Doraemon vs Mojacko

Come April 16, Pogo will introduce Mojacko, a Japanese anime, to the Indian audience set. Interestingly, Mojacko shares a similar storyline with Doraemon, another popular Japanese character, on Disney. So will Doraemon continue to sustain its worldwide popularity in India or will Mojacko diminish its fame?

The Mojacko-Doraemon division is quite a 'visible' talk point that kids entertainment television witnesses worldwide. Now, India too is prepared to become a part of this discussion, with Turner International's kids' entertainment channel, Pogo, introducing Mojacko, a Japanese anime, to the Indian audience set on April 16.

Interestingly, Mojacko shares a similar storyline with Doraemon, another popular Japanese character aired on Disney. In fact, both Mojacko and Doraemon come from the same writer Fujiko F Fujio, and yet, it's the latter that rose up the popularity charts on television worldwide.

The other Asian countries where Doraemon and Mojacko co-exist include China (since 1991) and Taiwan (since 1996). In every country, Doraemon was launched before Mojacko and attained significant popularity.

Interestingly, amongst other countries, in the Philippines, Doraemon was launched after Mojacko. Yet, it's Doraemon that once again became the more popular property amongst the two.

With Mojacko, Pogo will target the 4-9 year olds who already exhibit their loyalty toward Disney's Doraemon.

Consequently, as the show finds steady takers, it could lead to fragmentation among Doraemon-loyalists. For the record, Doraemon leads kids programming on Indian television with an average TVR of 0.56, while Pogo's Chhota Bheem is at No. 2 with an average 0.48 TVR (as per TAM, C&S, 4-14, All India). According to media experts, since Chhota Bheem is an absolute Indian content, the channel is making an attempt to take away a pie of the Doraemon audience with similar content.

So, will Doraemon re-incarnate its worldwide popularity in India, or will Mojacko diminish its fame?

According to Anita Nayyar, CEO, Havas Media South Asia, the launch of Mojacko will surely generate a fight for the same audience set.

"But Doraemon is extremely well established and it will obviously enjoy the first mover advantage. However, it also depends on the kids as to how they catch up to the new character. Even when we look at other countries where the two characters co-exist, Doraemon is more popular. We will have to wait and watch if the character really grips the Indian audiences," she says.

Meanwhile, Amin Lakhani, head, exchange, Mindshare Media, believes that even through competition, the two characters could actually co-exist with one another or one of the two could lose viewers significantly.

"If people watch Superman, they do not stop watching Spiderman completely. May be the channel feels that its earlier programming needs to be backed by such a significant show to compete better and therefore the launch," he says.

The Indian kids ad market is estimated at Rs 240-250 crore and Turner still commands a lion's share in this category. For now, Pogo's relative channel share in the kids' entertainment genre stands at 21.5 per cent (TAM, C&S 4-14 years, HSM, Week 9 to Week 12, 2012). Disney Channel, meanwhile, stands at No. 2 with 18.9 per cent market share, while Nickelodeon following next with 18.1 per cent.