For some years now, Sony YAY! has been meticulously laying the groundwork for an anime revolution on Indian television. From the phenomenal success of Naruto that built a loyal fanbase, to the acquisition of Jujutsu Kaisen that signaled an ambition to capture an older demographic, their strategy has been clear: to become the premier destination for anime in the country.
On August 12, at a packed fan screening for Naruto Shippuden in Mumbai, all the pieces of their strategy clicked into place. The event was billed as the celebration of a legacy title, marking its returning to the TV screens in India. However, it also served as a launchpad for the future, with the reveal of Karna, an original India-made anime series.
With this announcement, the conversation has now elevated from programming and marketing to the core business vision itself.
We sat down with Ambesh Tiwari, Business Head of Sony Kids and Animation, to get the boardroom perspective. We discussed the franchise model that makes Naruto a genre-defining economic engine, the art of evolving a channel’s identity, and the creative and commercial vision behind their most ambitious project to date: taking an Indian story, with an Indian heart, to the world stage.
From a business perspective, what does the sustained success and continued investment in a long-running franchise like Naruto tell you about the Indian market’s appetite for anime?
I think, number one, there are a couple of things. One is that the fact that Naruto is one of those content pieces which has a very long shelf life. It was relevant 20 years back. It was relevant 10 years back. And it’s more relevant today too. That talks greatly about the quality of content. So the market or the viewership or the fandom for Naruto is increasing by the day and I think that is thanks to the content, thanks to the incredible localization that we’ve done, the kind of promotions which our teams do, the kind of conversations which communities like yours drive.
That is one part. The other is the fact that as piracy is coming down, more and more people are watching [Naruto] on television. We’ve seen incredible viewership on television. A lot of people are watching it on platforms like Crunchyroll. And because of this growing fandom, there’s a lot of money which the original creators are also making via the merchandising partnerships that we have — with Boat, with Mokobara, with Soul Store and multiple other brands. So I think the entire economy of an anime, Naruto plays a very important role in defining it. So Naruto is not just a hit show, but it’s a genre-defining content piece.
As a business head, how do you strategically manage the brand identity of Sony YAY!? Because you have been working into anime, like anime is on the rise now. But before that, it was mainly for children. So how do you differentiate the identity of the brand?
That’s a great question. I think we firmly believe that your audiences, if you put the right content on, will come and watch it. To give you an example, you may have people who are watching this who don’t really like Naruto, but are say a Solo Leveling fan. But they are still watching it or they will choose not to watch it. I think the way we program it is that we strictly adhere to the rules that we’ve set for ourselves to play relevant content, to play content that is not misleading or harmful for kids. But we also would like to put out content which is aiming at slightly older kids, which is 12 plus, and which is why we’ve segregated.
So, we are now focusing on anime at certain blocks, 9 p.m. onwards. You won’t see anime at 12 in the afternoon, but you’ll see it at 9 in the night. I think the way we’ve slowly and steadily built those viewing habits ensures that there is a good segmentation of viewers.
So is there a chance that we’ll have a 24×7 block of anime on Sony YAY!?
Well, not on Sony YAY!, but we certainly have two anime VAST channels which are already running, one with Airtel, and the other launch is today with Dish. So there are 24-hour channels which are there. We’ve had a great partnership with Crunchyroll. They are really invested in India. They really want to make anime big in India. We have a partnership with them. We have a one-hour block. We may have more, but they will ensure that we get some of the best content pieces from across the world, and the Indian viewers get a flavor of it.
We saw that JJK Zero is coming to Sony YAY!.
I think JJK is one of the most popular franchises in the world. I think possibly the second biggest to my mind as a viewer. And we definitely listen to our customers whenever it comes to making content choices, that’s why JJK makes a lot of sense.
And coming to the big reveal that was made today. Can you talk about Karna?
In all these years of programming, I think Sony YAY! began with the motive of creating original programs. Be it something like Honey Bunny or the other content that we’ve made, like the recent CID Squad, which was a kid’s take on CID. But we’ve not done anything in the anime space. And we decided that we want to create a show with artists who are across the globe, but, it’s created from India, has the Indian heart, has the Indian ethos, and is built for the world. So I think Karna is the first step in that direction. And, you know, we have extremely wonderful partners in Crunchyroll who are also hand in glove with us on this mission. And we look forward to creating more. Karna is something which is developed in India. It is India’s first, officially first anime made in India.
What about Karna do you think will appeal to the wider audience?
I think it has a lot of heart. It has a lot of heart. And I think Indian stories are known for very true, raw, core emotions. It’s been like that since ages, whether you look at something like Ramayana or Mahabharata, the ethos of it is very driven in relationships and aspirations and dreams. And I think that’s what Karna represents.
New episodes of Naruto Shippuden are currently streaming on Sony YAY!
