MUMBAI: Live frugally has been the mantra in the world of content creation for quite some time now. Almost every genre has been impacted with large advertisers shaving their ad budgets. The kids genre too has been buffeted by the stormy winds of a shrinking ad universe.
Kids broadcasters have in turn cut the per episode production allowance given to producers, apart from reducing the number of fresh content hours. Additionally, OTT platforms which have been going through a tough period have slashed their per unit purchase price for animation content.
Net outcome: studios are either resorting to massive layoffs or shutting down.
“The heady days of two or three years ago and the pre-pandemic era when we were producing 200 minutes of animated content have gone, now we are producing just 30 minutes of content,” says a studio owner. “Look at the number of artists who have been without a job with the shutting down of Technicolor, The Mill and MPC and Jellyfish pictures.”
Broadcasters are tightening their belts on the manpower front as well now in order to stay afloat. The buzz in the market is that Warner Bros Discovery India south Asia kids cluster head Uttam Pal Singh is no longer working with the company. Apparently his role became redundant with Discovery programming head Sai Abhishek being asked to additionally shepherd the kids portfolio which includes Discovery Kids, Cartoon Network and Pogo channels.
Uttam Pal Singh was with Warner Bros Discovery for eight years. He was first hired as head of content of Discovery Kids in 2017, then elevated to head the channel, and finally given charge of the entire kids cluster in 2022.
Indiantelevision.com reached out to Warner Bros Discovery for a comment but no one was willing to come on record.