Viacom18 launches Nick Junior, its seventh television channel

Targeted at the 2-6-year old pre-school children and the 25-40-year old mothers, the channel will show content with clear curriculum goals, keeping a child's growing needs in mind - be it motor, cognitive, creative or technical skills.

In a bid to further strengthen its position in the entertainment domain, Viacom18 has decided to bring its international brand, Nick Junior, to the Indian market.

Nick Junior will be the seventh channel under Viacom18 in India, and the third under the Nickelodeon brand, after Nick and Sonic. The other channels from the Viacom18 stable are Colors, MTV, Nickelodeon, Vh1, Sonic and Comedy Central.

Targeted at the 2-6-year old pre-schoolers and the 25-40-year old mothers, the channel will show content with clear curriculum goals, keeping a child's growing needs in mind - be it motor, cognitive, creative or technical skills.

Interestingly, the channel will air as Nick Junior from 6 am to 7 pm every day, and change to Teen Nick, targeting the teenagers with sitcom and drama, from 7 pm onwards.

"The logic is very simple," avers Nina Elavia Jaipuria, executive vice-president and business head, kids cluster, Viacom18. "By 7 pm in the evening, the 2-6-year olds are getting ready to sleep and then it's the teens who take charge; and since we did not want the post-7 pm slot to go empty, thereby leading to channel migration, we decided to change it to Teen Nick after the 7 pm slot."

Teen Nick is an American television network with programming geared towards teenage viewers; it is owned by Viacom.

To be aired only in English, Nick Junior will screen shows such as Dora the Explorer, Go Diego Go, Team Umizoomi, Bubble-Guppies and Blues Clues. It will be distributed by Indiacast and will be available across all major cities in India on DTH platforms such as Videocon D2H, Airtel and Tata Sky, and the DAS platforms including Hathway Cable & Datacom, Incable, Digi Cable, WWIL and DEN.

Nick Junior is currently viewed across 125 countries in more than 25 languages.

Commenting on the launch, Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18 Media says that with 30 million kids born in India every year, and given the parents' primary concern for their overall growth and development, 'pre-school' is one segment that is bound to become significant.

"Also, we will now concentrate on looking at India by slicing it into smaller pieces and then targeting it through sharp segmentation, with a focus that is driven by demographic and psychographic needs. We already have Nick targeting the 4-14-year olds and Sonic targeting the 9-15-year olds. Now, with the launch of Nick Jr., the spectrum of Viacom18 offerings extends from 2-62-year olds and beyond - an enviable position in our space."

Additionally, in an attempt to take the brand beyond television, Viacom18 plans to launch a comprehensive range of consumer products at retail, across categories. Currently, Viacom18 is present across 50 plus consumer product categories through more than 40 licensees.