Pogo plans to woo unconventional advertisers

Pogo plans to woo unconventional advertisers

MUMBAI: Pogo, the kids channel from Turner International India, is eyeing a lion‘s share of the ad pie after consolidating its leading position among the kids genre.

Turner International India VP - Entertainment Networks – Ad sales South Asia Juhi Ravindranath said that the target is to capture a disproportionate share of the ad pie as the channel is No. 1 in its target group (C&S, 4-14, All India).

“We are focussing on increasing the client list well beyond the conventional advertisers as the growth with the conventional advertisers is marginal. We are also looking at revising the rates aggressively as we give 360 degree solutions to our clients,” Ravindranath added.
 
The ad pie of the kids genre has not grown much over the last five years and market estimates peg it at around Rs 2 billion.

Ravindranath said, “Competition is there, but we command almost 27 per cent of the ad pie. In the last quarter, we had 180 clients on the channel, while the closest competitor had 150.”

Generally, chocolates, health drinks and kids food items brands spend on the category. However, Pogo claims of cracking some sectors including insurance and automobiles also.

“We have done a school contact programme with Aviva Life insurance. Also, there are some automobile brands that have come on board. Recently, we got a rice brand, Best Rice, to place ads on our channel,” she added.

Pogo is also looking at licencing & merchandising (L&M), digital, on-ground and on-air joint creations (AFPs) as significant revenue streams. “We have recently done a 360 degree deal with Knorr Soupy noodles – Bheem ka Team. We had L&M deal (on pack promotion), Chhota Bheem branded slot, online gaming campaign and school contact programme. We are looking at multiple tie-ups like this,” Ravindranath said.

Pogo claims that its online site, pogo.tv, which has features/content such as online games, exclusive applications, video-on-demand, message boards and mini-sites of popular shows on Pogo, attracts over 400,000 unique visitors per month. Almost 70 per cent of this traffic is driven by games with other sources of entertainment such as videos and applications.