Product Strategies in different markets for Disney Channels

India
Starting in 1994 in India, Disney programming was available through programming blocks with state-owned
Doordarshan. Following that the shows were aired on Zee TV until the early 2001s. Disney moved its block to
Sony Television for three years. Star TV pick up Disney TV blocks on Star One, Disney Time, and on Star Utsav.

In December 2004, Walt Disney Television International India launched a Toon Disney channel. This channel
was launched in 3 different languages viz. English, Tamil and Telugu at the same time simultaneously with the
Disney Channel with Star TV network distributing the channels. In 2005, Disney reached an agreement
with Doordarshan (DD) for it to carry a half hour Disney Jadoo block. By virtue of this, Disney achieved up to 4
branded blocks in India.

Initially, the programming of the channel consisted on Disney's original shows imported from the US, such
as Lizzie McGuire, That's So Raven, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly
Place, Sonny with a Chance, The Suite Life on Deck, Jonas LA and Phineas and Ferb.

In 2006, the channel launched its first locally produced series called Vicky Aur Vetaal, keeping in mind the
cultural aspect of India and how popular the original legend is. Since then, the network's programming consisted
of even more local productions. Some of these shows are Agadam Bagdam Tigdam, Dhoom Machaao
Dhoom, Kya Mast Hai Life, and Ishaan. In 2010, Art Attack was adapted, produced and broadcasted for the
Indian market.

Subsequently, American shows like Hannah Montana and The Suite Life on Deck were pulled off from the
channel's schedule. Doraemon (Japanese show), a Hungama TV venture, was aired in 2010. Many Doraemon
movies have also been aired on the channel.

In 2011, several shows were adapted to suit Indian atmosphere. Good Luck Charlie was adapted to Best of Luck
Nikki, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody to The Suite Life of Karan & Kabir , Disney Q Family Mastermind was
taken from Mastermind, Shake It and Oye Jassie were also produced for the network. These series of adaptation
clearly indicates that the preferences across the target segment is changing rapidly and is now more inclined
towards home grown shows or having an version which is more Indian than American.

Taking a cue from the growing co-viewing (parents/families watching kids' channels with the kids in their house)
trend in the genre, the channel decided to reposition itself in order to expand its audience base and increase the
involvement of the other family members. With a strategic intention of showing family oriented shows in the
weekend, the channel was rebranded in early 2015 with the new logo used internationally, with the exception of
the logo colour being purple instead of blue. This weekend strategy was called "Shanivaar, Ravivaar only for
Parivaar". The light-hearted shows that occuping prime-time weekend slots were pitted against the shows of Hindi
entertainment channels.

In early 2016 the channel stopped producing local live action shows, and decided to focus on local animation
instead. According to the survey done the channel was getting great amount of parental approval. The thought
was that it is the right time to start entertaining the other members of the family. Currently, episodes of Doraemon,
animated original shows and local animated shows are being aired by Disney.

Disney Channel's core audience is between 4-14 years. According to the channel, 3.6 million kids tuned in to
Disney Channel in its first year. Significant share of co-viewers including adults watch Disney Channel along
with kids. Interestingly, a lot of non-conventional advertisers have been reaching out to these audiences because
of increased viewership of parents. These include water purifier brands, printers, washing machines and cooking
oils.
Africa and Middle East
Disney Channel opines that it creates stories that entertain and inspire kids and their families and reflect the rich
diversity of the human experience. However, even though the shows are developed for global audiences, Disney
pledges its commitment to respect each markets cultural sensibilities, compliance rules and regulations.

In Africa and Middle East, Disney Channel had to pull one of its biggest childrens shows from air after outrage
because of a gay storyline.

In the second season of popular show Andi Mack, a character develops feelings for a fellow teenage boy. The
characters story on coming out of closet to his best friend, followed by assurance from his friend that he is no
different was not very well perceived in these markets.

The same-sex story caused outrage among anti-gay activists and was banned from air in Kenya. With increasing
pressure from public, Disney pulled the show from air in 50 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle
East.

However, to cater to South African market, Disney had to explore alternative ways to make the series available to
its fans in South Africa. This decision follows a host of countries banning Beauty and the Beast or editing out a
scene of its gay character, Le Fou, dancing with a man.

This was an important lesson for Disney which emphasizes the fact that the content that they broadcast in each
country needs to be aligned to the culture, sense and sensibilities, age appropriateness, practices and other social
factors as they can be vastly different for different countries.

Europe
With some 320 channels targeting the kiddie demographic, children's TV offerings have reached a record high in
Europe. This compares to less than 100 a decade ago and just 10 in 1995. The liberalization of European TV
markets helped the exponential growth. Liberalization along with the rollout of digital television services is largely
behind this explosive growth and it is assumed that it will continue to do so. Disney leads the pack, with 63 pan-
European children's channels.

Similarly, on-demand services targeting the younger demographic are also on the rise. Examples of such services
providers are Poland's Canal+ or cable companies like Numericable in France and Liberty Global's Telenet in
Belgium.

Disney with a strategy to capture this increasing demand launched a new free-to-air German-language version of
the Disney Channel. The new German Disney channel relied solely on advertising revenue, unlike the other
commercial kids networks in Europe.

Central and Eastern Europe is a key market for The Walt Disney Company and launching Disney Channel was
critical to the company's strategic growth plan in the region. The performance of Disney Channel in Poland and
the huge impact of the channel's content on Jetix have proven the demand for its kid-driven, family inclusive
programming. The company leveraged this demand, the power of the Disney brand and synergies with other
Disney businesses to become the undisputed leader in the kids' TV market.

The Walt Disney Company also rebranded its Jetix channels in five Central and Eastern European countries to
become Disney Channel, the world's leading kids TV brand. Kid-driven, family inclusive Disney Channel
launched in Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria, and increased distribution continues to
remain key to the Central and Eastern Europe region. The programming dubbed in local languages helped Disney
Channel to deliver localized content.
https://www.awn.com/news/five-disney-channels-launching-central-eastern-europe

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/12/business/worldbusiness/disney-takes-exception-to-chinas-media-rules.html

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-singapore-disney/disney-channel-goes-local-to-court-asian-viewers-
idUSS2115472120080222

http://www.afaqs.com/news/story/42834_Disney-Channel-hopes-to-get-the-family-in

http://karnatakatourism.org/policy/disney_land_theme_park.pdf