Sleeping with Scooby-Doo

TNT & Cartoon Network Vice-President, Programming and Planning, Andrea Miller, who has two kids of her own, relishes the chaos. In fact, she is the one who mostly organises it on screen. Her logic is that “in the cartoon world nothing happens on schedule, the idea is to create something new and unexpected that breaks the rules”. And children love it because cartoon characters do break the rules — something children can’t always do in the real world.

It might baffle some people to see parents allowing their kids to get away with watching this anarchy on screen. Still it beats watching violence and adultery any day. Sensing that, TNT increased its cartoon hours from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.. So parents can escape too. And for those who prefer their Disney classics to TNT’s predominantly Hanna Barbera characters, there is the Disney Hour on Zee. For most kids toons are a world they can identify and people their imagination with, so it doesn’t matter which channel they appear on. It is this that Turner tries to score on. Says Carly Yu Vice-President, Marketing, “The channel’s idea is to showcase the variety of classic and new toon stars and connect the activities of audiences to them.”

But it’s not all for the love of children. Cartoons are serious business. TNT and Cartoon Network’s Senior Vice-President Celia Chong says: “We see kids as recognisable and powerful consumers, but we also need to be recognised by parents as a viable channel.” Which is why the channel is marketed as a parent-friendly, onscreen educative experience. For example, there are some “do good” programmes like give-away your favourite toon for Christmas. TNT & Cartoon Network’s Vice-President Regional Brand Management Christine Fellowes’ reiterates Yu’s point: TNT’s vision is to integrate the channel into the kids’ and family life.

Also it’s simple programming because toons from all over the world can be easily viewed in other regions. The emphasis is on exaggerated dialogues and energy that speak more eloquently than pure dialogue.

And it speaks very loudly in India and that is why TNT sees this country as its biggest market right now. According to Senior Vice-President, Advertising Sales, Carl Meyer, “we have seen three to four times growth in India over last year.” The channel’s advertising, obviously, comes mostly from food and beverage brands, toys and games. But TNT & Cartoon Network believes their viewers include not only children. And advertisers such as IBM and Intel seem to agree. TNT executives point out that almost 40 per cent of their viewers are adults. However, in a country like India that does not necessarily represent active choice: in most single TV households children are the loudest, most insistent consumers of TV programmes and usually everyone gets to watch what they want.

TNT & Cartoon Network are not complaining. Only some hapless parents are.