There is a growth in the broadcasting of local themed and generated show content in the Indian kids' space, resulting in the development and purchase of local content by kid’s genre channels in India. This research is based at understanding the viewing behavior and reaction of target audiences regarding the produced animation content. The results of the analysis will be used as a ‘piece of evidence’ for the guarantee of success of show for broadcasters.

1. PRE-LAUNCH CONTENT EVALUATION
OF
AN ANIMATED CARTOON MOVIE ‘RAMAANNA’ IN PUNE DISTRICT
By
Sanika Deshpande
Master of Business Administration (Communication Management)
A Dissertation
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
(Master of Business Administration).
Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication (PG), Pune
Symbiosis International University
Feb 2015

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INDEX
1) TITLE PAGE 2
2) DECLARATION CERTIFICATE 4
3) INDUSTRY APPROVAL LETTER 5
TABLE OF CONTENT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 6
PREFACE- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 7
1) AIMS & OBJECTIVES 8
2) RESEARCH DESIGN
I. METHODOLOGY & SAMPLE TECHNIQUES 9
II. HYPOTHESIS 10
III. QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN 11
3) RESULTS & INTERPRETATION
I. SUMMARY OF FORM REPONSES 18
4) SUMMARY & CONCLUSION
I. DATA ANALYSIS & FINDINGS 53
II. LIMITATIONS 59
5) BIBLIOGRAPHY 60

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TITLE PAGE
Pre-launch content evaluation of an animated cartoon movie ‘Ramaanna’ in Pune District

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DECLARATION CERTIFICATE

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Declaration by the Candidate
I hereby declare that this dissertation entitled
‘Pre-launch content evaluation of an animated movie ‘Ramanna’
submitted to Symbiosis International University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
award of degree of Master of Business Administration – Communication Management
(specialization :Media Management) is an original and genuine research work carried out by me
under the guidance of Dr.Prasanna Hulikavi, Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication
and that it has not formed the basis for the award of any degree/diploma /associate
ship/fellowship or any other similar title to any candidate of any university.
Countersigned
Sanika Deshpande
Name of the Candidate
Dr. Prasanna Hulikavi
(Name of the guide)
Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication,
Lavale Village, Pune

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INDUSTRY APPROVAL LETTER

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank my ever helpful guiding mentor, Dr. Prasanna Hulikavi for her support and
valuable inputs throughout the duration of my working towards my dissertation. My colleagues
and the institute have also been a valuable source of knowledge, inspiration and support.
I have gained valued learnings in course of completing this dissertation and had the opportunity
to interact and gain insights from several learned and respected individuals. This dissertation
gave me an opportunity to explore the perspectives of children towards new cartoons and their
expectations from the shows. Overall, the experience of conducting research proved valuable not
only to seek new knowledge but for personal learnings as well.

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PREFACE - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
There is a growth in the broadcasting of local themed and generated show content in the
Indian kids' space, resulting in the development and purchase of local content by kid’s
genre channels in India. This research is based at understanding the viewing behavior
and reaction of target audiences regarding the produced animation content. The results of
the analysis will be used as a ‘piece of evidence’ for the guarantee of success of show for
broadcasters. It will also enable the comparison of preferences towards international
content versus local content. This study shall also help to gauge the relevancy of the
content with respect to the preferences of rural and urban audience. It is important to
evaluate the level of familiarity the audience experience while watching the content.
Characters and Storyline play a significant role in developing the fondness towards the
content by target audience. Hence understanding their views and sentiments about the
both the factors becomes one of the central outlines in the research. Ideally, broadcasters
look for exceptional characters in normal situation than normal characters in exceptional
situation. This helps to pull the audience for long term association with the characters.
Thus assessing under which category the characters fall under is important for the pitch.
This study ultimately aims to help the animation producers ascertain and gauge the
relevancy of the content they are producing.

