing the power of data.? The other names who participated in the panel discussion included Lousie Chater (audience research consultant and former head of research, Walt Disney Studios), Atul Phadnis (founder CEO, WhatsonIndia), Anandshiv Paramatma (EVP, consumer rights, Star India), Nick Burfitt (head, Global Business, Kantar Media,UK), Rajesh Rai (partner and India Smarter Commerce Leader, IBM GBS) and L V Krishnan (CEO TAM) who was the moderator for the session.

Krishnan added that we are living in a digital world, surrounded by data - be it phone, television, radio, movie, internet. In real life we live with data and are surrounded by this data matrix. He added that data has become the integral part of our livelihood.

During the session, the discussion was around the increasing importance of data collation and market research in the media and entertainment space. ?Data has become very critical in film making and marketing to make the movie a box office blockbuster,?? said Chater.

Today, movies are scripted and produced based on the researched data available, which makes the film projects viable and profitable, she added further.

The panel also discussed the perspective of data in today?s scenario where there is an explosion of technology. Phadnis said, ?Today content is very critical and available across platforms, be it television, movies, social media, mobile content and other available mediums.??

With the increasing number of channels in India, almost touching 700, audiences are becoming more cautious of watching the relevant content. ?With the increasing number of channels, the need for enhancing the diversity of content is becoming more and more important,? Phadnis added.

The session further went on to showcase the importance of data, fascinating ways in which both online and offline research and data can be harnessed to understand audience preferences and behaviour so that the country can witness a real media revolution.

Paramatma said that today the challenge is the magnitude of the entertainment industry and online data is making a lot of difference in understanding the likes and dislikes of the so called `viewer.? He said that the future of the entertainment industry lies clearly on the data, since the viewer is the king and it is viewer?s choice of content which would make content viewing interesting on all the mediums, be it online or offline.

Kantar Media, UK head- global business Nick Burfitt spoke on digitisation and the revolution of telecommunication that has fragmented industry and data at large, which can be addressed collectively with the digital device.

?Working alongside Peoplemeters, it will be possible to gain a holistic view of TV viewing habits regardless of the time and place of access. RPD efficiency and effectiveness will move industry beyond demographics,?? Burfitt added.

IBM GBS partner and India smarter commerce leader Rajesh Rai added that today the technological revolution has made a lot of difference to viewing content, be it on any medium. ?It is time that we understand what our viewers consume and make content richer and interesting,?? he said.