The company aims to create more characters and sections. | |
| The comics industry is on fire it seems going by the way the sector is showing a lot of activity. While the young adults got comics in the form of Gotham and Virgin comics, the young children remained uncatered to. Shikari Shambu, Supandi and others from the Tinkle stable who enthralled young audiences in the country are now on your mobile and on the Internet. |
| |
| ACK Media (Amar Chitra Katha Pvt Ltd), which acquired these characters from India Book House, is now looking to build its business on a multi-platform model. |
| |
| The model of ACK Media involves using retail, licensing and co-production as the focus areas for growth of ACK Media. |
| |
| With organised retail that includes apparel, toys and accessories growing in the range of 20-30 per cent, ACK Media aims to build a merchandise business around the comic characters too. |
| |
| "Amar Chitra Katha sells 1 million copies per annum and Tinkle 1.6 million. Comics will be way of marketing the characters," said Samir Patil, co-founder and CEO, ACK Media. |
| |
| ACK Media is now focussing on developing original content and products, and making them available in multiple formats including print, DVDs, online services, games, TV and film. It acquired Quietmen Studios, which was headed by Arjun Gupte and had a team of eight based out of Bangalore, and had worked with studios like Sony. The studio is presently working on developing characters, including a female lead character. |
| |
| In the initial phase the focus of the company is three-fold: First, it will increase the availability of print and digital products in over 500 retail stores. |
| |
| It will introduce online services including an online store for NRIs and other innovative sites and finally, the strategy aims at licensing and co-developing proprietary content for films, TV, mobile and other emerging media. |
| |
| ACK Media aims to have more characters, more sections on science and technology, more quizzes, and also more of these characters on merchandise. ACK Media will have five offerings including Amar Chitra Katha Illustrated Classics, the Tinkle family of magazines, The ACK Online Store, TinkleOnline.com and a set of proprietary characters. |
| |
| "It is only Indian products and characters that will help us pull it off in this model," he added. |
| |
| The company will focus on product development using India-centric themes, characters and stories for the Indian and international markets. |
| |
