TV Kids MIPCOM 2021

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TVKIDS

WWW.TVKIDS.COM

MIPCOM & MIPJUNIOR/OCTOBER 2021 EDITION

AVOD Deals / Comedy / BLE Special Report / Mattel’s Ynon Kreiz / WarnerMedia’s Tom Ascheim Sensical’s Eric Berger / Aardman’s Sean Clarke / Guru’s Big Blue / BBC’s Sarah Muller / PBS KIDS’ Linda Simensky In-Demand: Preschool & Comedy / DR’s Niels Lindberg

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CONTENTS

The Ties That Bind As I write this column, I am feeling cautiously optimistic that I will be back on a plane a few weeks from now, making my way from New York to Cannes for what I expect to be a MIPCOM—and MIPJunior—like no other.

Ricardo Seguin Guise Publisher Anna Carugati Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani Editor Kristin Brzoznowski Executive Editor Chelsea Regan Managing Editor Jamie Stalcup Associate Editor David Diehl Production & Design Director Simon Weaver Online Director Dana Mattison Senior Sales & Marketing Manager Genovick Acevedo Sales & Marketing Coordinator Andrea Moreno Business Affairs Manager

Ricardo Seguin Guise President Anna Carugati Executive VP Mansha Daswani Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development TV Kids ©2021 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website: www.tvkids.com

MIPJunior as we have all known it—the packed lobbies of the Martinez, Carlton or JW Marriott; the scramble to get a table; buyers spending hours on end in ballrooms converted into screenings lounges; the fabulous beachside parties—will not exist this year, with a compressed version of the event taking place alongside MIPCOM inside the Palais. And, as we all know, attendance won’t be what it was as travelers fret over variants, testing, vaccine proof, QR codes and paperwork—that’s where I am! And yet, this is the most excited I’ve been about anything since, well, before the pandemic that shall not be named showed up and turned our lives inside out.

There is something special about the international kids’ community, isn’t there? It is its own little universe with friendships forged over many, many years of showing up in the same city every few months. Friendships that became partnerships (both the work and personal kinds). The casual conversation that became the deal that transformed your business. The intel gathered at workshops and panels (and, of course, afterparties) that helped inform a decision—leading you to make the right one and (hopefully) not the wrong one. The heavily European contingent that made it to Annecy and Cartoon Forum have already had a taste of what a return to live events feels like. From what I’ve heard, it’s not quite what it was, but just having a small taste of that bustling market energy was a blissful start.

And the kids’ business is at a fever pitch right now: lots of commissions, tons of new ideas and narrative techniques, a real attempt to embrace diversity and the promise of lucrative future revenues as AVOD expands—a sector we take a deep dive into in this issue with a special report from me and a Q&A with Common Sense Networks’ Eric Berger. We also hear about the keys to getting kids’ comedy right, given how in-demand that genre is. We spotlight brand-building plans, which these days must cross physical and online platforms. And we hear from some of the biggest names in the business, including Mattel’s Ynon Kreiz, WarnerMedia’s Tom Ascheim, Aardman’s Sean Clarke and more.

—Mansha Daswani

GET DAILY NEWS ON KIDS’ PROGRAMMING

FEATURES

FREE FOR ALL

A range of distributors and platforms discuss the booming kids’ AVOD opportunity.

LAUGH TRACK

We hear from producers and distributors about how to make great kids’ comedies, the demand for which has never been higher.

READY TO PLAY

Leading content owners discuss the increasingly important role of digital platforms in establishing and building brands today.

INTO BIG BLUE

A behind-the-scenes look at the new series with creator Gyimah Gariba and Guru Studio’s Frank Falcone.

IN-DEMAND: PRESCHOOL

Spotlighting ZDF Enterprises’ School of Roars, CAKE’s B.O.T. and the BEASTIES, Magic Light Pictures’ Pip and Posy, GO-N’s Simon Super Rabbit, Zodiak Kids’ Mumfie, Planeta Junior’s Milo, Global Screen’s Mister Paper and Serious Kids’ Tulipop.

IN-DEMAND: COMEDY

Spotlighting ZDF Enterprises’ Scream Street, The Muscleteers and Zoom—The White Dolphin; Guru Studio’s Big Blue; Studio 100 Media’s FriendZSpace; Mondo TV Group’s Monster Loving Maniacs; Jetpack Distribution’s Critters TV and PBS International’s Cyberchase.

INTERVIEWS MATTEL’S YNON KREIZ WARNERMEDIA’S TOM ASCHEIM SENSICAL’S ERIC BERGER AARDMAN’S SEAN CLARKE PBS KIDS’ LINDA SIMENSKY BBC’S SARAH MULLER DR’S NIELS LINDBERG

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9 Story Distribution International Circle Square / Weird Waters / Bad Nature

Bad Nature

From the duo The Brothers McLeod, the 9 Story Distribution International title Circle Square centers on a community of nine unique households—from a family of wizards to a family of emergency service owls. In each episode, Vanessa the dragon helps a different household in need. In Weird Waters, four characters are thrown into the deep end of a secret pond full of hidden realms, fish with magical powers and ancient monsters. Kids “will learn that, although you can’t always control where the waters of life take you, if you have good friends by your side, you can always enjoy the ride,” says Alix Wiseman, senior VP of distribution and acquisitions. Bad Nature provides animal facts and figures that delve into the disgusting but truly amazing things animals do.

“It is our mission to create and distribute content that respects children and their emotions.”

—Alix Wiseman

Aardman Interstellar Ella / The Very Small Creatures / Pop Paper City Aardman is highlighting Interstellar Ella, produced by Fabrique Fantastique and Apartment 11, which is an adventure-comedy set in space in the year 3021 that follows the adventures of 8-year-old Ella Ryder. The preschool stopframe series The Very Small Creatures, produced by Aardman, features genderless, inquisitive toddler-like creatures who learn about the world through play. Pop Paper City, produced

by Love Love Films, focuses on a group of friends who live in a paper world. “Each [series] will be fully relatable to the audience, whatever country they live in—whether it be an emotional or aspirational connection to one of the many characters in each of them or an experience that’s portrayed in one of the programs they can identify with,” says Alison Taylor, director of distribution and business development.

Interstellar Ella

“Comedy plays a vital role in each series, and from my experience, everyone loves to laugh.”

—Alison Taylor

ADK Emotions NY Beyblade Burst QuadDrive / Beyblade Burst Surge / Beyblade Burst Rise Several shows from the Beyblade Burst franchise are in ADK Emotions NY’s catalog for MIPCOM, all of which continue to bring the characters and storylines to life by focusing on sports, competition and the excitement of battle. Beyblade Burst QuadDrive is the upcoming sixth season of Beyblade Burst. Beyblade Burst Surge, which precedes QuadDrive and debuted earlier this year, sees brothers Hikaru and Hyuga Asahi work to topple the ruling class of the Blading elite. Beyblade Burst Rise, which precedes Surge and premiered in 2020, centers on Dante Koryu as he prepares to take on the world with his new Bey, Ace Dragon. The Beyblade Burst franchise has a host of new licensing partners in place for products, including toys, for the future.

Beyblade Burst Surge

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Nina & Olga

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Beyond Rights Nina & Olga / The World According to Grandpa / Turbozaurs Based on the best-selling book series Olga the Cloud from Nicoletta Costa, Beyond Rights’ highlight Nina & Olga follows little kids as they get acquainted with themselves and learn about the world. “The delightful stories about friendship and navigating new things in everyday life are universal and timeless with enduring appeal,” says Sarah McCormack, senior VP of acquisitions and co-productions at Beyond Rights. “The fact that the characters are learning to manage their emotions and feelings makes it also feel very current and of the moment.” The World According to Grandpa blends live action and animation, following as grandpa whisks his grandchildren away to exciting new worlds from his couch. The preschool series Turbozaurs features a rescue team of friendly dinosaurs who can transform into machines.

“MIPCOM commemorates the first anniversary of Beyond Rights, and it has been a great year for the business.”

—Sarah McCormack

CAKE Total Drama Island / Tish Tash / Kiri and Lou Two new seasons of the CAKE highlight Total Drama Island are set to premiere in the U.S. The show sees teen contestants face hardcore competition, brutal eliminations and more drama than ever before. The preschool series Tish Tash follows the adventures of a young bear named Tish and her imaginary friend Tash. It premiered on CBeebies in September and was nominated for an International Emmy Kids Award. Also available is a new season of Kiri and Lou, which follows the dinosaur Kiri and her friend Lou as they explore their feelings. Ed Galton, CEO, says, “The stories perfectly capture young children’s emotions in a way that is resonating with audiences of all ages and is seeing an overwhelming response from viewers all over the world.”

Tish Tash

“We continue to do as much business as possible, putting as many shows into production and distributing our catalog far and wide.”

—Ed Galton

Wowzu

Cisneros Media Zumbar / AnimalFanPedia / Wowzu Cisneros Media’s MIPCOM catalog features three edutainment shows focused on teaching children more about the animal kingdom, from where they live to their specific behaviors. In Zumbar, a live-action series with 26 5-minute episodes available, six children play interactively with a variety of animals while learning from them and their ecosystem. The episodes feature challenges, charades, memes, lip-syncing and dancing to make learning fun. In a similar vein, AnimalFanPedia is a preschool edutainment series that introduces families to every kind of animal imaginable.

Wowzu, meanwhile, showcases wild and wacky animal behaviors from around the world in 52 7-minute live-action episodes. The series engages children using visual language, which they know and use to express themselves.

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Cookbook Media Chase and CATCH / Ella / The Jolliest Elf Among Cookbook Media’s highlights is Saturday Animation’s Chase and CATCH, an action-comedy that features a teenager and robot duo as they work to dismantle an outlaw syndicate that has taken over their city. The new animated show Ella, from Island of Misfits in partnership with Boss Mama Media, follows the eponymous 8-year-old who has a magic key that allows her to open portal doors that lead her around the world. “In Ella, we share the thrill of exploring a new culture and location with best friends while appreciating what makes you special and what makes all of us the same,” says Claudia Scott-Hansen, partner at Cookbook Media. From Trick 3D Studios, the holiday series called The Jolliest Elf sees Santa’s elves compete for the title of Jolliest Elf.

