The comic series Amar Chitra Katha that has been entertaining the Indian masses with its several mythological stories and folklore ever since its inception in 1952 was purchased the Mumbai based entertainment and education company, ACK Media from its original owner, India Book House (IBH) recently. Along with it, the ACK Media is also learnt to have acquired the ownership of the equally popular Tinkle Comics. The television boom caused the popularity of Amar Chitra Katha to somewhat dip.
A boost in the sales of both Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle comics in expected despite the known fact that in the age of Harry Potter, its acquisition by ACK Media will probably not cause a significant stir among the target readers. This decision to hand over the comic series to ACK Media was taken by IBH owners, Padmini and Deepak Mirchandani, who recognized that this was not really their focus area. It was, however, after several months of deliberations and negotiations that IBH finally decided to divest this brand.
Though the details of the deal have not been revealed, Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle are both known to be lucrative brands selling some 2.6 million titles every year. To expand the popularity of the brands among readers further, the ACK Media will introduce five offerings - Amar Chitra Katha Illustrated Classics, the Tinkle family of Magazines, The ACK Online Store, TinkleOnline.com and a set of proprietary characters. There are also other plans which ACK Media has up its sleeves.
ACK Media has declared that it will concentrate on creating new content and products, which will be made accessible in multiple formats including print, DVDs, online services, games, film and television. The focus of the Mumbai-based company is threefold. First it will increase the availability of print and digital products in 500 plus retail stores that already sell ACK Media offerings. Second, it will introduce online services and the third plan is to license and jointly create proprietary content for films, TV, mobile and other formats.
