By Stuart Thomson
Following the launch of its own OTT platform, kids and family entertainment outfit Toonz Media Group is moving further into the platform entertainment business with the launch of a new strategic business unit – Toonz Media Networks – with the aim of widening the scope of this activity.
In addition to its YouTube ecosystem and television channels in Russia and Latin America, Toonz Media Networks’ new unit will supervise the launch of the Group’s new linear television channels in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the MENA region.
Toonz has hired former Zee Entertainment chief operating officer Mukund Cairae to give strategic leadership to the new unit, with the aim of expanding to more territories in the next two years.
Like the MyToonz OTT offering launched earlier this year, the TV channels being established by the company will cater to the kids and family audience segment.
Toonz’s home-grown content will be dubbed into languages like Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Maleyu, Arabic, Urdu, Thai, French and Swahili.
Additionally, Toonz will also be actively pursuing partnerships in these regions to co-create premium content, including e-Sports, to engage the tweens and teens on top of the kids audience category.
“I think this is the right time for Toonz to focus more on platform entertainment. The content industry is booming around the world and demand for kids’ content, especially, is unprecedented. We have consolidated our position as a leading kids and family entertainment company in the last 20+ years, with a diverse portfolio of businesses ranging from animation production to emerging technologies. So, venturing into the platform business space is a natural progression for Toonz,” said CEO, Toonz Media Group, P. Jayakumar.
“The idea is to monetize Toonz’s content in various geographies across the globe, especially in the emerging markets, via our in-house content delivery platforms. Toonz will partner with telcos as well as digital platforms to launch channels in these geographies. This includes both linear and on-demand channels. For on-demand platform, we will start off with the Middle East market,” said president, Toonz Media Networks, Mukund Cairae.