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AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
 To evaluate the degree of familiarity & likability of story
 To assess the predictability of story by the target audience
 To understand the level of involvement with the story and characters
 To assess the level of liking for character design & personality
 To gauge the level of association with the characters
 To evaluate the degree of impact of characters on the audience
 To examine whether audience will like the characters out of story context
 To understand whether they will share the experience with friends

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RESEARCH DESIGN
METHODOLOGY & SAMPLING
This section will explain the data collection methodology and details on what sampling
techniques shall be utilized in selecting and collecting data for the research.
This research is primarily exploratory in nature, but for this kind of process and nature of data
requirements, this would require information collection in two phases.
1. The first phase would involve collecting primary data. This would involve data collection
in the form of surveys and questionnaires (physical copies) to ascertain or gauge the
likability, identification with characters, level of association with the characters, liking of
character design. This will be quantitative in nature as the data would then be converted
to numbers and quantified basis the parameters. Data will be gathered to understand the
level of involvement with the story and characters and degree of impact of character on
them. A questionnaire would be designed to collect data on this aspect. However,
considering the timelines of this research and limitations imposed on a single researcher,
the target group will be limited to
a. Children age group 4 – 14, Boys & Girls from rural and urban, SEC A, B & C from Pune
District
b. Sample Size – 120 individuals
The tools for quantifying this data would be Excel. The responses for each parameter would be
coded accordingly and then measured across individual samples.
This Phase would thus focus on the phenomena of time-shifted viewing and consumption of
online TV content occurring within this target group and their preferences.

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Sampling Process 1 Sampling Frame Non-Probability Sampling
Sampling Unit Girls & Boys in the age group of 4-14 in Pune
district
Sampling Method/Technique Random Sampling
Sample Size 120 Individuals
Data Collection Method Questionnaires, Focused Group Discussion
Research Technique Quantitative, Qualitative
The mentioned sample procedures across both phases have also been selected keeping in mind
certain key aspects –
a. Goal Orientation – The sample shall enable me to fulfill my basic research objectives
b. Measurability – Sample is finite enough and enables computation
c. Practicality – Design is simple enough to follow through and is executable
d. Economy – Objectives of the survey can be achieved with minimum cost and effort without
compromising on research results and quality
HYPOTHESIS
A hypothesis would be on based on primary attempt to determine if there is likability for the
content ‘Ramaanna’. This will also help us to understand whether the target audience is ready to
accept and to associate with the new characters from the content
Null Hypothesis (H0) - There is positive sentiment for the content ‘Ramaanna’
Alternate Hypothesis (HA/H1) - There is no positive sentiment for the content ‘Ramaanna’

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QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN
The questionnaire designed according to the objectives of both as well as the according to the
research technique and data collection methods applied.
Since research employs quantitative data collection methods, it will follow a format of questions
that seek to understand audience/sample responses with regards to their opinion regarding the
new content, level of likability and attachment to the newly produced animated content. The
questionnaire design here would primarily have the following characteristics –
 Structured – The questionnaire will consist of a formal list of questions framed to get
the appropriate responses. The questionnaire will follow a prescribed and predefined
order of questions and the researcher shall ask them strictly in this predetermined order.
This will enable data collection and response recording in a systematic and orderly
manner.
 Disguised – Respondents are not told about the purpose of conducting survey. It is used
to examine issues for which direct questions may not elicit truthful answers. Many a
times when the respondents comes to know the objective of the survey, biased answers
can be given which totally defends the purpose of the research
Questionnaire Pre Testing
This is an important aspect which would involve the researcher testing the questionnaire on a
few samples before carrying out the survey or data collection on the entire sample base. A pilot
test of the questionnaire would be undertaken before carrying it out in full swing. This will be
done so as to understand the effectiveness of the questionnaire in getting relevant responses
aligned to the research objective

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Questionnaire
GROUP NO -
School - ___________________________
Name of Student:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Gender: Male / Female (Male – Boy / Female – Girl)
Standard: ________________________________
How old are you? / Age: ___________________ yrs.
Q1. Do you like to watch new cartoons?
1) Yes 2) No
Q2. Did you like the character?
- Rama
1) Yes 2) No
- Anna
1) Yes 2) No

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Q4. How much did you like the following characters?
- Rama
Very Much Mostly Fine Not Much Not at all
- Anna
Very Much Mostly Fine Not Much Not at all
- Villain
Very Much Mostly Fine Not Much Not at all
- Dragon
Very Much Mostly Fine Not Much Not at all
- Old Wicked
Very Much Mostly Fine Not Much Not at all

