BUYER BRIEFING The fourth edition of the TV Kids Summer Festival kicked off with a session featuring KiKA’s Sebastian Debertin, M6 Group’s Coralie Boitrelle-Laigle, RTÉ’s Suzanne Kelly and Sandbox Group’s Ellen Solberg discussing their programming strategies.
PARAMOUNT’S RAMSEY NAITO The president of animation for Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation, Ramsey Naito, weighed in on the strengths of Paramount’s animated output across television, film and digital and the keys to franchise-building.
IN THE KNOW WITH DUBIT Dubit’s David W. Kleeman showcased new research on kids’ content trends and discussed the challenges of discoverability and brand-building in conversation with children’s media expert Emily Horgan.
KNOWN IP As platforms and audiences alike clamor for known properties, Sesame Workshop’s Kay Wilson Stallings, Tiger Aspect Kids & Family’s Tom Beattie and ZDF Studios’ Oliver Grundel shared tips and tricks for maintaining long-running franchises and rebooting beloved classics.
HASBRO ENTERTAINMENT’S OLIVIER DUMONT As president of Hasbro Entertainment, Olivier Dumont leads the unit tasked with adapting the toy giant’s beloved brands across multiple mediums.
BETTER TOGETHER Serious Kids’ Genevieve Dexter, Dandelooo’s Emmanuèle Pétry, DeAPlaneta Entertainment’s Carlos Biern and The Co-Production Company’s Doug Schwalbe discussed the ins and outs of co-productions.
TV KIDS PIONEER AWARD: ADINA PITT For her outstanding contributions to the children’s media business, Adina Pitt was presented the TV Kids Pioneer Award as she shared her approach to acquisitions and co-productions.
KEITH CHAPMAN The creator of such iconic brands as Bob the Builder and PAW Patrol, Keith Chapman talked about navigating the kids’ content landscape today.
WATCHING WINDOWS As exclusivity needs change, we spotlighted successful windowing strategies being used to maximize the long-tail value of content with HARI’s Sophie “Kido” Prigent, PBS Distribution’s Joe Barrett and Thunderbird Entertainment’s Richard Goldsmith.
POCKET.WATCH’S ALBIE HECHT The chief content officer of pocket.watch, Albie Hecht, offered up his views on the keys to success in the creator economy.
DISNEY BRANDED TELEVISION’S ALYSSA SAPIRE Alyssa Sapire showcased what’s driving the success of The Walt Disney Company’s preschool service, Disney Jr.
CYBER GROUP TOONS IN An inside look at Cyber Group Studios’ approach to animation innovation with Dominique Bourse, chairman and CEO; Raphaëlle Mathieu, COO; and Pierre Belaïsch, chief creative officer.
NINA HAHN Industry veteran Nina Hahn, a Nickelodeon alum who has now founded the consultancy Luna Bean Partners, articulated her thoughts on where the kids’ media business is headed.
MARC BROWN Creator Marc Brown, behind the long-running success Arthur , shared the message of celebrating uniqueness in his new show Hop
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Ricardo Seguin Guise
Publisher
Mansha Daswani
Editor-in-Chief
Anna Carugati
Editor-at-Large
Kristin Brzoznowski Executive Editor
Jamie Stalcup
Senior Associate Editor
Alexa Alfano Associate Editor
David Diehl
Production & Design Director
Simon Weaver Online Director
Dana Mattison Sales & Marketing Director
Genovick Acevedo Sales & Marketing Manager
Ute Schwemmer Bookkeeper
Ricardo Seguin Guise President
Anna Carugati Executive VP
Mansha Daswani
Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development TV Kids
401 Park Avenue South, Suite 1041, New York, NY 10016, U.S.A. Phone: (212) 924-7620
Website: www.tvkids.com
BRIEFING Buyer
The fourth edition of the TV Kids Summer Festival kicked off with a powerhouse opening session featuring KiKA’s Sebastian Debertin, M6 Group’s Coralie Boitrelle-Laigle, RTÉ’s Suzanne Kelly and Sandbox Group’s Ellen Solberg discussing their programming strategies.
An absolute prerequisite is strong box-set rights for our VOD player. We’re also trying to build our brand significantly on YouTube.”
—Suzanne Kelly
It is not about giving kids a written manual or a handbook, but some kind of smaller or bigger solutions for their daily lives and their future.”
—Sebastian Debertin
We want the content to inspire kids to discover new hobbies and to go out and do things outside of the app and TV.”
