New kid on the block, Da Vinci Learning coming to your living room...!

If any space on television personifies the word ‘clutter’, it has to be the kids’ channels space! With numerous options already available, the kids have one more stop the go to. Berlin based Da Vinci Media GmbH is all set to enter the Indian market and woo kids with their popular kids education channel, Da Vinci Learning. The new player in the children’s entertainment space is in the process of securing the Broadcast License and is expected to enter the Indian television bouquet with their effective line up of edutainment content sometime during late 2014.

Founded in 2007, the channel is present in countries across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, CIS countries, Russia and Turkey. Da Vinci Learning’s (DVL’s) local adaptations of its programming are setting new standards for quality and bringing a world of discovery closer than ever before.

Adgully caught up with Mohit Anand, Country Manager, Da Vinci Media to talk about their plans and strategies ahead with regard to the new channel launch. Anand, who has been recently appointed to this post, is an acknowledged expert in the Media and interactive entertainment businesses. Based in New Delhi he will lead Da Vinci Media’s strategy and business in the region.

Speaking about the state of Indian market and if it is ready to welcome a new player, Anand said, "I think that the kids genre is the third largest viewership as we all know and growing at a CAGR of  20% every year. There is no edutainment channel for the entire family. Thus we definitely believe that there is a huge market opportunity in this space."

According to him, the Ad sales in the kids genre is pegged at 250 crores per annum and growing. He is of the opinion that with kids emerging as a key influencer in family decision making, the genre is now attracting the focus that it has deserved from advertisers.

Though it is too early to predict Da Vinci's market share, they are very confident that Da Vinci Learning will find strong takers given the uniqueness of their content offering.

With their content strategy predicated on fun learning for the entire family the content will primarily focus on edutainment content. Commenting on the content strategy, he said, "Our content strategy is going to be a hybrid of International and local content and we will definitely have locally produced content in the mix at the DVL launch." With its content which will be a mix of animated and non-animated, including documentary-style, the channel aims to attract kids. Moreover it will not only cater to children in the age group of 6-14 but also parents, being a family-based channel. The look and feel of the channel will be exactly in line with their international channel as offered across the world. The content will enable all viewers to find answers to their questions through high-quality knowledge programming.
In terms of availability of the channel on different DTH platforms Anand told us that discussions with all platforms are underway for the same.

Da Vinci Learning will premiere in English and Hindi next year and also have plans to launch in regional languages and expand their reach. Shedding further light on the language feeds, Anand said, "At DVL we have a strong focus on local languages and internationally DVL is available in 15 different international languages across 29 countries. Thus we will not shy away from having local languages but that will be dependent on market dynamics."

Otherwise an ad-free channel running on the Pay-TV model, in India the channel will incorporate ads. All other alternatives including the team, ad-pricing strategies, the subscription rate etc. are yet to be decided.

Where marketing is concerned, the channel plans to concentrate on activations and capture the interest of families in malls, museums and zoos. On-air promotions along with print and OOH too are on the anvil. A buzz and hype about the channel will be initiated three months prior to the launch. Meanwhile talks are still on with creative and media agencies.

Da Vinci Learning is uniquely positioned to serve the needs of the whole family. Thematically designed for educational television, their selective program criteria guarantees engaging and non-violent content and be suitable for young viewers. It is aunique educational television channel that will satiate the curious minds of all ages and celebrate the journey of learning.