Anime franchise Pokémon finds new digital home in Voot Kids

Voot Kids has announced an exciting line-up to provide viewers with access to the anime franchise Pokémon in India. Celebrating 25 years of Pokémon, Voot Kids is the only digital platform in India to be streaming 21 movies and over 10,000 minutes of Pokémon anime series episodic content.

Along with expanding its video gaming category, Pokémon recently released Pokémon UNITE, a multi-player online battle arena (MOBA) game playable across Nintendo Switch, Android and iOS platforms.

Voot Kids, however, considers premiering 21 Pokémon movies for the first time as a landmark initiative. The hook for this content initiative in the kids segment spins around 'Chuno Voot Kids. Chuno Pokémon'.

Speaking of the initiative, Ferzad Palia, head, SVOD (Voot Select, Voot Kids) and international business, at Viacom18, said, “At Voot Kids we aim at creating a wholesome experience for our young viewers to enjoy and fun learn from their favourite characters in a 100% kid-safe environment.”

According to Palia, the endeavour received significant impetus last year with the kids' fun learn category witnessing exponential demand growth. “The addition of the vast Pokémon slate to our content repertoire will allow us to further widen our audience base and continue to be category leaders,” he said.

Voot Kids also aims to build a roster of compelling stories fronted by top global and local characters. “With the consumer at the heart for every initiative on the platform, this was the perfect opportunity to build on the fandom Pokémon holds in India, propelled by kids and those who are kids at heart,” said Ashutosh Parekh, head of content, Voot Kids. “Undeniably, this evergreen anime franchise with multiple extensions has evolved to be very relevant to today’s digital natives, with superlative story arcs and well-etched characters that unify action and adventure with humour.”

Parekh is hopeful that the massive range of Pokémon movies and over 10,000 minutes of Pokémon anime series will make Voot Kids the largest digital home of Pokémon in the country, “Which is why I would say it aloud: 'Gotta catch ‘em all' together on Voot Kids," he said.

Jiggy George, founder and CEO of Dream Theatre, the master licensing agency for Pokémon in India, is quite excited to have partnered with Voot Kids to bring such a wide offering spanning movies and seasons to Pokémon fans in South Asia. “It is a treasure trove for a Pokémon fan to access digitally and we believe it will help build a deeper bond with fans,” Jiggy said.

“With support from our partners at Voot Kids, we have finally been able to release the 1–21 movies in India,” said Susumu Fukunaga, corporate officer at The Pokémon Company. Fukunaga added, “We are thrilled to finally share with our fans in India the fun and excitement of the Pokémon movies. Voot Kids and TPC are preparing other fun offerings. We hope more fans in India can be part of this experience.”