Emtek Group to Launch New FTA Kids' Channel
Dr Hendy Lim joins the ATF Animation Pitch as judge to find potential projects
Dr Hendy Lim, Director of Content Business at Indonesia Entertainment Group (IEG), joins the esteem panel of judges for this year’s ATF Animation Pitch. His presence on the panel reflects his purpose of consistently looking for good quality kids’ content, “The animation pitch is a good opportunity to have a look for a potential future development,” Hendy stated.
This has become more relevant as Emtek Group will soon be launching a new free-to-air channel that will be 100% dedicated to kids.
“We see huge demands for kids’ content that have not been catered to by the current free-to-air (channels). Especially within our own group, our two current channels – SCTV and Indosiar – don’t do kids programs.
“So, having a channel dedicated to kids is a no-brainer for us,” Hendy explained. “Our kids’ Pay Channel (Horee!) has been performing consistently well since its launch, and it’s one of, if not the most popular channel for the grassroots audience. This makes us confident in our venture for a free-to-air channel for kids,” Hendy revealed.
Addressing how Emtek Group differentiates Vidio’s kids offering, Emtek’s pay TV for kids and the FTA that’s in the pipeline, Hendy enlightened that each has a different set of audience (with some overlaps obviously!).
“The FTA is more for a grass-root audience, and of course, for those who don’t mind the ads,” noted Hendy, who confirmed that the FTA will be 100% ads based. “The offering within pay TV and OTT, I imagine, are richer and wider in terms of quantity and diversity, and much more specific, catering to different genres. While the FTA will air based on the most popular contents around.”
Contemplating on Emtek’s main genre performance, Hendy said that clearly, as shown in many parts of the world, the pre-school content performs better in general, but the case is not so clear-cut or black and white.
“We still need to curate carefully. Kids’ content has many sub genres like education, edutainment, anime, girlie animation, action, etc. Sometimes, it’s like finding a needle in a haystack to get the right combination.
“But like other types of genres, local content still prevails,” Hendy reiterated. “It’s just that in the context of kids’ content, there isn’t a lot of local content around. Therefore, foreign content still has an important role to play in the eyes of the audience.”
Dr Hendy Lim
Director of Content Business
Indonesia Entertainment Group (IEG)
While there are still specifics that Hendy cannot yet reveal, what he can say for now is that Emtek is looking to increase the output of local kids’ content.