Ella

“At the core of all the shows we represent are engaging characters and fun stories relatable to kids everywhere.”

—Claudia Scott-Hansen

Cyber Group Studios 50/50 Heroes / Squared Zebra / The Last Kids on Earth Cyber Group Studios is focused on making content that allows children to laugh and feel more confident. The new series 50/50 Heroes, launching officially at MIPCOM, features half-siblings who inherit superpowers. However, the superpowers are split in half between the two and can only work if they cooperate.

The new preschool show Squared Zebra “is set to bring uplifting moments to small children and let them understand, in a fun way, that it’s cool to be who you are no matter how different you may be,” says Raphaelle Mathieu, senior VP of sales, acquisitions and new media.

Based on the book of the same name, The Last Kids on Earth sees a group of 12-year-olds survive and thrive during a monster and zombie apocalypse.

Squared Zebra

“We need kids to laugh, feel good about themselves and feel empowered.”

—Raphaelle Mathieu

Epic Story Media Hailey and the Hero Hearts / Dex and the Humanimals / Piper’s Pony Tales Epic Story Media’s catalog includes its first three original shows. The new series Hailey and the Hero Hearts features a young girl who receives a magical heirloom bracelet that takes her on big adventures within her own home. Dex and the Humanimals takes place in a world where humananimal hybrids have been living in harmony for centuries.

When everything starts to fall apart, however, Dex, a humanimal who presents as a human boy, uses his extraordinary powers to try to save the day. The preschool series Piper’s Pony Tales sees Piper’s dreams turn into real adventures, during which she discovers that with freedom comes responsibility. Jessica Labi, head of distribution and brand strategy, says, “Our shows focus on universal themes and messages that audiences around the world can relate to.”

“We focus on delivering humor, heart and characterdriven stories.”

—Jessica Labi 98 WORLD SCREEN 10/21

Dex and the Humanimals

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Zoom the White Dolphin

GoldBee Hoodie / Zoom the White Dolphin / The Game Catchers GoldBee’s highlight Hoodie is a parkour-based live-action series that follows the story of Pieter and his friends, who secretly become crime fighters. It now has two seasons and is aimed at tweens and teens. Season two of Zoom the White Dolphin, an animated series for children ages 6 to 10, centers on the underwater adventures of Yann, his sister Marina and Zoom, an intelligent white dolphin they have befriended.

GoldBee is also presenting the brand-new preschool series The Game Catchers, which is about a team of friends who go on an interstellar journey to explore other planets. While on their voyage, they learn about, play and collect new playground games. Christophe Goldberger, managing director, says, “The series is conceived to bring attention back to playground games, promoting an active lifestyle.”

“We continue to offer our clients a diverse slate of high-end kids’ and family programs, commissioned and produced by the best partners in the kids’ industry.”

—Christophe Goldberger

Guang Dong Winsing Company GG Bond: Kung Fu Pork Choppers / Team S.T.E.A.M.! / GOGOBUS GG Bond: Kung Fu Pork Choppers

The seventh season of GG Bond, the Guang Dong Winsing Company highlight Kung Fu Pork Choppers tells a rescue and adventure story across 52 different floating sky cities, starring pigs and their pets who have Chinese kung fu superpowers.

Team S.T.E.A.M.! sees kids overcome problems using the STEM curricula of science, technology, engineering and math, as well as athletics and the arts. The kids make up a tightly knit team with diverse cultural backgrounds who genuinely like each other and enjoy solving problems and sharing knowledge. A series for preschoolers, GOGOBUS follows artificial school bus Gordon, who has the ability to transform into different vehicle shapes. The story is based on social and emotional learning, embracing preschoolers’ fascination with vehicles while encouraging basic scientific thinking skills.

Guru Studio

Pikwik Pack

Big Blue / Pikwik Pack / True and the Rainbow Kingdom Guru Studio’s new comedy adventure Big Blue follows sibling underwater adventurers as they lead a submarine crew with a magical ocean fairy stowaway. The show aims to redefine what family means and was created by Gyimah Gariba, who was on Forbes Magazine’s list of Young African Creatives Rebranding Africa. The preschool series Pikwik Pack emphasizes working together and sharing joy with those in your community. True and the Rainbow Kingdom aims to empower children and encourage being mindful, courageous and respectful of all living things. “True is everything you would want in a hero—she doesn’t wield a sword or wave a wand; instead, it’s her kindness and compassion that make her aspirational for boys and girls all over the world,” says Jonathan Abraham, VP of sales and business development.

“Guru’s roster of original content is continuing to travel around the world.”

—Jonathan Abraham 100 WORLD SCREEN 10/21

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Kidoodle.TV Safe Streaming The Kidoodle.TV Safe Streaming AVOD offer has over 30,000 episodes available for free with no barrier to entry.

It seeks to ensure “that the brands families are looking for are on the service, as well as making sure new brands are discoverable,” says Brenda Bisner, chief content officer.

This includes major brands such as Peppa Pig, PAW Patrol, Baby Shark and Angelina Ballerina. The channel has a gaming offering as well, which has grown 500 percent to include titles from Roblox, Minecraft, Nintendo and more.

Kidoodle.TV also recently launched the first podcast stream for kids. Bisner notes, “Allowing brands a safe place to advertise alongside some of the biggest titles in the world, all within a top-notch user experience, has been a home run for all of our stakeholders.”

“A driving force of our engagement has been curating a fulsome content experience.”

—Brenda Bisner

Konami Cross Media NY Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens / Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS / Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters Konami Cross Media NY’s catalog has a slew of titles dubbed in English from the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. “Yu-Gi-Oh! ranks among the top 25 highest-grossing media franchises in the industry,” says Kristen Gray, president. “With anime content driving subscriptions to streaming services worldwide, it makes sense for buyers to want to work with a known entity that can deliver an audience.” Among the titles available are Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens and the final season of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS with 38 episodes. The first spin-off of the original Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, is also available. Konami Cross Media NY recently launched a cross-media strategy for its gaming titles and is looking “to engage our gaming fans through different entertainment mediums,” Gray notes. “In addition, we are seeking out new partners and IPs.”

“We continue to focus on opportunities to grow the Yu-Gi-Oh! audience across streaming and broadcast.”

Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens

—Kristen Gray

AstroLOLogy

Lemon Sky Studios AstroLOLogy / Itchy Ichiro With characters based on the 12 zodiac signs, Lemon Sky Studios’ AstroLOLogy series has two completed seasons of 2-minute episodes available. The non-dialogue slapstick series has garnered more than 1 million subscribers on YouTube and received multiple awards. The non-dialogue comedy series Itchy Ichiro, meanwhile, has 52 3-minute episodes available. It centers on the monkey Ichiro and the two fleas that live on him as they navigate existing together.

Ken Foong, chief creative officer, notes, “With the rise of media consumption on social media, short-form content is becoming a popular choice with young viewers. Short-form content like AstroLOLogy and Ichiro has great potential on social media platforms and for young viewers with shorter attention spans who are used to content that is concise.”

“The non-dialogue nature of the content, as well as the slapstick comedy, gives universal appeal.”

—Ken Foong 102 WORLD SCREEN 10/21

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The Gruffalo’s Child

Magic Light Pictures The Gruffalo / The Gruffalo’s Child / Room on the Broom From Magic Light Pictures, The Gruffalo tells the magical tale of a mouse who takes a walk through the woods in search of a nut. A sequel to The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo’s Child follows as the little Gruffalo ignores her father’s warnings and tiptoes into the snow in search of the Big Bad Mouse. Room on the Broom is a tale about a kind witch who invites a surprising collection of animals to join her on her broom. “We’ve built the wonderful Gruffalo brand and enjoyed many award successes, but we’re happiest when our products delight their audience,” says Muriel Thomas, international distribution director. “We love stories, witty invention and evergreen characters, always balancing commercial imperatives with creativity to make products we can be proud of.”

“We want children to engage with our characters, products and films so that they are inspired to play creatively, think originally and live imaginatively.”

—Muriel Thomas

MarVista Entertainment Unicorn for Christmas / I Hear You

Unicorn for Christmas

Leading MarVista Entertainment’s children’s slate, Unicorn for Christmas centers on a young girl who discovers a real-life unicorn at a Christmas carnival and must protect it from a greedy fair owner. Chuck Wicks, Abby James Witherspoon (Hot Pursuit), Sunny Mabray (Hillbilly Elegy) and Ed Marinara (Dynasty) star. In I Hear You, after a young teen makes a wish upon her grandmother’s old Christmas ornament to finally get her family to listen, she wakes up unable to say anything but the truth. The movie stars Alison Fernandez (UpsideDown Magic), Judy Reyes (Scrubs), David DeLao (Silk Road), Taylor Castro (Dream Killer) and Sofia Salas (Doom Patrol).

“These titles will unite families with lighthearted stories that bring a moment of much-needed levity to their days,” says Jody Cipriano, head of global distribution.

“Our slate of kids’ and family movies brings joy and laughter to families in a time that has been so challenging for many.”

—Jody Cipriano

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

Mattel Television The Masters of the Universe / Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go / Barbie Mattel Television is featuring among its top highlights its The Masters of the Universe franchise, for which it has produced two animated Netflix series: Masters of the Universe: Revelation and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. The former, which has Kevin Smith as showrunner, has a voice cast that includes Mark Hamill, Lena Headey, Chris Wood, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Tiffany Smith. Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go introduces a new look and feel for the brand. “It is crafted to appeal to contemporary audiences’ sensibilities while maintaining Thomas’s core brand ethos, which is all about the importance of friendship,” says Fred Soulie, senior VP and general manager of Mattel Television. Mattel is also spotlighting a trio of Barbie TV specials.

“Our mandate is to engage audiences through timely and compelling episodic television content and television movies based on our iconic franchises.”

