BETTING BIG ON EDUTAINMENT

What is Inani Media all about?

Inani Media is a creatively-led, intellectual property-fo­cused studio specializing in development and production of digital animated con-tent for theatrical, television, home entertainment and interactive distribution for the global entertainment industry, along with great merchandising products.

Discuss in brief about the inception, launch and presence of your brand.

We launched our studio in 2016 with a mission to make learning fun for kids and their parents, who love to watch animation. Our first product D-Man is the first Indian superhero series. It is the first 4K quality 2D ani­mation. The animation series is in the process of going live with the Indian television channels.

This category is huge in India, what kind of poten­tial do you see for your brand?

One of the major changes in India’s animation industry is to focus on original Indian shows. This is the founda­tion of a new business model as everything now is about the characters. E-commerce is bringing in more viability for merchandising, and thereby, add­ing diversification and monetization to the industry. The future will be about IPs and their effective monetization and brand consolidation.

Industry experts estimate that the Indian licens­ing & merchandise market is currently projected at Rs 30,000-35,000 million, and is growing at 12 per cent year-on-year.

What kind of franchisees you are planning and via which business model?

The entertainment industry is the strongest in terms of consumer product licensing. TV chan­nels in India have found out that the popularity of certain properties extend beyond TV screens to products such as back-to-school products, accessories, toys, collectibles, clothing, footwear, bags and much more. With a potential turnover expected through our merchandising division, we would plan to set up franchisee partners across India and cater to the demand for the D-Man products like D-Man graphic novel, school bags, T-shirts & costumes, tattoos, mugs, lunch boxes, wrist bands and superhero toys.

What is the company’s target for scalability in India? Why do you plan to choose franchising?

We intend to take our kids consumer products to market through our character and entertainment brand licensing with a footprint of more than 2,000 in distribution and retail platforms.

The reason is to have faster expansion and better market penetration. We would like to focus on mas­tering our core product ‘Edutainment’. I would rather use ‘growth partners’, instead of ‘franchisees’, who will participate in our success journey. 

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