—Ellen Solberg
We are taking exclusive rights where possible and wherever we can, but it always depends on the IP, and we’re open to discussing things case by case. ”
—Coralie
Boitrelle-Laigle
Paramount’s RAMSEY NAIT
Ramsey Naito, the president of animation for Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation, weighed in on the strengths of Paramount’s animated output across television, film and digital and the keys to franchise-building in this keynote address.
AITO
You have to be focused on marketing campaigns that reach audiences and know where kids are and speak to kids. You have to tell stories that are relevant with characters that feel authentic and fresh and that kids can identify with and see themselves in. And then how are you going to make everyone know you have these great characters and great stories? You’ve got to go to TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.”
DUBIT In the Know with
Dubit’s David W. Kleeman showcased new research on kids’ content trends and discussed the challenges of discoverability and brandbuilding in conversation with children’s media expert Emily Horgan.
Preschool is much easier to concentrate on and figure out what will work for a broad audience. You get to 6 to 9 and you’ve got your gamers, your TV kids, your YouTube kids, and they have di ff erent hobbies. It can be really hard to gain traction at that age. We talk about 6 to 9, and a little bit of 9 to 12, as the ‘middle kingdom.’ ”
—David W. Kleeman
Discovery in streaming is having a major crisis. Back on linear, we knew how to program. Streaming interfaces are built up from the EPGs of the past, and there’s nothing less engaging than an EPG. The discovery mechanism that streaming is based on doesn’t really service the audience. With platforms like YouTube and, to a certain extent, Roblox, the discovery algorithms are much more tactile. They can communicate much more seamlessly with a potential viewer of that content.”
—Emily Horgan
KNOWN IP
As platforms and audiences alike clamor for known properties, Sesame Workshop’s Kay Wilson Stallings, Tiger Aspect Kids & Family’s Tom Beattie and ZDF Studios’ Oliver Grundel shared tips and tricks for maintaining long-running franchises and rebooting beloved classics.
You can put a book on a broadcaster’s table and they can see that there’s some backing and maybe a small audience behind it, and therefore feel a bit more comforted that it exists as a brand before they dip their toes in and join that IP.”
—Tom Beattie
A lot of distributors are looking for content that’s got that known IP, so they have something that audiences will automatically be familiar with and gravitate toward.”
—Kay Wilson Stallings
Typically, when we assess the risk of a brand, established IP versus the new content, we look at several factors: historical data, audience recognition and international appeal. Does it travel? Does it have the chance to be a franchise on multiple platforms?”
—Oliver Grundel
OLIVIER DUM Hasbro Entertainment’s
As president of Hasbro Entertainment, Olivier Dumont leads the unit tasked with adapting the toy giant’s beloved brands across multiple mediums.
UMONT
You need to surround the consumers with diff erent pieces of content that reinforce the ethos of your franchise messaging. This includes core long-form content supplemented by digital content created specifically for YouTube and social media platforms. And finally, of course, digital gaming content on Roblox or Fortnite. This is a much more extensive undertaking than the way to reach kids before, which would have been linear entertainment. That means you need to place your bets very carefully. This is where research and insights become critical. Hasbro has significantly increased its content research budget to ensure that the concepts we output meet the consumers’ wants and needs.”
TOGETHER Better
Serious Kids’ Genevieve Dexter, Dandelooo’s Emmanuèle Pétry, DeAPlaneta Entertainment’s Carlos Biern and The Co-Production Company’s Doug Schwalbe discussed the ins and outs of co-productions.
Any show needs to be driven by only one boss. ” —Doug
Schwalbe
It’s too complicated to finance outside of the European model. In this difficult time, you focus on what you know best: your own broadcasters and your nearby neighbors.”
—Emmanuèle Pétry
When you co-produce, it market tests your IP…with the opinions of people in other countries as to whether it creatively passes the test.”
—Genevieve Dexter
We are in a time when coproductions make more sense than ever. We are not only putting together budgets that make sense and are reasonable for our traditional investors, but we are also in a time when technology and talent are the keys. ”
—Carlos Biern
ADINA PITT TV Kids Pioneer Award:
For her outstanding contributions to the children’s media business, Adina Pitt was presented the TV Kids Pioneer Award as she shared her approach to acquisitions and co-productions.
To those of us who have dedicated our careers to the kids’ industry writ large, it’s a calling. We are part of a community that stays through the good, the bad and the ugly, all in service of the greatest audience: kids. They always say what they think and mean what they say. That’s a tough audience because they will let you know in real time what they like and don’t like. There’s something refreshing about that honesty. And it keeps us all innovating because they expect us to up our ante with everything we do. As the world becomes even more complicated, there is no greater time to serve this audience with safe, entertaining, memory-making content.”