—Fred Soulie 104 WORLD SCREEN 10/21

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The Marsupilamis

Mediatoon Distribution Nicholas’ Fantastic Summer / The Marsupilamis / Living with Dad A kids’ comedy title that Mediatoon Distribution is bringing to the global market, Nicholas’ Fantastic Summer sees its titular protagonist enjoy time with his family at the beach, exploring places and finding new friends to play with. “We believe that Nicholas will fit in very well alongside other iconic heroes such as Yakari, Samsam and Garfield,” says Jérôme Alby, managing director. The Marsupilamis follows Hope, Twister and Punch in the big city, where their love of playing wildly makes it difficult to be discreet when they’re out exploring. Living with Dad sees stepsisters Berenice, Roxane, Ondine and Panda living together with their patriarch—and joining forces to team up against him, despite their different personalities. Also on Mediatoon’s slate is the new CGI Samsam series.

“Thanks to Mediatoon’s production studios and third-party partner producers, our catalog cements over 4,000 hours’ worth of high-quality content.”

—Jérôme Alby

Monster Loving Maniacs

Mondo TV MeteoHeroes / Monster Loving Maniacs / Robot Trains In Mondo TV’s MeteoHeroes, six superpowered kids set out on adventures to fight to protect the planet from climate change and pollution, educating while entertaining its audience. “The show is wonderful entertainment: an animated kids’ show that is exciting, colorful and fun but that also teaches viewers about the need to protect our planet—and how to,” says Luana Perrero, head of content sales. Monster Loving Maniacs centers on three siblings whose grandfather is teaching them how to hunt monsters, though they’d rather get to know the creatures. The adventures continue for Kay, Alf, Victor, Maxie, Gary and Genie in the third season of Robot Trains, with the future of Railworld threatened. “The new series takes the elements that fans love and adds new concepts, challenges and alliances,” says Perrero.

“Demand for high-quality entertainment and licensed product has been constant, especially in the past year, and Mondo TV has responded.”

—Luana Perrero

NCK Backstage

Pink Parrot Media Butterfly Academy / Joy Eternal / NCK Backstage Leading Pink Parrot Media’s highlights, the CGI animated series Butterfly Academy is a prequel to the film Butterfly Tale. While being fun and comical, it also features sciencebased facts that help teach kids about the importance and value of diversity and inclusion. Joy Eternal, a mystery sci-fi comedy adventure, has a comic book style. NCK Backstage gives insight into being in a kids’ music band by taking the audience backstage to experience the ups and downs along with the superstars. Though the animated series is made up of 10 2-minute episodes, a longer format is currently in development. Begoña Esteban, head of international TV sales and acquisitions, notes that Pink Parrot is “not only a familyfilm content producer and distributor, but is now working with high-quality kids’ entertainment for television.”

“We have established a dedicated TV division with brandnew series already in development, preproduction and production.”

—Begoña Esteban 106 WORLD SCREEN 10/21

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pocket.watch Ryan’s Mystery Playdate / Onyx Monster Mysteries / Elemon About to launch its fourth season, Level Up, on Nickelodeon, pocket.watch’s Ryan’s Mystery Playdate has 90 episodes available for international distribution. “The latest season introduces new characters and has an entirely new set, giving fans the biggest challenges and mysteries ever,” says Chris M. Williams, founder and CEO of pocket.watch. Premiering its second season on Amazon Kids+, Onyx Monster Mysteries, created with YouTube’s The Onyx Family, is a comedyadventure series with original music, gadgets and monsters that delivers a message of compassion and understanding. A new show for summer 2022, the animated series Elemon invites Ryan’s World fans on an adventure with the fantastical titular monsters and real-world science. “Kids and parents will find plenty to enjoy in this all-new series,” says Williams.

Onyx Monster Mysteries

“Demand for kids’ and family content has accelerated over this past year, and we’ve met that demand in a big way.”

—Chris M. Williams

44 Cats

Rainbow Summer & Todd Happy Farmers / Pinocchio and Friends / 44 Cats Summer & Todd Happy Farmers, Rainbow’s new preschool series, promotes environmental respect and sustainability.

Through farm-related stories, the series spreads positive messages, including the importance of proper nutrition, helping each other, respecting nature, playing outside and caring for animals. Inspired by Carlo Collodi’s classic fairy tale, Pinocchio and Friends combines adventure, comedy, friendship and edutainment by following the adventures of Pinocchio and his friends. 44 Cats now has a second season, full of new stories and characters. “We are ever more engaged in spreading solid values such as friendship, tolerance, inclusion and environmental awareness from a very young age through exciting, inspiring content,” says Andrea Graciotti, head of TV sales and co-production.

“Rainbow is committed to producing highlevel shows that can entertain the audience while sharing positive values.”

—Andrea Graciotti

Chase and CATCH

Saturday Animation Studio Chase and CATCH / Aiko and the Masters of Time Saturday Animation Studio’s first original IP, Chase and CATCH is an ’80s nostalgia action-comedy series that features heroic characters, robots, vehicles and gadgets. “We truly believe Chase and CATCH has the potential to become a global evergreen franchise,” says Fred Faubert, chief creative officer for Digital Dimension Entertainment Group and its subsidiaries Saturday Animation Studio and Meduzarts Animation Studio. Saturday Animation is also presenting Aiko and the Masters of Time, set in an age after linear time has collapsed and been reassembled as one combined era, resulting in samurai, cowboys, knights, African warriors and Stone Age scavengers living together. Two teens from different factions must cooperate to defeat powerful forces intent on upending this existence.

“We will focus on identifying the best-inclass media partners to bring these new shows to market.”

—Fred Faubert 108 WORLD SCREEN 10/21

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Serious Kids Girls of Olympus / Tulipop / Operation Ouch!

Girls of Olympus, a new animated fantasy-adventure series for kids aged 8 to 12, leads Serious Kids’ MIPCOM highlights. The program “centers on themes such as friendship, love and bravery, which are conveyed through the fantastic adventures and everyday lives of three teenagers,” says Genevieve Dexter, founder and CEO. The preschool series Tulipop, based on the lifestyle brand, is in production for delivery in June 2022. Set on a magical island rich in folklore, its characters explore their diverse identities in a free environment. The tenth season of Operation Ouch! features a brand-new adventure with Dr. Chris and Dr. Xand. “Operation Ouch! goes from strength to strength, and breaking into new territories ten years on, it has proven itself time and time again in the most varied platforms and cultures worldwide,” says Dexter.

Girls of Olympus

“We are enjoying our refreshed identity as Serious Kids and will be back in Cannes within the comfort zone of our growing sales team.”

—Genevieve Dexter

Sesame Workshop Mecha Builders / Furry Friends Forever / The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo: Game Edition Featuring Elmo, Cookie and Abby as robo superheroes-intraining, Mecha Builders is a CGI animated series that Sesame Workshop is showcasing at MIPCOM. “They’re ready to problem-solve every out-of-this-world situation that comes their way,” says Whit Higgins, senior VP of international media and education and distribution. “From a giant asteroid hurtling toward Earth to feeding a family of chickens, they’re here to help—it just might take them a few tries before they save the day!” An animated special and series, Furry Friends Forever introduces Elmo’s new puppy, Tango. Also in Sesame Workshop’s catalog is the second season of The Not-TooLate-Show with Elmo: Game Edition. “It’s the perfect coviewing and co-doing experience for children and the adults in their lives,” says Higgins.

Mecha Builders

“Our new shows really meet the moment and offer the best of all worlds for buyers and viewers.”

—Whit Higgins

Alma’s Way

Sinking Ship Entertainment Alma’s Way / The Fabulous Show with Fay and Fluffy / Odd Squad Among Sinking Ship Entertainment’s top titles for MIPCOM, the animated Fred Rogers Productions series Alma’s Way was created by Sonia Manzano and features title song lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda. The series’ protagonist is a proud Bronxborn Puerto Rican girl who figures out solutions to problems and sets about making things right. A storytime drag cabaret for kids and families, The Fabulous Show with Fay and Fluffy inspires a love of reading and encourages kindness and empathy. The live-action series Odd Squad follows kid agents who use math to solve problems. “These series will resonate with buyers globally because themes like problem-solving for preschoolers, building kindness and empathy and using math skills to solve problems are universal in their appeal,” says Kate Sanagan, head of sales and distribution.

“Sinking Ship is actively partnering with new content creators and has several series coming out in the next year for acquisition.”

—Kate Sanagan 110 WORLD SCREEN 10/21

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Heidi

Studio 100 Media FriendZSpace / 100% Wolf—Legend of the Moonstone / Heidi Studio 100 Media’s FriendZSpace follows best friends and seemingly regular human kids Alice, Leo and Kim, who are risk-taking deep-space friend makers. “FriendZSpace is all about kids and kid culture—alien and human—it’s about embracing our differences and getting into exciting trouble in the process,” says Dorian Bühr, head of global distribution. In 100% Wolf—Legend of the Moonstone, Freddy Lupin, heir to a proud family line of werewolves, turns into a poodle during his first “warfing,” but is determined to prove that he still has the heart of a werewolf at Howlington Academy. Also in Studio 100’s catalog, the revived series Heidi features 26 new adventures of the happy and communicative orphaned girl.

Heidi “is a wonderful family brand with a great track record, popular with every generation,” says Bühr.

“The demand for good entertainment and making people laugh is more prevalent and needed now than ever, and we aim to continue to deliver.”

—Dorian Bühr

The Adventures of Little Penguin

Superights The Adventures of Little Penguin / Croco Doc / Anna & Friends Produced by Tencent, the Superights highlight The Adventures of Little Penguin is a 3D animated non-dialogue series that follows young penguin Oscar as he explores the world and meets new characters who teach him about himself and others. The 2D animated series Croco Doc aims to educate kids on health issues and cures for different diseases in a fun way. Featuring 3D animation with a clay effect, each episode of Anna & Friends explores the title character’s daily life, surrounded by her group of inseparable pals. “This CGI program helps children develop their imagination, creativity and fantasy,” says Nathalie Pinguet, deputy general manager of sales and acquisitions at Superights. She adds, “This year again, we have a lot of new additions in our catalog. Come and meet us at our new booth to discover them.”

