Voot Kids, the content platform for children from Viacom18, has added the popular anime franchise Pokémon to its library. On offer: 21 movies and over 10,000+ minutes of Pokémon Anime series episodic content.
Speaking on the initiative, Ferzad Palia, Head – SVOD (Voot Select, Voot Kids) & International Business at Viacom18, said: “At Voot Kids we aim at creating a wholesome experience for our young viewers to enjoy and fun learn from their favourite characters in a 100 per cent kid-safe environment. This endeavour of ours has received significant impetus through last year with the kid’s fun learn category witnessing exponential demand growth. The addition of the vast Pokémon slate to our content repertoire will allow us to further widen our audience base and continue to be category leaders.”
Added Ashutosh Parekh, Head of Content – Voot Kids: “At Voot Kids, we continue to build a roster of compelling stories fronted by top global and local characters. With the consumer at the heart for every initiative on the platform, this was the perfect opportunity to build on the fandom Pokémon holds in India, propelled by kids and those who are kids at heart. Undeniably, this evergreen anime franchise with multiple extensions has evolved to be very relevant to the today’s digital natives, with superlative story arcs and well etched characters that unify action – adventure with humour.”
Chhota Bheem, the popular animation series that airs on Pogo on linear television and on Voot Kids in the OTT space, has joined hands with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has joined hands with Voot Kids and Green Gold Animation, the makers of Chhota Bheem, to take Indian audiences on a virtual adventure in Singapore. Titled ‘Chhota Bheem – Adventures in Singapore’, the series brings the destination closer to audiences in an innovative format and engages families and children across India, who are on summer school vacation or studying from home, in a bid to keep safe indoors. Starting Saturday, July 17, the mini-series entertains children across India in Tamil, Hindi and English. In addition to the webisodes, there will be also ebooks and interactive games featuring the adventures of the character, all of which can be downloaded from the Voot Kids app. (If you thought the ‘lah’ in our headline was an error, it wasn’t. For those who are familiar with the way Singaporeans speak, Lah or Laa is a popular suffix in Singlish)
Ashutosh Parekh
Speaking on the collaboration, Ashutosh Parekh, Head of Content – Voot Kids said: “At Voot Kids, our mainstay is to provide meaningful screen time pivoting around fun – learn and entertainment which is age appropriate and 100 % safe. This is fueled by one of the largest content libraries in the genre that is truly multi format spanning across top kids’ franchises from all over the world, making it truly a house full of toons. Made locally and loved globally, Chhota Bheem is one of the most watched character since the day we launched Voot Kids. This mini-series is packed with specially created “app-i-sodes” to add diversity to our content slate. As market leaders we thrive on content curation and creation with the consumer at the centre of everything we do. This was the right time to bring delight our young subscribers and their families who have enjoyed our app indoors, and now will magically be transported to Singapore with never seen before stories of Bheem, without leaving the safety of their home, exclusively on Voot Kids.”
Rajiv Chilaka
Elaborating on the alliance, Rajiv Chilaka, Founder & CEO, Green Gold Animation added: “My biggest endeavour is to push the envelope with Chhota Bheem as an animated character that has millions of fans world over. New stories and new setting always add to Bheem adventurous streak and we are thrilled to partner with Singapore Tourism board to take it to the next level with Voot Kids as the exclusive home of the mini-series Chhota Bheem and friends – Adventures in Singapore. Voot Kids is a pathbreaking platform to emerge as best in the business and rewritten content rules for kids digital platform and we are hopeful that its subscribers will enjoy this fascinating mini-series that stars every kid’s favourite toon Bheem set in every kid’s favourite destination – Singapore.”
GB Srithar
Speaking about the partnership, GB Srithar, Regional Director, India, Middle East & South Asia (IMESA), Singapore Tourism Board, said: “For us, this project is all about putting happy smiles on the faces of children and families across India, under these stressful times. Chhota Bheem and friends are well-loved characters who bring much cheer, hope, and optimism to Indian audiences. STB is pleased to present the seven episodes as our ;Gift of Smiles’ to Indian audiences. We hope the episodes will entertain families and allow them to experience a slice of Singapore virtually, as they keep safe at home. This creative partnership with Voot Kids and Green Gold is our first animation project and we are happy to offer this to the family audiences in India.”
Voot Kids has tied up with Green Gold Animation for digital exclusive 21-movies of Bheem. The Voot Kids Moviethon – Bheem Special will debut exclusively on Voot Kids.
Ashutosh Parekh
Said Ashutosh Parekh, Head of Content, Voot Kids: “At Voot Kids, our endeavour has always been to create a content driven platform that brings forth best of fun and learn components, which is salient to every child’s screen time journey. With over 200 characters across our diverse and expansive content library, we aim at creating a wholesome experience for our young viewers to enjoy their favourites at their will. From our launch, Bheem continues to trend in top characters, making it a strong, stable and lovable character that works well with our young users and their parents. This is definitely one of the biggest content driven initiative in the kids digital space ever, and we are excited and hopeful that our digital exclusive 21-movie partnership that bring so many different avatars of Bheem and significantly add diversity to our content slate. We will continue to invest in creative storytelling that our users will cherish”.
Rajiv Chilaka
Added Rajiv Chilaka, Founder & CEO, Green Gold Animation: “As the creator of Bheem, as a character has evolved over the last decade than any other IP, with a worldwide fan following. Our endeavour at Green Gold, has always been widen the franchise’s appeal and fan base, thus leading us to collaborate with India’s most inclusive kids’ platform Voot Kids, with a multi format offerings that makes it truly unique. Voot Kid’s content team’s global benchmarks for engagement and curation convinced us that the platform would be the perfect digital home for our characters and fans to build a deeper bond. The scale and the nature of this content partnership got us excited, given it is one of a kind that the kids entertainment genre has seen till date. The launch of 21 Bheem movies, latest and the biggest titles as digital exclusive on VOOT Kids underlines the platform’s commitment to keep their little consumers happy. As a committed parent who subscribes Voot Kids for my children VOOT Kids, it has successfully created a safer environment for kids to enjoy their favourite characters. These kinds of initiatives rewrite the rules of disruptive content strategy as we are thrilled to be a part of it.”
