Cosmos-Maya continues to have a strong foothold in the Indian animation market for being the sole animation creator/producer of five successful new show launches in 2020, across leading Pay TV and OTT platforms.
One of the leading animation studios in India, it’s known for cult shows like Motu Patlu and recently with Selfie with Bajrangi and many others. Despite the paradigm shifts in the macroeconomic scenario and workplace infrastructure, Cosmos-Maya have had a more than promising 2020 till date. Working remotely, it has consistently and quite successfully churned out one offering after the other throughout 2020, for kids broadcasters like Disney Channel, POGO and OTT platform ZEE5.
The studio that started their IP library with one show in 2012, currently is one of the biggest studios in the country and has witnessed a growth in scale with high-performing IPs within the first six months of 2020. This has seen the studio capture above 60 per cent of the Indian animated market space, the studio revealed today.
Here’s the full list of Cosmos-Maya’s shows launched this year :
> On 1 May, the studio released Bapu, a show based on Mahatma Gandhi and his principles in the contemporary time. The animated series is presently airing on Disney Channel and streaming on ZEE5. The show has been immensely successful and is already scheduled for a second season.
> Gadget Guru Ganesha was launched on the auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi on 22 August. The show features a boy’s friendship with the revered God figure and how they solve various problems using mystical gadgets together.
> Cosmos released the second season of Guddu on 18 May on Disney TV. This 3D show is centered around a circus lion and his adventures with his friends. It is a high on drama and stands true to his catch phrase – “Guddu hain mera naam…Entertainment hain mera kaam.” With dramatic and hilarious dialogues and songs and dance, Guddu has a bollywood essence in it. Guddu is also available on ZEE5.
> The studio released their fourth new IP, Titoo on POGO on 27 July. It has been the top performing kids entertainment TV show for four weeks consistently since release.
Upcoming Shows:
This Diwali, Cosmos-Maya will be releasing their latest IP, Lambuji Tinguji in partnership with Turner on Cartoon Network. The studio has also announced Captain Bharat on Independence Day and Dr. Tenali Rama, which is an ode to the selfless, tireless efforts of doctors around the world battling the COVID-19 outbreak.
Given the kids broadcasters’ Bollywood romance, Cosmos-Maya is now developing an animated series based on the popular cop Chulbul Pandey from the superhit film series on Dabangg. Cosmos-Maya CEO Anish Mehta shared with us last month that the studio has been receiving prestigious international projects in the Europe market.
Going Streaming:
Apart from these new projects, the studio transitioned one of their most well-known IPs, Selfie With Bajrangi to Disney+Hotstar. The Disney-Star India owned streaming service has ordered 234 episodes of the show. With this, the animated series is regarded as the next big thing for the studio after their enormously successful, Motu Patlu.
Cosmos-Maya Revenue and Corporate Strategy SVP Devdatta Potnis Potnis mentioned at the CII SummitFX that there’s a lot of great movement happening in and for the one of the oldest companies in this animation business. “There’s an evolution of the dual market concept and we have been doing this on pay TV and various OTTs like Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ Hotstar. Eena Meena Deeka, our slapstick comedy has got so big digitally, that a huge chunk of investment is coming from an international MCM and we found the best deal out Indonesian market,” he mentioned.
While increasing the scale of their content umbrella, Cosmos-Maya has also ensured creative diversity and not compromised on the quality in the kind of topics addressed to kids. With trying times, the studio has focused on the genres defined by their characters. Each show has something different to offer, talking to kids in an entertaining, non-pedantic manner.
Every major industry including media have suffered logistical and performance setbacks in 2020. In light of that, the animation industry all across the globe has not only sustained but saved the day for many brands. Cosmos-Maya deserves a mention and its present market share for releasing five new IPs while working on multiple international projects, especially when very few production houses have been able to achieve that feat.
Speaking about dominating this space, Mehta said, “We are really glad to have found a way to work around the rigours of the lockdown and be able to provide new content as was planned for the current year. All content that we have made available in 2020 was born out of production plans drawn up as far back as 2019, and the real credit for our well-timed content delivery goes to our entire team of creative and executive professionals who handled the shift from office to home smoothly and collectively ensured that we stay as close to our release plans as possible. We are proud of our drive to consistently cater to kids’ entertainment requirements and have them enjoying themselves while staying at home for this extended period. Additionally, I would like to deeply thank our OTT and broadcaster partners for the relationship they have endeavoured to maintain with us, and the manner in which they modeled their ‘stay home, stay safe’ campaigns around our characters, which stands testament to our promise of sustainability – to keep on delivering clean, enjoyable entertainment for kids and their families.”
Besides producing new shows, the company has provided technical backups for any hiccups that employees face with their work tools. To ensure a smooth workflow, the studio provided virtual storage and full hardware replacements if the employees’ work equipment faces irreparable damage.