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Q5. Do you like the character design (Look) of following characters?
- Rama
1) Yes 2) No 3) Don’t Know
Why if Yes/ No ________________________________
- Anna
1) Yes 2) No 3) Don’t Know
Why if Yes / No _________________________________
- Villain
1) Yes 2) No 3) Don’t Know
Why if Yes / No _________________________________

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Q5. Which character did you like the most?
1) Rama 2) Anna 3) Villain 4) Dragon 5) Old wicked
Q6. Do you think you are like the following characters?
- Rama
1) Yes 2) No
If Yes, why __________________________________________________
If No, why not _______________________________________________
- Anna
1) Yes 2) No
If Yes, why __________________________________________________
If No, why not _______________________________________________
Q7. Who do you think these characters are like?
1) Rama __________ why ____________________________
2) Anna ___________ why _____________________________

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Q8. After watching trailer, how memorable do you think these characters are?
- Rama
Very Much Mostly Fine Not Much Not at all
- Anna
Very Much Mostly Fine Not Much Not at all
Q9. Will you tell your friends about Rama & Anna (Share the experience of watching
trailer)?
1) Yes 2) No
Q 10. Did you find the trailer exciting?
1) Yes 2) No
Q 11. Will you like to follow to watch other trailers?
1) Yes 2) No
Q 12. Will you go and watch the movie?
1) Yes 2) No
Q 13. How much did you like the content overall?
Very Much Mostly Fine Not Much Not at all

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Q 14. What do you think of the movie overall?
Questionnaire Design: Points to Note
• The questionnaire shall be administered to only those that fit the criteria of the sample; hence
elimination questions on the questionnaire are limited
• The purpose of the questionnaire and objective behind the survey shall not be revealed to the
respondent before he/she fills the survey

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RESULTS & INTERPRETATIONS
I. Openness to new content
a) Age wise comparison
81%
10% 9%
Openess to new cartoon content
Yes No Sometimes
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
Group 6
Sometimes
No
Yes

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b) Gender wise comparison
(Boys v/s Girls)
Girls
Boys
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
4-5 yrs 6-7 yrs 8-9 yrs 10-11 yrs 12-13 yrs 14-15 yrs
Yes
No
Sometimes
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
4-5 yrs 6-7 yrs 8-9 yrs 10-11 yrs 12-13 yrs 14-15 yrs
Yes
No
Sometimes

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c) Demographic wise comparison
(Urban v/s Rural)
Comparative Chart
Urban
Rural
0
20
40
60
80
100
No Sometimes Yes
Rural
Urban
0
5
10
15
20
4-5 yrs 6-7 yrs 8-9 yrs 10-11 yrs 12-13 yrs 14-15 yrs
Yes
No
Sometimes

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II. Likability
1) Likability of Characters

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a) Age wise comparison
b) Gender wise comparison
u

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2) Design of Main Characters
a) Age wise comparison
 Rama

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 Anna
b) Gender wise comparison
 Design of Character Rama - Female

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 Design of Character Anna - Female
 Design of Character Rama - Male

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 Design of Character Anna - Male
c) Demographic wise comparison
 Rama
 Anna
0
20
40
60
80
100
Don't Know No Yes
Rural
Urban
0
20
40
60
80
100
Don't Know No Yes
Rural
Urban

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III.Favourite Character
a) Age wise comparison

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b) Gender wise comparison
 Female
 Male

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c) Demographic wise comparison
6%
6%
13%
19%
56%
Urban
Anna Dragon Old Witch Rama Villain

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Rural Market – Age wise comparison
Urban Market – Age wise comparison

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IV.Association with Characters
a) Age wise comparison
 Rama
 Anna

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b) Gender wise comparison
 Rama
 Anna

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 Rama ( Female v/s Male )
 Anna ( Female v/s Male )

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c) Demographic wise comparison
 Rama
 Anna
Rama (Urban Female v/s Urban Male)

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Rama ( Rural Female v/s Rural Male )
Anna (Urban Female v/s Urban Male)

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Anna (Rural Female v/s Rural Male)
V. Originality of Characters ( Linking with other cartoon characters )
 Rama

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 Anna
a) Age wise comparison
 Rama

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 Anna
b) Gender wise comparison
 Rama
 Anna

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c) Demographic wise comparison
 Rama
 Anna

