Local edutainment channel mulls merchandising route

ChuChu TV Studios, a media and technology firm based in the city, is the creator of the YouTube channel that has the distinction of being the fastest growing in the edutainment and pre-school learning space on the video-sharing site. The group of channels in ChuChu TV gets about 800 mn views a month. C Vinoth Chandar, CEO and Creative Director ChuChu TV tells us, “Our first animated video Chubby Cheeks, had about six iterations and garnered about 3 lakh videos in two weeks, post upload. When we saw that our videos were getting a phenomenal response, I spoke to my friends, who all hail from the service industry and decided we could do something new. BM Krishnan, the Creative Head with the team, began rewriting nursery rhymes to include elements of moral education and social etiquette, while infusing a more positive approach to these rhymes. We started with four members, and now are a 200-member team based out of MRC Nagar.” 

Ajith Togo, Subbiramanian TS and Suresh Bhoopathy are the other core members of the team. The revenue model for the company is driven by YouTube commercials – 55 per cent goes to the creator and 45 per cent for the platform. 

On new initiatives, Vinoth says, “We have partnered with a company called Dream Theatre, which handles brands like Pokemon and Angry Birds in India. We have embarked on a drive to rework our existing characters to look more appealing and even worthy of being converted into collectibles and toys. We would like to start retailing merchandise based on these creations.” 

ChuChu TV on Tuesday, received the coveted Diamond Play Button, recognition from YouTube, for surpassing 10 million subscribers with only 154 videos. The team has written 20 original Tamil songs and rhymes, which should appear early next year.