“Superights is always seeking new, entertaining and diverse programs to enrich its catalog.”

—Nathalie Pinguet

The Brilliant World of Tom Gates

WildBrain Ruby and the Well / Caillou / The Brilliant World of Tom Gates The live-action WildBrain highlight Ruby and the Well, produced in partnership with Shaftesbury and set to launch on Family Channel in Canada next year, sees Ruby discover a magic well after moving to a new town. “The series combines mystery and intrigue with real-life issues and highlights Ruby’s resilience and resolution in overcoming challenges to bring happiness to everyone she cares about,” says Caroline Tyre, VP of global sales and rights strategy. In brand-new CGI family specials and shorts, Caillou returns with the titular 4-year-old tackling the everyday achievements of preschool kids. The Brilliant World of Tom Gates, based on the best-selling book series, “captures the unique graphic style of the books through a mix of live action and animation, coupled with humor, authentic storytelling, games and songs,” says Tyre.

“To thrive, organizations must adapt, and we’ve worked hard to be collaborative, flexible and creative in our approach.”

—Caroline Tyre 112 WORLD SCREEN 10/21

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Mr Magoo

Xilam Animation Oggy Oggy / Mr Magoo / Pfffirates The first two seasons of the CGI animated comedy Oggy Oggy are on offer from Xilam Animation. In the series, the titular kitten and his cat pals embark on fun adventures in a bright and colorful world. “The innovative series is a spin-off to our iconic Oggy and the Cockroaches franchise, and we’re sure it will capture buyers’ attention through its blend of fastpaced action and playful humor, as well as its adorable characters and visual style,” says Morgann Favennec, executive VP of distribution. Season two of the 2D slapstick comedy Mr Magoo has “more wild pursuits, unbelievable rescues by Mr Cat, fails for Fizz and Weasel, gadgets and unexpected plot twists,” says Favennec. The comedy-action series Pfffirates is set on an island where three crews are taught Pfffiracy by the legendary Captain Lamar.

“We’ve been focusing our efforts on expanding our content pipeline and developing many new projects in multiple genres and for all target demographics.”

—Morgann Favennec

School of Roars

ZDF Enterprises School of Roars / Scream Street / The Muscleteers ZDF Enterprises (ZDFE) has a second season of the preschool series School of Roars in its ZDFE.junior catalog.

The series follows a group of little monsters as they attend school for the first time. Also with a second season available, Scream Street is a stop-motion animation series that features a young werewolf. In the real world, he has trouble making friends and his parents are afraid of him, but on Scream Street, he finds a supportive environment where he can be himself. In The Muscleteers, a trio of mice living in a bustling port protects their fellow rodent residents from dangers such as cats, exterminators, construction and oblivious, stomping humans. The series “is all about helping and being there for each other,” says Fred Burcksen, president and CEO of ZDFE.

“The stories are understandable for all children around the globe.”

—Fred Burcksen

Silverpoint

Zodiak Kids Mumfie / Street Football / Silverpoint Zodiak Kids’ Mumfie features an eclectic cast of animals supported by bright visuals and physical humor. Each 7-minute episode jumps straight into the action, allowing time for fun and laughter. A new season of Street Football is available just in time for the World Cup in 2022. The heroes of the series return, just as determined to prove that size and age don’t matter. “All that counts is street football’s spirit: friendship, respect and solidarity,” says Delphine Dumont, senior VP of sales, acquisitions and coproductions. Also in Zodiak Kids’ catalog, Silverpoint is a sci-fi mystery adventure that leaves viewers desperate to know what happens next. With many twists and turns and little clues for those who pay close attention, the series builds to a cliffhanger in the finale.

“We are looking forward to seeing everyone live or digitally.”

—Delphine Dumont 114 WORLD SCREEN 10/21

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pocket.watch’s Kids Diana Show Ultimate Mishmash.

FREE FOR ALL Mansha Daswani checks in with a range of distributors and platforms about the booming kids’ AVOD opportunity.

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his summer, Sensical, a new AVOD streaming platform, launched in the U.S. with an array of licensed content from some of the biggest names in the business, including Mattel, WildBrain, ZDF Enterprises, Zodiak Kids, Cyber Group Studios and CAKE. It is the latest entrant in a market that was growing well before Covid-19 hit, but that kicked into high gear as distraught parents looked for new ways to entertain their kids amid an abundance of home time.

WildBrain Spark—which runs a network of more than 800 channels across YouTube and other major platforms— commissioned a study earlier this year on the “streaming generation” and found that AVOD is holding strong when it comes to viewing choices. YouTube and YouTube Kids ranked second among kids’ most-watched streaming services (66 percent), just behind Netflix at 69 percent. In addition, approximately one quarter of parents say it’s not

very, or not at all likely, they’ll be watching linear TV services in the next 12 months, while around seven in ten parents are expecting time spent watching both SVOD and AVOD services in the next 12 months to remain the same or increase.

WildBrain Spark “is the most rapidly growing part of the company, frankly outpacing the amount of on-demand viewing across all of AVOD,” Eric Ellenbogen, CEO and vice chair of parent company WildBrain, told delegates at the TV Kids Festival.

Granted, the money that distributors can make from selling content to AVOD services is still a fraction of the fees they’d secure from their traditional broadcast platforms or the SVOD services, but it is emerging as a key revenue contributor.

Among the companies faring particularly well in the AVOD space is pocket.watch, whose Ryan’s World brand is huge on YouTube and a slew of other platforms. “We’re the leading company transforming kid YouTube stars into global franchises with premium original content, global

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Jetpack Distribution recently landed the rights to Spookiz, a non-verbal slapstick comedy show that has more than 4 million subscribers on YouTube.

distribution partnerships and massive consumer-products business, made possible through pocket.watch’s unique positioning in the industry,” says Chris M. Williams, founder and CEO. “Demand for kids’ and family content has accelerated over this past year, and we’ve met that demand in a big way, supplying our premium and long-tail content to more than 41 platforms in 80-plus territories to deliver Generation Alpha even more of what they love.”

INCREMENTAL GAINS “AVOD has become a significant revenue stream over the last ten years,” says Robin Gladman, senior distribution and acquisitions manager at Aardman. “There was a marketwide blip early last year with drops in ad rates across the kids’ content category, but we have recovered very well.”

“AVOD is starting to be a significant revenue source for us and is certainly an area we are focusing on and expect to grow exponentially,” adds Kate Sanagan, head of sales and distribution at Sinking Ship Entertainment.

It’s a similar situation for Jetpack Distribution, according to CEO Dominic Gardiner. “AVOD for us has been growing quite dramatically over the last two to three years. One might argue we’ve been a little slow to get into the game.

We’re taking a much more proactive approach now. We plan on it being a much bigger piece. We’re getting much more involved in YouTube than we were previously. We foresee growth in the ad revenues, and more platforms will spring up. We’ll see growth in other languages [outside of English]. It’s not the central part of our business, because the premium TV networks, if you will, will still generate the most [revenues], but as shows get older and our library gets bigger, we can exploit the library better. Those revenues will be important, no doubt.”

The value of AVOD goes well beyond delivering incremental revenues for library titles—these free platforms are critical when building awareness for new and returning brands.

“It’s exciting to see our AVOD efforts become a promotional tool,” says Sanagan. “Our own Dino Kids YouTube channel, for example, has more than 750 million views and 667,000 subscribers. It has become a massive tool for us in our brand extensions of Dino Dana, and we have integrated it into our marketing, consumer-product and publishing strategies.”

“You cannot ignore the vast audiences using AVOD platforms,” agrees Aardman’s Gladman. “It’s a great opportunity for you to build awareness and drive deeper engagement around an IP.”

WINDOW OPTIMIZATION All of that means some ingenious windowing strategies and making well-thought-out decisions about where you want your brand to be featured—and how much money you’ll earn from that opportunity.

“Particularly with new platforms, you’re never quite sure what their performance is going to be,” Jetpack’s Gardiner explains. “As much promise and hope that any new platform has, what they’re actually going to deliver in terms of reach, you’re never guaranteed. And what they’re going to deliver in terms of revenue, you never know until the reports start coming in. We always like to say, let’s get on there first, let’s make sure we’re not committing forever, let’s make sure that if things don’t go the way we hope that we can get out of these deals as well. We spend quite a bit of time negotiating that just in case. Being able to be flexible is helpful for both parties. But, of course, there’s a minimum amount of time they need. This world has always been non-exclusive, so people are not asking for your best show; they’re not asking for your best show forever. But what you want from them is some commitment. How easy is it going to be for your content to be discovered? We look at how complicated it is to work with them if they are in multiple territories. And because we’re generally talking

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Aardman’s beloved Shaun the Sheep can be found on YouTube.

about deals that are low-ish in value, complication is the killer. If you have to spend a lot of time and effort once you’ve delivered [the content], you’ve got to make sure you’re still profitable. We take all of that into consideration.”

“We look at each series and try to figure out its unique path to viewers,” Sinking Ship’s Sanagan says.

“Some series will sit almost exclusively on one platform, either on SVOD or AVOD, and other series will be seen on public and private linear channels, on SVOD and AVOD as well as TVOD. Odd Squad is a good example of this broader approach, with four or five platforms in some territories. We always consider how we can best get the most eyeballs on a series and have also lately put more marketing efforts behind TVOD to help promote shows.”

SEEING THE MONEY “There are new models as more AVOD players enter the market,” Aardman’s Gladman adds. “We work in a variety of ways with these new platforms, including requesting minimum guarantees when we feel that is appropriate.”

Sinking Ship, too, is looking at minimum guarantees from AVOD players, “and sometimes a hybrid of license fee and rev share,” Sanagan says.

