Bangkok--6 May--4D Communications
Cartoon Club Channel, Thailand’s leader in the television and satellite TV cartoon business, announced plans to expand its business both in and outside the country. The company demonstrates its leadership capacity by announcing alliances with foreign free-to-air TV channels that will allow Cartoon Club to air and expand its viewership reach both in and outside of Thailand. This move leverages the launch of digital TV in Thailand, as well as prepares the company to tap into the AEC market. The expectation is that the viewership will be expanded in 5 countries, with over 250 million viewers, this year.
Mr. Niruit Tananuchittikul, President, Cartoon Club Media Co., Ltd., the producer and developer of “Cartoon Club Channel”, a satellite and cable television channel with 24 hours of cartoons that has wide market acceptance in Thailand, recently said that during the past 5 years, the company has prepared a plan to vigorously develop its TV business in the digital television era. This includes expansion of the business to the AEC market, and the company can confidently say that Cartoon Club is not only ready to expand its reach and viewership base both in and outside the country, but also to form a plan to adapt itself as a comprehensive marketing consultant to brands that are interested in growing with the firm as business partners.
“In the past, we have sent marketing teams to study each local market in order to prepare ourselves for an additional service, should customers be interested in collaborating with us to expand their customer base. This includes new areas both within and outside the country. For Thailand’s expanded viewership, we are ready to work with digital TV channels that are in the trial phase of their launch, and we have formed alliances with 6 such channels, including MCOT HD, MCOT FAMILY, THAIRATH TV, MONO TV, THV and LOCA, to bring the top cartoon hits of Cartoon Club to air. This move is considered a significant growth opportunity in 2014 and these collaborations allow us to tap into the target groups covering every area -- families, youth, teens, lifestyle and news. We will provide both entertainment and edutainment. As for our foreign markets, we will first expand into AEC countries, including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. At present, we have successfully entered into a business alliance with the television channel moguls of each nation. In Cambodia, we have joined with Channel 5 of Cambodia; in Laos, we have joined with Channel 5 MV Lao Television; in Vietnam, we have joined the Let’s Viet channel; and as for the latest alliance, which is considered a great achievement, we have formed ties with Myanmar National TV, a formidable entertainment channel of Myanmar, to bring a variety of popular cartoon hits to the country for the first time via the MN TV channel. In this endeavor, we have brought Masked Rider to air -- it was very warmly received by viewers in Myanmar and allowed Cartoon Club to air in 5 countries. We are confident that, in 2014, Cartoon Club will be able to become The Best One Stop Service in terms of television for children and youth in 5 countries in order to be ready for the AEC, and we will grow continuously towards the goal of becoming a regional brand,” Mr. Niruit Tananuchittikul said with confidence.
Mr. Tanat Tananuchittikul, Executive Director of Cartoon Club Media Co., Ltd., spoke on the past successes of Cartoon Club Channel, saying that the company has over 30 years of experience producing children’s programs. The company started as a collaborator with Channel 9 to develop the brand “Channel 9 Cartoon”, which has met with success from then until now. Moving forward to expand on this success, we will develop a business model based on this partnership and apply this experience to partnerships in the 4 AEC countries under the Cartoon Club brand, as a basis for knowledge building. Throughout the past 5 years, Cartoon Club has been considered to be the number 1 satellite and cable TV provider of Japanese cartoons. It has also been 1 of 5 channels with the highest ratings among over 200 channels in a Nielsen Media Research study. Also, the channel is considered to be the only one that is broadcast in every platform, including subscriber-based premium pay TV, such as True Vision and CTH. Throughout the past we have set guidelines for choosing fresh, new content that meets viewers’ needs, and now we must move forward to seek a path of widening our viewership base under the business philosophy, “Content is King, Distribution is God”, which today, we have been able to follow. To tap into the AEC market group, we have chosen to enter alliances with free TV channels where the top 5 popular variety programs of each country must have nationwide coverage. The content that we have proposed has been dubbed in each country’s national language. Also, we have conducted interactive and below the line activities in each country in order to enhance viewing experience, as well as quickly build popular affinity with the particular program. From the latest study, it was found that Cartoon Club is the first content provider to have the 8.00 to 9.00am time slot on free TV, covering 4 countries in the AEC, with a viewership of over 200 million people.
As for the expansion of business activity into comprehensive marketing strategy consultant for brands that are interested in building market share in the AEC, Mr. Tanop Tananuchittikul, Business Planning Director, of Cartoon Club Media Co., Ltd., covered this work strategy, saying, “As we all know, well-known brands that wish to enter into a new target market must form a plan and conduct due diligence of business landscape of that particular country and the preferences of its consumers. Cartoon Club has thus set up a team to handle this type of business expansion, starting from filling out the forms that must be submitted in order to begin doing business in each country until the 360-degree implementation of the marketing strategy. We ourselves are ready to serve in this capacity, especially in forming an exclusive group market research for clients. We can recommend distributors in each country; help produce advertisement up until getting past the regulatory guidelines for airing commercials; and translate commercials into local languages. Each of these strengths make us a one-stop service, and we are confident that this business plan will be well-received by leading brands.