Attribute it to the hot Indian summer or the absence of new film releases at multiplexes owing to the stand-off between producers-multiplexes. Either way kids’ DVDs market has witnessed a 20%-25% increase in year-on-year demand this summer. Summer vacations are usually the peak seasons for sales of kids? DVDs. Hiren Gada, director, Shemaroo Entertainment said, ?The demand for kids DVD is very seasonal. Now as the market has a variety of content for the kids, the sale of VCDs and DVDs increases, especially during vacation times and festivals.? According to a KPMG report, the DVD market was pegged at Rs 863 crore in FY 2008, out of which the kids’ DVD market is more than half, pegged around Rs 450 crore.
Among the various DVD products like edutainment, animation, live action, and Hollywood movies, parents prefer edutainment (nursery rhymes) while kids on the other hand opt for animation and cartoon movies. Rajesh Das, head (content) BIGFlix.com (a Reliance Anil Dhirubai Ambani Group company) commenting on the popularity mix of old and new said, ?Animation movies especially Hollywood films like Kung Fu Panda, Wall- E and Ratatouille have done well among kids. However, Tom & Jerry still remains a big draw even today.? However, the demand for Hindi animation DVDs has seen a rise post Hanuman with movies like Jumbo, Shrek, Bal Ganesha, and Ghatothkach.
Apart from the humour factor found in the movies, the quality of the content also plays an important role as it has a significant influence on a child?s behavior. UTV World Movies has tied up with Shemaroo in the home video space and is acquiring some of the best world cinema titles. Sameer Ganapathy, business head, UTV World Movies said, ?As an industry we need to make an impact and keep the demand flowing in the kids DVD space. We are very aggressive about this business and plan to acquire 40 titles in a year across all genres in this section.? The company which released five titles last month is all set to release three more titles in May 2009.
Experts feel that the kids DVD market is still at a nascent stage, where distribution of films and content quality has not yet grown to a great extent. ?Content quality and piracy are major reasons for the slow growth of this market. India requires well established brands like Disney especially from a parent?s perspective and they are often unable to chose between the various products available in India,? says Gada. Shemaroo Entertainment is currently working on projects such as live action and Panchatantra stories.