“It is always nice to have cash upfront or an MG,” says Jetpack’s Gardiner. “It’s a preference, but we appreciate that a lot of these new platforms are taking a lot of risk in their investment in technology and they are often growing audiences from zero. It’s important for us as content

providers to be good partners and be understanding that they don’t have budgets for license fees. We do see that users are growing, the views are growing and digital marketing is growing quite dramatically. As the ad dollars start going up and the users migrate to these platforms, I think we’ll see an increasing return on the revenue side.”

Ad dollars and usage are rising across the board in AVOD in multiple markets.

In the U.S., the Kids & Family destination on The Roku Channel reached more than 28 million people last year, according to Ashley Hovey, director of AVOD. “Content partners we work with are looking for broad scale,” Hovey says.

“They are looking for reach that they can’t get just with their standalone apps or apps they have on all of these platforms. This is an incremental way to get more audience. They’re looking for not only how do you get that content in front of the audience but how do you monetize it in a way that is brand-safe for advertisers? And they can go back and invest in additional content opportunities, grow that audience and be a trusted source for content creation. That’s what we focus on: How do we continue to be even more effective in monetizing for these partners? And by driving scale for them, [they can] go back and do more.

And we work across the board. Creators that are bringing things like Ryan’s World and CoComelon. We’re working with creators like the Mattels and the Hasbros that continue to evolve for today’s audiences. Post-Covid, there’s a lot of viewing in the house, a lot of co-viewing in the same room, a lot more family time. We’re seeing it on platforms like Roku. Being the number one TV streaming platform in the U.S., we’re seeing tons of that viewing coming in. We’re trying to keep that flywheel going for all of our content partners.”

SAFE STREAMING Kidoodle.TV has carved out its own niche under the Safe Streaming banner. “The important work we have been doing here at Kidoodle.TV since 2012 has proven incredibly valuable and desired in the post-Covid-19 era we are all living in,” says Brenda Bisner, chief content officer.

“With our growth last year, we have made [Kidoodle.TV] a household name and have become a trusted go-to destination for millions of kids who deserve a safe viewing experience—and for their parents who insist on having one. Our commitment to children and the work we are doing to take care of families is only getting bigger.”

The platform has amassed a slate of more than 30,000 episodes from a range of key partners. “We’re a safe alternative to anything else out there, and we are an additional revenue stream to any existing AVOD business you have,” Bisner says. “We’re looking at partners that have great content that people care about, that we care about, and

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WildBrain’s classic Teletubbies can be found across a raft of different services, including its own YouTube channel operated by WildBrain Spark.

that care about the important work we’re doing. It’s not just a one-way street for us. The homework around the work we do, how that partner can contribute and be part of this movement, is something we do look at. Knowing people are making money with our channel and lots of it, the strategy is around monitoring the needs of kids. The unicorns—the PAW Patrols, the Peppa Pigs—we’ll always have those brands, but we can also uncover those gems in the marketplace. Some of these content providers and brand owners are struggling to get traditional broadcast deals struck. We’re able to offer that and get them monetizing and great awareness in a meaningful place because families know they can trust us.”

Bisner adds, “When you’re making content for children, there’s a moral obligation to keep kids safe. Where we’re placing our content should be considered. We pay a

competitive CPM, we’re non-exclusive, we’re a meaningful place to put content and have revenue come in and understand that it’s reaching a certain number of children every month.”

In Europe, Playground TV has positioned itself as a new home for kids’ fare from the less traditional markets.

Launched as an AVOD platform, the service is also adding a subscription tier as it gears up for expansion.

“We believe the world is growing into a more and more diverse place,” says Daniel Nordberg, CEO and founder of the new service. “We want to mimic with our portfolio the diverse world we live in. We have cartoons animated in India, China, Iran and Brazil to complement those shows from the bigger studios in the States and Europe. We believe that many amazing productions across the world don’t get their fair amount of exposure on the bigger streaming platforms. As the world is getting more diverse, we want Playground to reflect that in the productions we serve.”

COMMON SENSE Sensical, too—which has the backing of Common Sense Media—has taken a highly curated approach to its selection. “A lot of the creators from whom we’ve licensed love the brand association because you have to be selected,” says Eric Berger, CEO of Common Sense Networks, Common Sense Media’s for-profit arm. “It’s not a normal licensing deal; it goes both ways. You may want to get in, but you might not pass our criteria. If you went through

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Mondo TV licensed Invention Story to Kidoodle.TV.

the whole ratings process—and we watched every frame of every video, through human review, we tag all of it and capture the metadata—it’s a little bit of a badge of honor.

At the same time, it’s incremental revenue for them.

We’re putting them out onto other platforms they may not be on already—the Rokus, the Amazon Fires, other devices—so it’s a win for everybody.”

A MATTER OF EXCLUSIVITY Like almost all other kids’ AVOD services, Sensical’s deals are currently non-exclusive. That may change as the market evolves, Berger says.

“For us, the charm of Sensical is the curation. It would be very hard, if not impossible, for anyone else, and certainly a parent, to figure out the appropriate content by age across the breadth of what we’re licensing. That said, as we look at all the data that we’re getting and where people are aggregating, we’ll be able to make informed decisions about where we need exclusivities and original content and other initiatives down the line.”

At Playground, however, Nordberg is committed to the non-exclusive model. “We don’t believe in exclusivity at Playground,” he explains. “It slows down competition, and it’s not beneficial to the producers. Often exclusive deals give a short-term win for both parties, while the production gets lost in the long run. There is an initial boost, and then once that is capitalized on, the productions sometimes disappear within the service. I prefer a time to market or a windowing where within a given period, typically three months, both parties agree to do something and promote the title, and then after that, the parties are free to do whatever they want. I just don’t believe in two years of exclusivity. [Producers] feel it’s a good deal initially. Then one, one and a half years down the line, they want to sell the property, but it’s locked in and not being used. We also want to be the partner that our producers prefer to work with because we’re doing a great job, not because we’re locking them into a contract. We could look in the future at

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Sinking Ship’s Odd Squad can be found across the kids’ media spectrum, from linear to AVOD, SVOD and more.

possibly doing windowing or time to market, but we’re not there yet. Currently, all our contracts are non-exclusive.”

RIGHTS MATTER On exclusivity in rights deals, Roku’s Hovey explains, “AVOD is special.” Unlike SVOD, where new and exclusive content is key to driving and maintaining subs, “in the ad-supported world, there’s much more of a need for comfort viewing and broad distribution, for kids especially. They want the characters they know and love to be where they are. And they want to be able to find them and immerse themselves in these experiences and this world. We focus much more on an ad-supported, economic-friendly type of model, rather than feeling like exclusive content is the only way.”

Outside of YouTube, AVOD services are not yet committing considerable sums to exclusivity and originals.

But that could be on the horizon as the market matures.

“They have the data, more than anyone, to know what

works on their platform,” says Sinking Ship’s Sanagan.

WildBrain’s Ellenbogen echoed that view at the TV Kids Festival this year, noting, “One of the things that we love about working with some of these platforms like Samsung and Comcast Xfinity is the availability of data. We get numbers back. We know who’s watching our shows, and that informs our development process as well as our distribution strategy.”

“There’s not been the influx of AVOD commissions that some expected, but there is no shortage of AVOD content arriving on the big platforms,” adds Aardman’s Gladman.

“That said, original content deals still do happen in the AVOD space. If the market competition rises, we will probably see more exclusive/original deals, as we have seen with SVOD over the years.”

“I think it’s an ambition,” says Jetpack’s Gardiner. “Many of these platforms are often app-delivered or IPTV-delivered.

How do they distinguish themselves? If you’re not YouTube or Roku, how do you distinguish yourself if everyone is showing the same content? Long term, it’s a margin business. If they want to be successful, they’re going to have to have a point of difference. It takes a long time to mature a business to that size, to be able to invest in content.”

And while the landscape is already quite crowded, Playground’s Nordberg believes that for AVOD to become a serious revenue contributor for kids’ companies, the market needs to get even bigger. “Many of the producers we talk to, their AVOD revenues are coming from very few partners.

With that in mind, it’s important to favor more players coming into the market.”

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Xilam Animation’s Trico.

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Laugh Track Several leading producers and distributors tell Chelsea Regan about the always present demand for kids’ comedies, and why they are more important now than they have ever been.

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aughter is the best medicine—a tonic for the doldrums of being a year and a half into a pandemic that has seen lockdowns and mask mandates and shifts in socialization and schooling. It’s what kids and adults alike need more than ever, resulting in a steady demand for kids’ content injected with a healthy dose of humor.

Indeed, Ed Galton, CEO of CAKE, notes that while comedy has historically sold well, the current climate is likely fostering a boost in demand, driven by a greater need for laughs. Kids “like to come home from school and escape reality—they do that through comedy,” says Galton. “That’s why comedy has always been really strong. There could be an argument that there’s a greater demand for comedy now because of all of the stuff that kids have had to go through with Covid-19—being stuck at home, not seeing their friends, not engaging with other kids for so long. That’s probably true across the board.”

“There’s never been a more important time to make all of our viewers laugh,” says Rachel Marcus, VP of creative development at Guru Studio. “Families are all under an enormous amount of stress, and our younger generations are feeling it, whether they know it or not. The best remedy to counteract this is comedy, laughter and joy. We need

more levity in our lives, and we as content creators can play a role in supplying that.”

COMEDY EVOLUTION

The Guru Studio property Big Blue, which is slated to premiere later this year on CBC Kids, is a character-based comedy for kids aged 5 to 9. It follows a group of daring underwater explorers and their eccentric submarine crew, as well as the magical ocean fairy stowaway Bacon Berry. “The beauty of animation is that the laws of physics don’t need to apply, allowing our characters to experience even more silly hijinks than would ever be possible in live action,” says Marcus. “In the end, we’ve been able to create a show that balances comedy and adventure in a way that’s unique to the medium.”

This mixing of comedy into other genres within the kids’ space is a development also noted by Pierre Sissmann, Cyber Group Studios’ CEO and president. “There is a trend today to see comedy blending with adventure and action, which when you look back four, five, six years ago, it was all about comedy. Whether it was a sitcom or cartoon, it was pure, 100 percent comedy. That 100 percent comedy genre still exists and prospers, but we’re now able to merge it with different things like action, even historical things or edutainment. There’s an evolution in the writing.”

