Warner Bros. Discovery South Asia has officially unveiled their summer slate and strategy which blends anime along with their homegrown IP.
“As a legacy global company we have a huge library of global content. And the Indian audience, which is also huge in number, gives us an opportunity to connect with them and cater to them with stories and characters which are very locally focused,” Uttam Pal Singh, head of the kids’ cluster, South Asia, Warner Bros. Discovery said, according to Variety.
Some of the takeaways are the new Indian IP “Jay Jagannath”, which will be launching on the Indian animation-focused Pogo channel in May, as well as their most popular Indian Ips “Chhota Bheem” and “Little Singham”.
The sequel to that, entitled “Aag Aur Pani Ka Badla,” is also slated to arrive on Pogo.
In regards to the internationally focused Cartoon Network, summer programming will include new Japanese anime arrivals “One Piece: Land of Wano” and “My Hero Academia” Season 4, new seasons of American animation “Teen Titans Go!” and new seasons of French animation “Grizzy and the Lemmings.”
Over at Discovery Kids there will be new seasons of India-Singapore animation “Titoo” and will total 200 premieres across the three kids’ channels, which are broadcast across India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
“Localization is part of a very strong strategy to help us engage with kids. India is so diverse and some regions in India have a very strong affinity to their mother tongue. So, starting last year, we expanded our language base, which was only about three languages, but we expanded to four more. So, Pogo is now reaching out to kids in seven different languages and Cartoon Network reaches out to kids in in six Indian languages,” Singh added.
“From pre-teens, to teens, and also post that into 21 to 25 [age group], I think anime is able to cater to them and their requirements quite nicely. And I think that’s why it’s finding a very strong acceptance over here,” Singh said.
