www.disneybar.com Mahesh Samat senior vice-president & managing director, The Walt Disney Company (India), manages all his company’s businesses in India, except for the ESPN/STAR Sports joint venture. Based in Mumbai, he reports to Andy Bird, chairman of Walt Disney International. Samat is responsible for driving Walt Disney’s strategy and coordinating all its business efforts in India, including the company’s global franchisees.
He has over 20 years of experience in the fast-moving consumer goods and healthcare segments in India, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Samat spoke to DNA Money’s Madhumita Mookerji about Walt Disney’s various commitments in India. Excerpts: After about four years of operations in India, what are the challenges faced by Disney in India and how could these be addressed?
We see no challenges, only opportunities.
There are 3.6 billion movie admissions in a year in India. The country has 350 million kids — the highest number. Demographics are on our side in India. The kids’ retail business is about $12 billion in India — it’s a great opportunity for the merchandise segment. The publishing business is growing —India is one of the few countries where it is.
Television is a key brand driver for Disney in India. To what extent has the company been able to acquire a chunk of the mindspace among viewers?
We are trying to build Disney as a family entertainment brand. Creative properties and franchises are leveraged across different lines of businesses. A recent survey on television has shown that for kids in the 2-5 years age bracket, Mickey Mouse is the No.1 character. It is not about eyeballs but having an impact on the consumer’s mind. On a yearly basis, Disney, Hungama and Jetix have been No.1 channels in multiplex terms — i.e., in terms of eyeballs.
The Disney multiplex reached over 60% kids in the CS 4-14 ABC category of audiences during the year.Has your localisation strategy helped to increase your share? How much of your programming is localised at present and will this increase?
The strategy is to go beyond television, focus on the global franchises. For instance, the music video of Hindi songs was inspired by the High School Musical, which went platinum in the Indipop category. Or even Winnie the Pooh. The idea is to take global properties and make them more relevant for consumers in India. Localisation has many avatars. For instance, we have started a short format called Break Time Masti Time during the commercial breaks.