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A brand-new comedy on the Cyber Group slate is 50/50 Heroes, which presents a new spin on the superhero genre.

Cyber Group is currently in production on six series and in development on about 12 programs, including the comedy-adventure show The McFire Family, which is about real-life superheroes, including firefighters, nurses and doctors. “It’s not the ultimate comedy or the ultimate adventure show or the ultimate action show, but I think it is a perfect blend, which is a result of the evolution of the demand of having shows that still have comedy, still are light, where kids can laugh,” says Sissmann. “It’s funny, but at the same time, it’s serious; it has suspense, action and adventure.”

REAL COMEDY On the Beyond Rights content slate, comedy is finding its way into titles with a factual bent. “What’s been especially nice in this Covid period is that factual has a lot more comedy in it,” notes Sarah McCormack, senior VP of acquisitions and coproductions at Beyond Rights. “There’s more humor in factual kids’ content at the moment than there had been before. That’s been great to see.”

McCormack has also seen the appeal of surreal comedy for kids these days. “When you do a bedtime story, there’s the kind of silliness and surreal bit that they know is silly, but they love it.”

In Beyond Rights’ The World According to Grandpa, the titular elder tells fantastical tales about everyday wonders, like why the sky is blue or why cats go out at night. At the end of each episode, a clever rabbit offers a fact-check.

“That’s the wonderful thing I’ve seen in factual—that you can get this more surreal, wonderful comedy,” says McCormack.

“It goes into what makes you laugh: why do we laugh, why do we find things funny? For me with humor, it’s when you subvert the normal, when it’s a little bit different from normal, that’s what you can laugh at.”

While the trend of surrealism might be relatively new in kids’ content, a steady standby in international comedy for children has been the slapstick genre, which continues to translate well across borders.

Known for its expertise in slapstick comedy, Xilam Animation has on its slate such non-verbal programs as Oggy and the Cockroaches and Zig & Sharko. “We like this format because it enables universal storytelling, language and humor, and if it’s well done, it has evergreen potential,” says Marc du Pontavice, CEO. “The more visual and physical the comedy is, the more it translates globally. It becomes more challenging when the stories are driven by local customs such as school activities.

However, humor is universal, and many common themes are funny for kids all over the world.”

Universal themes for kids include “school life, sibling rivalry, family situations, friend relationships, love of pets and mastering everyday situations,” says Terry Kalagian, executive VP of creative content in the U.S. for Gaumont.

“While the market is ever-changing, it seems the best chance for comedies to travel across territories is to reflect at least some of these themes, include physical humor and take great care in the translation of jokes.”

In the younger kids’ space, CAKE distributes Mush-Mush & the Mushables, which is about to go into production on its second season, and has long had in its catalog the Total Drama franchise. Galton points out that the former has “much more physical comedy than you would get from something like a Total Drama, which obviously has an element of physical comedy, too, but is also much more of a social comedy that relies more on the interplay of characters and their relationships.” Both kinds of series can work internationally, but smart comedies like Total Drama strike a balance that’s not always easy to come by.

As Beyond’s McCormack puts it: “If you’re too clever, it gets lost in translation. Keep your humor simple and based on values that we all have. That will keep people smiling. ‘Know thy audience’ is the key.”

It’s also key not to offend viewers from different parts of the world. “Comedy that everyone can understand and that is not hurting the sensibilities of anybody” is the kind that travels best, according to Cyber Group’s Sissmann. “I’ve

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Gaumont’s The Royal Family is based on the book series of the same name.

seen people come to us with things they think are funny.

But, when you look at it from a perspective of a given country or a given region, it’s not funny. You’ve got to be very careful because the one thing about animation is that it is a global market.”

Non-dialogue slapstick humor remains the surest and safest bet for internationally resonant kids’ comedy, but character-driven comedy can find homes across the globe with the right themes, too. “This kind of comedy speaks to the universal human experience,” says Guru’s Marcus.

“No matter your location, an upbeat character like SpongeBob will always have an external struggle with a Squidward-type. Personality clashes and conflict will always be canon for humor.”

A series like SpongeBob SquarePants has managed to find fans from a variety of different countries and ages. Shows

that can capture and engage children, their older siblings and parents are as valuable as they’ve ever been in the current market, which has seen shifts in family viewing habits.

“If your characters seem real and they have heart, that’s how you engage a broader swath of audience, that’s how you get coviewing in place,” says CAKE’s Galton.

“That’s how you’re going to rope in your older audience. I look at shows like Bluey, where you get a lot of co-viewing even though it’s a preschool show. It has so much heart, you’re going to drag in the family audience to sit down with younger kids.”

A priority for Beyond and its catalog is finding programs that have this broad appeal. “We make sure that we’ve got animation and factual and have a light humor all the way through,” says McCormack. “Would your kid laugh at it?

Would you laugh at it? Is it multi generational? When you’ve been a parent, you find yourself watching TV shows and the kids have gone away and you’re still sitting there watching these shows and going, ‘Why am I still watching this? What am I doing this for?’”

GENERATIONAL APPEAL

Targeted at kids aged 6 to 8, Beyond’s Quimbo’s Quest follows the titular character, who doesn’t look like any other human or animal that’s ever been seen before, as he sets out on a mission to figure out who and what he is.

According to McCormack, the show “works on different levels, and you can see that there are jokes for the adults, there are jokes for the teenagers, jokes for the 5-yearolds in there. You can all sit there as a family and watch a show and get something different out of it.”

CAKE’s range of comedy titles includes the preschool-focused Mush-Mush & the Mushables.

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Beyond Rights’ Hey You! What If... is a CBBC factual series that features strong comedic elements.

Ultimately, families most enjoy watching shows that reflect back to them what they see in their own everyday lives. “All the complex and hilarious moments we can relate to as viewers, like past family experiences or sibling and parent dynamics, work extremely well when trying to create multiple entry points for a wider demographic,” says Guru’s Marcus. “Putting a mirror up against all the aspects of family life that are universally relatable becomes important.”

FAMILY TIME Co-viewing, which had already been on the uptick for several years, has become even more popular, in large part due to the global pandemic. “People enjoy being together and sharing things,” says Cyber Group’s Sissmann. For that viewing experience to be entertaining for everyone, it helps to have traditional absurdist cartoon comedy, unifying themes and “comedy that can be deciphered at two different levels by two different types of people, whether it’s the parents that read one thing or the kids that read the other thing,” Sissmann explains.

Taffy, a traditional cartoon on Cyber Group’s slate, is one that, through the writing, can reach kids and adults alike, according to Sissmann. He notes that several broadcasters have chosen to air the show before prime time in the evening due to its co-viewing credentials.

Giganto Club is a bridge preschool show from Cyber Group that delivers different comedic elements. It features “a whole new set of comedy and the reactions of the dinos on the set, who are being played by real actors, even though in the end, the image that you see is CG,” explains Sissmann. “There’s an evolution in the emotional stakes that you can represent. This is brought by the talent of the animators, but also the technology, which has evolved massively.”

Technology plays an essential role—as does the backto-basics approach of meeting kids at their level.

“Children are naturally funny,” says Beyond’s McCormack. “Building that natural humor that children have and their view of the world into your show, that’s what I look for. You go, ‘How well do they know

children?’ It’s got to be that kids’ voice. You can see that [in The World According to Grandpa] because those are the kinds of questions kids ask. I always judge it with my own children. What do they ask me? If you can see that you can relate it back [to them], you know that you’re going to get a winner somewhere along the line.”

Checking in on the kids of today is important, as they’re very clearly not the kids of yesterday, with different standards for their entertainment. “Over the years, kids have become more sophisticated in their expectations of a good show,” says Gaumont’s Kalagian.

“They want multidimensional characters with more complex storylines,” she adds, referencing Gaumont’s own Bionic Max, a slapstick buddy comedy, and the family sitcom The Royal Family. “Kids’ comedy is the ever-elusive butterfly and has been since I’ve been in the business. It’s hard to find comedy that works across multiple territories, and everyone is looking for it. When you find it, it’s like spotting a unicorn.”

UNIVERSAL VALUES

For Cyber Group, a proven unicorn is Gigantosaurus, which was awarded the 2021 Export Award for animation by UniFrance. “It does resonate around the world with kids, both in terms of subject—dinos—but also in the way it was written, the comedy and adventure,” Sissmann says.

As for the enduring success of the comedy genre as a whole, it’s a fan and broadcaster favorite for a reason: “It has the advantage of grabbing a child’s attention very quickly,” says Xilam’s du Pontavice. “It’s easier to dip in and out of a comedy show, and broadcasters love that flexibility.”

Covid-19 challenges for producers, distributors, broadcasters and streamers notwithstanding, CAKE’s Galton believes that the market has turned a corner. “We are climbing out of the darkest days when it comes to the impact on business; even though the numbers are still not great, we are starting to see more activity, whether that’s traveling to MIPCOM or Cartoon Forum,” he says. “We’re starting to see movement there, which we haven’t seen in a year and a half.

That’s really positive.”

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Mattel’s Ynon Kreiz / Brand-Building Strategies

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CONTENTS

The Power of Play

70 MATTEL’S YNON KREIZ

The chairman and CEO of the IP-driven toy company on his transformation strategy, trends in retail, the endurance of brands like Barbie and Thomas and more.

While spending quality time with a friend’s adorable and precocious little girls, I had the pleasure of picking up a nostalgic toy from my own childhood, the Barbie doll—and was delighted with the reinvention I saw.

