Turner launches children’s channel Toonami in India

New Delhi: Turner International India on Thursday announced the expansion of its television bouquet for children with the launch of Toonami, a channel dedicated to animated action. This is the American company’s third children’s channel in India after Cartoon Network and POGO. Toonami joins an assortment of over 15 channels in the kids’ genre, which attracts close to Rs.500 crore in advertising.

Toonami, which is based on the hit programming block of the same name on Cartoon Network in the US, is already present as a separate channel in the Asia Pacific, across 14 countries including Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. A 24-hour English language channel, Toonami targets the action-and-adventure enthusiasts with its focus on franchises such as Batman, Superman, Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Justice League, Inazuma Eleven Go and Dragon Ball.

Siddharth Jain, managing director, South Asia, Turner International India Pvt. Ltd. said, “A highly successful international brand, it (Toonami) will meet the growing demand for premium quality action-adventure and superhero content.” According to the company, Turner’s kids’ portfolio enjoys a healthy double digit growth, attracting advertisers such as Hindustan Unilever Ltd, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Colgate Palmolive (India), Perfetti Van Melle, Nestle India and Kelloggs India.

The channel will be distributed by Taj Television India Private Limited, a distribution agency of the Zee group. The company already distributes the Zee bouquet of channels in addition to Turner International’s other channels, including HBO and CNN in India.

Toonami will be available on the country’s major digital cable platforms in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru.

A division of Time Warner, Turner International India is the arm of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. that creates and manages the sales, distribution and marketing of Turner’s news and entertainment brands in India and the South Asia region. These brands include CNN International, Cartoon Network, POGO, Toonami, HBO and WB. The company also manages distribution for HBO Defined and HBO Hits in India.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.