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VI.Memorability of Characters
a) Age wise comparison
 Rama
 Anna

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 Villain
 Dragon
 Old witch

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b) Gender wise comparison
 Female
 Male

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c) Demographic wise comparison
 Urban
 Rural

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Rural Male
Urban Male

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Urban Female
Rural Female

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VII. Miscellaneous Information
1) Sharing with friends
2) Impact of Trailer
 Age wise comparison
 Demographic wise comparison

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 Gender wise comparison

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3) Interest in Continuity
4) Ramaanna Movie Watchers
a) Age wise comparison

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b) Gender wise comparison
 Female
 Male
c) Demographic wise comparison

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 Urban
 Rural

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5) Liking of Overall Content

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a) Age wise comparison
b) Gender wise comparison
c) Geographic wise comparison

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SUMMARY & CONCLUSION
Data Analysis & Findings
I. OPENNESS TO NEW CONTENT -
 Majority of kids (81%) in the ages of 4 - 14 are willing to watch and try out new cartoon
shows
 There is high level of openness regarding new cartoon shows from the age groups 4 yrs
and onwards till 10 yrs. Rigidity in terms of new content acceptance is seen in the age
group of 11 yrs. Girls are also observed to be likelier to watch new cartoon shows while
boys prefer watching shows of familiar characters
 The rural market is more open to experiment the new content as compared to the urban
market. In case of the urban market, a steep fall is seen in acceptance of new content as
the age processes while rural market, high levels of acceptance in trying out new content
is seen over the different age groups
II. LIKABILITY –
a) Likability of Characters as a whole –
‘Rama’ earned the highest score followed by ‘Villain’
 The most liked character (in terms of weightage score) is Rama followed by Villain
 The least liked character is Anna both by girls and boys across all age groups except the
age group of 12 – 13yrs
 Rama was equally scored by both girls and boys while the character Villain was more
liked by girls as compared to boys. Due to a much lesser score given by the boys to
Villain, Rama earned a higher likability score in comparison
 Anna, owing to his negative characteristics of being fat and lazy, scored the least, while
Rama was liked the most due to his naughtiness and mischievous characteristic traits. The

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Villain on the other hand, was more liked by girls as compared to boys due to his stylish
look and sense of fashion as is portrayed
b) Design of Characters (Look and Stylization of Characters)
 85% of sample kids have liked the character design of Rama, while 9 % have not liked
the design. The top common reasons for liking a character were, having a ‘funny look’,
‘mischievous’ and ‘naughty look’, ‘cute eyes’ followed by ‘looks smart’ while the
reasons for not liking were ‘common look’, ‘monkey look’ while some were not able to
provide any reason
 In case of Anna, 60% of kids didn’t like the character design of Anna at all while 30%
liked it. The top common reason of not liking Anna was him being ‘fat’, having bald hair
followed by having an ordinary design. Around 71% of kids who didn’t like Anna’s
design i.e. (60 % of parent sample) also found Anna to be fat
 These reflect the character associations and the preference for certain traits over others
which could help determine the popularity of a character
III. FAVOURITE CHARACTER
 40% of kids chose Villain as their most favourite character followed by 24% for Rama
 Girls across all age groups showed a preference for the Villain more than any other
character. In case of lower age groups in boys (4- 9 yrs.), they were more attracted
towards Dragon as a creature and amongst the older aged boys ( 10-14 yrs), showed
more fascination towards Rama
 Demographically, Villain has ranked to be the most favorite with a share of 56% and
54% in the urban and rural markets respectively

