Date:13/12/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/12/13/stories/2005121302420800.htm

Back One-year-old Disney India plans foray into new media

Ajita Shashidhar

Mr Rajat Jain, Managing Director, Walt Disney India

Mumbai , Dec. 12

WALT Disney India, which is close to completing the first year of its television foray in India, is planning to invest big monies on its other businesses such as merchandising and new media.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Rajat Jain, Managing Director, Walt Disney India, said: "Television, globally, is just one-third of our business. Our strategy in India, in the first year of operations was to build the television business and set up the organisation. We are now going to use television to drive our other businesses."

The company, said Mr Jain, would in the coming months play an active role in the gaming and mobile platforms.

"Mobile is a big story in India today. With secondary buying of mobile handsets becoming prevalent today, and kids and the younger family members also being given access to mobile phones, there is growing demand for gaming and downloads. All these are revenue opportunities for us, which we will definitely tap."

Apart from television, the company also plans to leverage its film content on the various new media platforms. Mr Jain said the coming months would see the release of two Walt Disney films in India, Chicken Little and Chronicles of Narnia.

As far as the merchandising business is concerned, Mr Jain said the retail boom in India has given a huge opportunity for Disney's merchandising products.

"The key focus is to build franchisees around the Disney characters and get revenue out of it."

On the TV programming front, Mr Jain said the coming months would see a lot of emphasis on the localisation of content. "This would include both creating as well as acquiring local content. For instance, we have recently acquired Karishma Ka Karishma from Star. We are also trying to generate more half-hour local programmes, as we don't have too many of them."

On whether distribution was an issue, Mr Jain said, "We are already present in 25 million homes. The only State, where distribution is an issue, is Tamil Nadu."

Mr Jain is quite pleased with the channel's performance in the first year of operations. "We are the number two player after Cartoon Network and Pogo, with a market share of five per cent. Our objective is to become the market leader and grow this business by serving our consumers with the kind of service and experience they would expect from a brand like Walt Disney."