Sonic: No child's play

The sixth channel from the Viacom18 stable is set to premiere mid-December. Christened Sonic, the channel is an extension of the Nickelodeon franchise and will be pitched between the kids channel Nickelodeon and youth channel MTV. The channel is aimed at the 10-18 age group, or the ‘post-kid and pre-adult’ demographic, which the channel believes is a largely unexplored space.

The launch is driven by Viacom18's vision to create specific brands for every segment. “From kids (Nick), youth (MTV) to general entertainment (Colors), we want to keep every target group within our network,” says Nina Elavia Jaipuria, vice-president and general manager, Sonic and Nickelodeon India. Nickelodeon follows a similar strategy in most markets across the globe where it has specialised channels for teenagers (Teen Nick) and Nick at Nite (adults), but Jaipuria believes none of the existing sub-brands from the global portfolio currently fits in with the needs of the Indian market. Hence, a new sub-brand Sonic, a concept which can be exported to international markets at a later stage.

Kids today snack on a variety of genres across channels — from Fear Factor (AXN) to Man versus Wild (Discovery Channel). They also seek action and adventure from gaming on the web and gaming consoles. “With Sonic, we want to provide a one-stop shop for action, adventure and animation-related content. While 80 per cent of the shows will be internationally acquired, 20 per cent will be produced locally by companies like BIG Animation,” says Jaipuria.

Among the shows that will be featured on the channel are Shaktimaan, licensed from Indian television and film actor Mukesh Khanna. “We want to build this to be the Spiderman of India,” says Jaipuria. Another show, Legend of Awesomeness, is an adaptation from the movie Kung Fu Panda. “In the series, the lead character Po is a dragon warrior,” says Jaipuria. A Jackie Chan animation series and a soccer-based show are also part of the line-up. There will be special blocks called Sonic Extreme (evenings) featuring action and adventure, and Sonic Flicks (weekends) showcasing action movies like Dabangg and Jurassic Park.

Like Nickelodeon, Sonic will also work to build a strong equity for its characters, which will not only build stickiness but can also be extended to merchandising opportunities in the future.

Sonic will be broadcast on both analog as well as a few DTH (direct to home) platforms. The channel aims to reach 40 million households in a couple of months of launch. Sonic will be beamed also in Tamil and Telugu. To engage audiences beyond television, Sonic will have a dedicated portal sonicgang.com, where viewers will be drawn through the mobile and social media.

Will Sonic be able to create ripples in the Indian market? Media analysts say there is ample scope. “First, this age group watches a lot of television. Second, this age group is a major influencer in household purchase decisions. As the target audience is sizable, there is tremendous scope for advertising. The success of the channel will depend on how well it is able to monetise the property,” says Ashesh Jani, partner and media leader, Deloitte Haskins & Sells. Jani also points out that to benefit from subscription revenue, the channel needs to be part of a bouquet.