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 Kids from the rural market have been observed to reject and not prefer or choose Anna as
their favorite character while only 6% from urban markets accepted Anna as their
favorite character. The main reasons observed for this phenomena of common
disagreement towards the acceptance or likeability of Anna’s character have been found
to be due to his physical appearance of being bulky and bald
 21 % of rural market kids were also found to be more fascinated by the mystical nature &
appearance of the old witch as compared to 13 % of the respondents in the urban markets
IV. ASSOCIATION WITH MAIN CHARACTERS –
 74% of sample kids were able to associate with the personality traits of Rama. While
76% of kids did not find any connection with character Anna.
 In the case of age group comparison, the number of kids who identified themselves with
Rama was significantly higher as against those who did not find any association with the
character Rama.
 In case of the character Rama, the numbers of boys who identified themselves with the
character was much higher as compared to the number of girls who identified themselves
with the character across all age groups.
 While in case of the character Anna, the rejection of any association with the character
was more in case of girls than in boys. The rate of rejection was higher in children
belonging to the rural market as compared to children belonging to the urban market,
across all age groups.
V. ORIGINALITY OF MAIN CHARACTERS (Linkage with other cartoon characters)
 66% of kids found a similarity between Rama and Jaggu, the monkey from Chhota
Bheem series. The main reason is because of both being monkeys. While second majority
i.e. 16% of kids found the character Rama to be new and original.
 In the case of Anna, 45% of kids found the personality trait of Anna i.e. ‘Lazy’, to be
similar to Kalia from Chhota Bheem series due to physical attributes of being fat and
bulky in size. While 17% of kids, found Anna to be a new and original character.

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VI. MEMORABILITY OF CHARACTERS –
 Villain earned the highest memorability score followed by Rama while Anna received the
lowest score. Urban girls as compared to other groups found the character Villain more
memorable. While both urban and rural boys found Rama more memorable as compared
to the rest of the characters.
VII. OTHER FACTORS
1) Sharing the information and experience with friends -
 95% of target sample were willing to share the unique experience and
information about watching the trailer and characters of the Movie ‘Ramaanna’.
This demonstrates the high level of enthusiasm with regard to the content
experience. This insight also depicts the high possibility of ‘word of mouth’
publicity generation regarding the movie and its characters, which can attract
additional audiences to watch the movie.
2) Impact of Trailers –
 Age Group wise, a constant decrease in impact of the trailer was seen due to the
response of urban market kids.
 Demographically, all the kids from rural backgrounds, found the trailer impactful
while kids with urban backgrounds found the trailer less impactful as the age
progressed. After analyzing the kids belonging to the urban market further, it was
found that there was a large impact on boys as compared to girls. Thus, urban
girls found the trailer to be less impactful as compared to the rest.
 The flow of the trailer, the quality of animation and sequencing of scenes were
the major issues in case of qualitative analysis.

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3) Interest in Continuity –
 93% of kids were willing to subscribe or follow the Ramaanna movie trailers.
This shows the high level of interest and curiosity to gain additional information
regarding the movie. Younger kids were found to be more enthusiastic about
continuing to follow updates about the characters as compared to tween kids
4) Ramaanna Movie Watchers -
 76% of kids stated that they would definitely watch the movie as compared to
14%, who were unwilling to see it. While 10% were confused and wanted to see
additional trailers of the movie in order to make their decision on whether to
watch the movie or not.
 Age wise, a steep increase was seen in the percentage of kids who were confused
about whether to watch the movie or not. Similarly, an increase in the percentage
of kids who were reluctant to watch the movie was observed amongst kids above
the age of 12 years. Demographically, the kids belonging to the rural market
were more interested in watching the movie as compared to their urban
counterparts.
5) Likability of overall idea and content –
 Overall, the content has earned a weightage score of 3.08/4 which is equal to
‘Good’. Across all age groups, the content has grossed more than average
likability of 2 out of 4 score.
 Age group wise, kids till the age of 9 years have marked higher levels of
likability as compared to early tweens. Gender wise, boys have rated higher
liking of content as compared to girls.
 Marketwise, rural kids of all age group have liked the content more as compared
to rural kids.

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LIMITATIONS
Limitation in terms of initial sample survey (144) is restricted to Pune District, Maharashtra,
India only. Mass audiences were ill represented so data is representative of audiences from
particular geographical area only. The sample population comprises a lesser segment of the
population so can be generalized to Pune as geographical region as such and not the population
as whole

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
The reception of global TV in Asia: An assessment of its impact on local cultures.
Asian Journal of Communication, 9(1), 1-20. Doi: 10.1080/01292989909359612
The formation of new media preferences among pre-school children in the context of peer
culture and home interaction: A pedagogical perspective
Kristi Vinter: Department of Educational Sciences, Tallinn University
Ericsson. (2013). TV & Media Consumer Lab.
KPMG. (2014). FICCI Frames - Indian Media and Entertainment Industry Report. KPMG.