Television remains preferred choice for children despite streaming services: Survey

While the amount of kids' content being watched generally surged during the COVID pandemic and has now steadied with kids returning to school, companies are nonetheless preparing sizable slates to attract them, especially during the current holiday season. While comedies like Oggy and the Cockroaches and Tarak Mehta Ka Chhota Chashmah will be shown on Sony YAY, Little Singham, a three-part mini-series will debut on Discovery Kids. Netflix will stream movies like Michelle Obama's Waffle + Mochi, The Adam Project, and Mighty Little Bheem. Sony has also collaborated with Netflix to bring viewers Sudha Murthy's Stories of Wit and Magic, a 2D animated series.

According to a Sony Pictures Networks India survey, television continues to be the preferred medium for kids' content consumption, with more than half of them choosing it over video streaming. As many as 57 percent of children prefer TV, compared to 10 percent who favour OTT, and 33 percent who watch both. The pandemic is only one of several factors that have impacted how children consume entertainment over the past few years. However, when it comes to the kids' category, TV remains their preferred option.

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As stated by Leena Lele Dutta, executive vice-president and business head of Sony Pictures Networks India and head of Sony YAY, there isn't another medium like TV that can simultaneously reach millions of children. Additionally, television provides children with the convenience of changing channels and viewing their preferred characters whenever they want.

Founder and chief executive of Green Gold Animation, Rajiv Chilaka, noted that OTT services are not particularly interested in procuring original kids' content at the moment because the overall surge for digital platforms is led by other genres and they are focusing on programming that caters to young adults, primarily in the 16-35 age bracket. When a paying subscriber joins an OTT platform, it is not primarily to access children's shows, which at best serves as a useful add-on for families with young children. Recently, Green Gold has joined hands with Warner Discovery to air Chhota Bheem movies on POGO over the festive season, in addition to continuing production on the Nickelodeon show Rudra: Boom Chik Chik Boom.

However, according to Praveen Raj Jayachandran, co-founder of Holocraft, a lot of kids' content on OTT is being acquired right now since producers prefer to invest in recognisable and popular characters that are known to boost viewership.

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