KEITH CHAPM
The creator of such iconic brands as Bob the Builder and PAW Patrol, Keith Chapman talked about navigating the kids’ content landscape today.
PMAN
I can get in the door with my track record, but it’s still tricky to get a show greenlit. For a young creator, it’s a tough world to come into. There are so many more people doing it than when I started. They’re all pitching to the same broadcasters, but the broadcasters are swamped. Their slots are filled because the budgets are spent. You have to be determined and stay in it for the long game. You’re spending money and time on these things, and if they don’t get picked up, it’s money wasted. Everybody is doing it because they love what they do. That’s the most important thing: You have to love what you’re doing. And just hope that you get a lucky break.”
WINDOWS Watching
As exclusivity needs change, we spotlighted successful windowing strategies being used to maximize the long-tail value of content with HARI’s Sophie “Kido” Prigent, PBS Distribution’s Joe Barrett and Thunderbird Entertainment’s Richard Goldsmith.
Broadcasters are conscious of the fact that you need to build brand awareness. They are less worried about YouTube and the effect that it will have on their viewership because they understand that it actually benefits them.”
—Sophie “Kido” Prigent
The release approach needs to be a multiplatform strategy, and having your content on multiple platforms with tightening budgets tends to lend toward non-exclusivity. ”
—Joe Barrett
A platform that has traditionally, or at least in the last ten years, said, ‘We need global rights,’ has now said, ‘It’s OK if you bring in a partner in a couple of territories and we can give them a first window.’ That allows us to bring in co-production partners and do a couple of presales.”
—Richard Goldsmith
pocket.watch’s ALBIE HECHT
Albie Hecht, chief content officer of pocket.watch, off ered up his views on the keys to success in the creator economy.
We make what we call ‘TVready compilations.’ We take those snackables, put them into half-hour shows, curate them and enrich them with original content. They’re long-form series of the best of [creators’] YouTube content, with original packaging and content to go with it. TV wants half-hours, and we can distribute that around the world. You see our content on over 40 platforms, from Hulu to Peacock to Sky in the U.K.”
Disney Branded Televisio ALYSSA SAPI
Alyssa Sapire showcased what’s driving the success of The Walt Disney Company’s preschool service, Disney Jr.
Disney Jr. is the preschool brand for The Walt Disney Company and the first touchpoint for that lifelong relationship with Disney. We are careful about making sure that our stories are filled with signature qualities: magic, wonder, adventure and heart. We ensure that our characters are relatable and funny. We want young viewers to connect to our stories, to see themselves in our characters—who have a range of real emotions and experiences that kids can relate to—and also get a window into how others navigate relationships and emotions. Our characters are largely curious, optimistic and joyful; that’s a real reflection of where preschoolers are.”
TOONS IN Cyber Group
An inside look at Cyber Group Studios’ approach to animation innovation with Dominique Bourse, chairman and CEO; Raphaëlle Mathieu, COO; and Pierre Belaïsch, chief creative officer.
—Dominique Bourse
We are at the forefront of various trends coming from the video game industry to the production of linear content with real-time rendering technologies. We are also heavily investing in research and development in three main areas: real-time production, AI and machine learning. We do not see AI creating in lieu of artists. We see AI as enabling artists to go further and demonstrate their talent and creativity more.”
Having a large, diverse library is a strong asset to be able to propose content worldwide to a wide variety of potential buyers. ”
—Raphaëlle Mathieu
It’s about listening to the market. But on the other hand, [it’s crucial to] bring your own creativity and approach because that’s what makes the content diff erent.”
—Pierre Belaïsch
NINA HAHN
Industry veteran Nina Hahn, a Nickelodeon alum who has now founded the consultancy Luna Bean Partners, articulated her thoughts on where the kids’ media business is headed.
Chaos allows you to agitate and think diff erently. It allows you to be über-innovative in a world where the deals are confusing and hard to find, and you’ve got to be super resourceful. Genius comes out of that creative freedom. It’s important to look at how we make content, what we’re making and who we’re making it for in a way that is half startup mentality but also half absolute resourcefulness. A diff erent lens will allow you to look at content in another way, whether it’s the length of it, the end user, where you’re doing it, how you’re funding it or how close you are working with the commercial side. The ingenuity and entrepreneurial aspect of chaos as it attaches to creative is a fantastic runway.”
MARC BROW
Creator Marc Brown, behind the long-running success Arthur, shared the message of celebrating uniqueness in his new show Hop.
We felt that we could offer children something that’s helpful and hopeful. That’s what we wanted Hop to do. We see the plots as simple but grounded in big emotions. We want to know how characters feel about an event. The way they feel about something is almost as important as the event itself.”