Ricardo Seguin Guise Publisher Anna Carugati Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani Editor Kristin Brzoznowski Executive Editor Chelsea Regan Managing Editor Jamie Stalcup Associate Editor David Diehl Production & Design Director Simon Weaver Online Director Dana Mattison Senior Sales & Marketing Manager Genovick Acevedo Sales & Marketing Coordinator Andrea Moreno Business Affairs Manager

Ricardo Seguin Guise President Anna Carugati Executive VP Mansha Daswani Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development TV Kids ©2021 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website: www.tvkids.com

As a child of the ’80s, my Barbies had long blonde hair and teeny tiny bodies; their clothes were fitted tight and shoes traditionally had high heels. But today’s Barbie dolls are far more diverse. The ones I was handed by these two little girls wanting me to fall into their imaginary worlds were much more reflective of the people they see every day on the streets in their Brooklyn neighborhood. One Barbie had a limb difference and wears a prosthetic leg, the other with vitiligo areas on her face, neck and hands. I was so pleasantly in awe as they continued to display their collection of dolls with different skin tones, hair types, body shapes and abilities.

“Barbie today is much more than a toy; it’s much more than a doll; it is about a very clear brand purpose to inspire the limitless potential in every girl,” Mattel Chairman and CEO Ynon Kreiz told attendees at the TV Kids Summer Festival. “It has been a multiyear journey about diversity, inclusivity, equality and purposeful play. Barbie today is the most diverse doll line on the market, with multiple body types, skin tones, hairstyles, hair colors. Barbie represents the world as we see it today and continues to resonate with consumers and families at levels we have not seen in many years.” More from the interview with Kreiz can be found later in this issue of TV Kids.

We also hear from a range of content owners about the increasingly important role of digital platforms in establishing and building brands today. Kids nowadays are on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and the like, and brands are looking to these platforms as yet another way to make meaningful connections with their audiences.

With the challenging year and a half that kids have faced, the value of playtime has become all the more important.

Indeed, in the first half of 2021, toy industry sales increased by 15 percent to $22.45 billion when compared to the same time period in 2020 and 28 percent when compared to the $17.59 billion generated in the same period in 2019, according to The NPD Group. This is all good news for brand owners taking part in Brand Licensing Europe, where discussions will center on new product partnerships that will hopefully bring about toys that kids will make connections with and see themselves authentically reflected in. —Kristin Brzoznowski

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Leading content owners discuss the increasingly important role of digital platforms in establishing and building brands today.

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TV KIDS: Even last year, despite the pandemic, you had a very good year. Barbie deserves a shout-out—she has been performing really well, hasn’t she?

KREIZ: Barbie strengthened its position as the number one global doll property and continued to gain market share. We are extending characters like Chelsea. We are launching new fashion segments like Barbie Extra. We are celebrating Ken’s 60th anniversary. Barbie today is much more than a toy; it’s much more than a doll; it is about a very clear brand purpose to inspire the limitless potential in every girl. It has been a multiyear journey about diversity, inclusivity, equality and purposeful play. Barbie today is the most diverse doll line on the market, with multiple body types, skin tones, hairstyles, hair colors. Over half of the Barbie dolls today are diverse. Barbie represents the world as we see it today and continues to resonate with consumers and families at levels we have not seen in many years.

TV KIDS: How does reaching out to children and families through movies and television strengthen Mattel’s brands and their connection with consumers?

KREIZ: This is an important way for us to connect with consumers and engage with fans through multiple

Ynon Kreiz Mattel

By Anna Carugati

U

nder the leadership of Ynon Kreiz as chairman and CEO, Mattel has reported quarter after quarter of strong financial gains. As Kreiz told attendees of the TV Kids Summer Festival, Mattel is in growth mode, led by its transformation into an “IP-driven, high-performing” toy company that is extending its storied brands into numerous consumer touchpoints. In that keynote, excerpted here, Kreiz weighed in on the fruits of the strategy, trends in retail, the endurance of brands like Barbie and Thomas and more.

touchpoints. In today’s world, it’s not just about one representation of a franchise or a brand. It’s a holistic experience. Owning the underlying rights for these brands gives us the ability to engage consumers and entertain them in multiple ways. We always stay true to the DNA of our brands and franchises. We maintain the ethos of these brands in a way that is threaded throughout the experience, so it is a consistent representation but gives us a much broader base to reach consumers at many levels.

TV KIDS: You’ve led Mattel to transform itself from a toy company to an IP company. Tell us about that vision.

KREIZ: Mattel today is a very different company than it was just a few short years ago. We had a very clear vision and put together a strategy—the biggest change was to transition from being a toy manufacturing company to becoming an IP-driven, highperforming toy company. Our transformation strategy is paying off, and we are starting to unlock the true value of Mattel.

We finished the heavy lifting of restructuring and are now entering growth mode. This is all driven by the Mattel playbook, which is a portfolio-wide framework and methodology that sets us apart from the competition. We’re seeing our product resonating with consumers at levels we have not seen in years, all fueled by innovation and cultural relevance.

TV KIDS: How are your teams managing and refreshing franchises for new audiences while remaining true to what those properties are?

KREIZ: This is about finding the balance between reviving legacy heritage brands that have many years, decades in some cases, of representation and a built-in fan base and creating them to be more relevant to today’s world, more culturally relevant and still maintaining their brand purpose and what made them successful in the first place. It is about integrity and authenticity. This is one of our core strengths as a creative company—finding that right balance and continuing to innovate, reimagine and stay relevant to today’s world.

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TV KIDS: You have also grown your e-commerce business.

How has it been performing during the pandemic when a lot of families are experiencing financial difficulties?

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KREIZ: Our retail and e-commerce [businesses] are very important parts of our transformation strategy. Covid has brought about a big shift in how consumers shop with the acceleration of online retail and e-commerce— anywhere between two, three, maybe even five years, depending on the market. We pivoted the company and were able to respond to that change in consumer shopping habits. Mattel is engaging with consumers in ways that strengthen and broaden what we do in brick-andmortar stores. This is driven by two strategies. One is through our relationships with retail partners, who have pivoted and expanded their online retail and e-commerce.

Second is what we do as a company in terms of building our own direct-to-consumer sales capabilities.

American Girl is leading the way for us, with end-to-end capabilities, expertise and a robust business that is growing and performing very well. Mattel Creations is our own collective focus website that is highly curated and is getting great response and market feedback. Expect to see more from Mattel in online retail and e-commerce, and specifically in our direct-to-consumer business.

TV KIDS: How do you see consumer behavior as we move out of the pandemic?

KREIZ: One thing is becoming very clear: physical play is here to stay and is projected to grow. We believe in the long-term growth prospects of the toy industry. In 2020, the industry saw extraordinary growth and proved its resilience yet again, partly backed by the shift to e-commerce, but generally, it’s an important part of our daily lives. The pandemic emphasized how parents prioritize physical play, especially when it comes to quality products and trusted brands. Consumers want to buy brands that align with their values and beliefs. Parents are increasingly drawn to toys that promote positive values and reflect how they would like to raise their kids. We know that parents will always prioritize spending money on their children. This is where we step in and do our share in creating products that resonate, that stand true to our mission and purpose as a company. We are aiming to create innovative products and experiences that inspire, entertain and develop children through play. A big part of our success over at least the last three quarters has been driven by our ability to manifest that mission in the products that we make and how we engage consumers on multiple levels. Also, screen time is on the rise, further accelerated by Covid, but it is not taking away from play and especially from physical play and toys. In fact, the toy industry will continue to thrive, even with the rise of screen time or the growth of tablets and video games in parallel. Given the fact that we own the underlying rights, we can participate in these areas. This is a complement to what we do, and we see exciting opportunities for Mattel as part of our midto long-term strategy in those areas as well.

TV KIDS: You worked for some of the most important media companies before joining Mattel. How do your previous experiences help you navigate the challenges and the opportunities that you see ahead?

KREIZ: The companies that I managed before were all creative organizations with core content libraries,

intellectual property assets or access to creative talent.

We looked to leverage market developments and new technologies to reposition those companies, create a new economic model, or find new commercial opportunities. At FOX KIDS, for example, we capitalized on new digital technology to transition from being a distributor of children’s programming to free-to-air broadcasters—which was a mature industry at the time—to become one of the fastest-growing pay-TV channels in Europe. At Endemol, we expanded the business from being a producer of reality and game shows, also a mature industry, to becoming a global distributor of TV programming and a key player in scripted content as demand for localized scripted shows was growing. At Maker Studios, a pioneer in a brand-new industry, we leveraged our relationship with leading YouTube talent and aggregated UGC content through our technology platform to create a global multichannel network and become one of YouTube’s largest partners. And of course, working as part of The Walt Disney Company, one of the world’s preeminent entertainment companies, after they acquired Maker Studios was a great experience in and of itself. So taking all of that, coming into Mattel, I saw the incredible asset catalog, a treasure trove of intellectual properties, heritage brands and incredible franchises with so much appeal and built-in fan bases. I was attracted by the opportunity to extend what we do into new areas, new activities, as part of becoming a high-performing toy company. So the strategy is two parts. First, become a high-performing toy company. There are many opportunities for us to grow and continue to perform well in the mid- to long-term as we extend the brands that we own to all these highly accretive business verticals and capture the full value from these assets. I’m very excited about the opportunity, and we’re seeing it unfold right in front of us as we are executing our strategy.

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Barbie Big City Big Dreams is the latest animated special for Netflix featuring Mattel’s beloved doll brand.

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Sesame Workshop’s Furry Friends Forever: Elmo Gets a Puppy.

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READY TO

PLAY

Leading content owners discuss the increasingly important role of digital platforms in establishing and building brands today. By Chelsea Regan

S

ocial media apps and sites that host shortform content and cater to engaged consumers—notably, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube—are becoming fixtures in brand plans for media companies looking to reach young viewers. Meeting the audience members where they are is essential, and today’s kids are online—all the time.

“We know that kids are consuming content through digital platforms,” says Fred Faubert, chief creative officer at Digital Dimension Entertainment Group and its subsidiaries Saturday Animation Studio and Meduzarts Animation Studio. “We need to find creative ways to reach kids where they are and give them the experience they are expecting. You cannot go out now without this broad strategy. Kids [need to] see and interact with the characters everywhere they go.”

Digital Dimension is planning to launch a video game alongside a YouTube channel to accompany the Saturday Animation Studio-produced action-adventure series Chase and CATCH. Together with its social media

channels, the plan is to build an audience to advertise its products to. Faubert sees both brick-and-mortar retail and online sales, which social campaigns can drive, as key for the company’s developing brand strategy.

Laying the groundwork for 2022 product rollouts, Cookbook Media is keen to use the power of digital media and the communities therein. “A big part of the push we’re doing with our partners is creating content not only for broadcast and streaming channels but also in the spaces that their fans and their audiences live,” says Robert Bencal, partner and co-founder of Cookbook, which is developing a consumer-products strategy for Saturday Animation’s Chase and CATCH. “For example, we’re doing a lot of work in developing content in the kids’ space for platforms like YouTube and TikTok.” Cookbook is also looking into the gaming space, as well as NFTs for nostalgia properties like Rainbow Magic. “We’re using those platforms—TikTok, YouTube, NFT spaces, gaming—almost for a dual purpose,” explains Bencal. “Developing from a storytelling and content perspective—and brand marketing.”

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Studio 100 is keeping the Maya the Bee brand refreshed with a range of new initiatives.

This year, Konami is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Frogger brand with a new show streaming on Peacock and the 25th anniversary of Yu-Gi-Oh! with key categories and special releases. Somewhat ahead of the game, Konami has long been in the online space to cater to its target audience.

“We’ve been active in the digital space for a while because our fans have been there for so long,” says Kristen Gray, the newly appointed president of Konami Cross Media NY. “Our episodes have been available

Sesame Workshop has created a 360-degree experience to coincide with the beloved Sesame Street character Elmo getting a puppy named Tango. This includes the debut of the 30-minute animated special Furry Friends Forever: Elmo Gets a Puppy. “We’re rolling out brand-new and exclusive digital content featuring Elmo, Tango and other furry friends on our Sesame Street YouTube and social media platforms,” says Risa Greenbaum, VP of international consumer products at Sesame Workshop.

“Our goal is to deepen our connections with families by creating powerful ways for fans to engage with Sesame Street.”

—Risa Greenbaum, Sesame Workshop digitally on many platforms internationally. As digital has grown in each country, we’ve expanded our presence there. We have a strong social media following. We use YouTube episodes, as well as sharing product information and building a community within the show.”

Gray adds, “We think it’s going to continue to evolve, and we’re always looking for new ways to find our fans because they were [on digital platforms] before us. They were the first ones there, and I think our job is to give them what they want.”

“Our goal is to deepen our connections with families by creating unique and powerful ways for fans to engage with Sesame Street,” Greenbaum continues. “One way we’re doing that is by investing in more short-form content.” As an example, Greenbaum points to the Sesame Workshop and Headspace collaboration Sesame Street Monster Meditations, six animated shorts to help children learn the fundamentals of mindfulness, meditation and social and emotional learning. They are available on YouTube and YouTube Kids. Also for YouTube, Sesame Workshop has

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Digital Dimension’s Faubert thinks that children’s desire for fresh content could also benefit properties new to the scene. “Kids today are always clamoring for something new, and we believe that Chase and CATCH has the potential to become a successful and timeless franchise, with diverse characters and universes that will translate into a robust merchandise program. We believe kids will respond to the overarching message that we are stronger together and can make a difference in the world.”

BITE-SIZE CONTENT

Konami Cross Media NY’s Yu-Gi-Oh! marks its 25th anniversary this year.

partnered with The Wiggles on a reimagining of their “Fruit Salad” song and an updated version of the Sesame Street song “The ABCs of Moving You.” While platforms are helping established IPs like Yu-Gi-Oh! and Sesame Street engage with old and new fans alike, they also enable brands just emerging in the market to find a foothold, according to Konami’s Gray.

When using platforms like TikTok to build interest in a new property, shorter content can be used to appeal to the audience in a meaningful way with stories they want to hear, according to Cookbook’s Bencal.

“That’s been a really interesting platform to start working with from a brand and licensing space; it’s in more of an organic way, not just running commercials,” he says. “Working with influencers is a big piece—and finding the right influencers.

There are those mega-influencers that are doing it and taking checks and things like that, but finding more of those micro-influencers who are fans of your brand or believe in your brand and working in a partnership with them is something we’ve had great conversations on. We’re going to put some things into motion here for 2022.”

For new IP, in order to grab the attention of young viewers, it’s also imperative to be shown on several

“Some of these other platforms are introducing new opportunities, and it just turns out to be different metrics.”

—Kristen Gray, Konami Cross Media NY “We have more known brands, but we still see that you have to look at other things like social media, YouTube, what Instagram and TikTok are doing, because they’re leveling the playing field a bit,” she explains. “New IP can find new opportunities there. We think that as much as known brands have an advantage, some of these other platforms are introducing new opportunities, and it just turns out to be different metrics. We’re not looking at ratings so much, but we could be looking at followers and subscribers. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.”

different platforms, as theater and linear TV alone are no longer sufficient to gain traction, explains Joachim Knödler, head of licensing at Studio 100 Media. “Digital platforms have had a huge increase over the last two years, and with new IPs, it is imperative to connect with the target group through digital and linear and to get successful L&M programs started,” says Knödler. “This includes print-ondemand products to first get consumer demand satisfied and ‘early movers’ involved in a new IP. Integrated marketing campaigns, especially with influencers, are key

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Saturday Animation’s new series Chase and CATCH will be accompanied by a video game and a YouTube channel.

to get consumer attraction and are the perfect argument to secure shelf space in retail.”

BRAND PLANS Knödler goes on to say that Studio 100 Media has already developed IP with a view to digital releases. Of note, the prehistoric-set Vegesaurs, developed with Cheeky Little Media, was “designed with content that we will address for loyalty campaigns at super and hypermarket chains across Europe,” he says. “The content supports the launch of each campaign on digital channels and acts as a booster in the entire communication circle.”

Across the board, the L&M business is in a healthy place.

While this might create room for some new IP to break through with those willing to take a calculated risk, known brands

Sesame Workshop’s Greenbaum has witnessed new preschool properties managing to pick up shelf space and sees that as evidence of a market in good health. But with the ongoing global pandemic and the implications of a world not yet back to normal, she’s also witnessed consumers craving the comfort of the known. “Especially during challenging times, consumers are gravitating toward the tried and true,” says Greenbaum. “They’re attracted to the brands they grew up with, know are safe and want to share with their children.”

“It’s so important that brands have characters that resonate,” Greenbaum adds. “The Sesame Street muppets have a unique ability to spark deep, often immediate, personal connections with kids. When people meet Elmo, they know he represents love, Big Bird is friendship,

“Working with influencers is a big piece—micro-influencers who are fans of your brand.”

—Robert Bencal, Cookbook Media continue to have an advantage. “Currently, we are seeing a strong demand on classic IPs—the focus on brands well known over generations,” says Knödler. “Retailers and consumers are playing safe with their decisions for such brands, and therefore, they are demanding properties where they value continuity in terms of presence, targeting multiple generations.”

This is good news for Studio 100 Media and such brands in its catalog as Heidi, Vic the Viking and Maya the Bee, for which it has launched the Project Poppy Meadow campaign that places a focus on sustainability.

Oscar is the contrarian and Cookie Monster is the poster child for instant gratification, but he’s working hard on his delayed gratification skills. These relatable personality traits make our characters instantly engaging to kids and adults alike.”

Digital Dimension’s Faubert agrees: “Strong characters and creative storytelling are essential, as is finding ways for audiences to experience the brand when and where they want it, and this will be through a variety of formats,” he explains. “Kids want to be with friends while

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major category drivers—even some of the seasonal people—to let them know what’s coming down the pike.

In some cases, we’re even collaborating with manufacturers, licensees and retailers on developing programs so that everybody is on the same page on making it the most successful it can be.”

FRAGMENTING AUDIENCES

Cookbook Media is working with Saturday Animation on the brand plans for Aiko and the Masters of Time.

they are having their entertainment experiences, which is why Roblox, for example, has done so well. Kids want to connect with their heroes, but they also want to be connected to other kids.”

In order to get the shelf space and the opportunity to reach kids on screens, online and in stores, it can be helpful to partner with retailers at an earlier stage, particularly when it comes to bigger properties,

Looking ahead, challenges in brand-building stand to run parallel to the challenges in the content industry at large.

Namely, “the audience and the platforms are just getting more fragmented,” explains Bencal. “Going over to the digital side, it sounds easy, but it’s hard. On the digital side, people are making decisions on your content in a short period of time. You have to make sure you’re going in with the right kind of content and also being able to have that authentic voice, the right storytelling and the right messaging to get traction because the digital side and some of those platforms are very transient. That said, you’re able to experiment a little more.”

Meanwhile, the more established ways of connecting with an audience, like theme parks, which provide an opportunity for family-fun experiences outside the home, remain—even if they have been in short supply for much of the pandemic. Studio 100 Media and Sesame Workshop are both keen to welcome young fans and their caregivers back to their sites with fresh activities and events around the world.

“With Studio 100’s extensive experience with our own theme park business, we are currently developing new concepts with a partner in Spain to bring the fun and entertainment back into retail with location-based attractions and entertainment,” says Knödler. “Initiating and launching [a] great project in Poland, we will go for a

“Integrated marketing campaigns are key to get consumer attraction and [securing] shelf space in retail.”

—Joachim Knödler, Studio 100 Media according to Cookbook’s Bencal. “There is only so much shelf space and attention space, even in the digital world. You think there’s infinite shelf space, but there isn’t because people can only focus on so much,” says Bencal. It’s important, he adds, to give “retailers an insight into what you’re doing early—and not only retailers but consumer-product companies.”

Bencal continues, “Traditionally, you’d sell a show and then you’d go to the toy companies. We’re getting out there earlier to talk to toy and apparel companies and the

rollout in other European markets soon and combine this with the brand essence of our classic IPs.” Sesame Workshop’s Greenbaum notes, “Families are anxious to get back out and enjoy activities. Themed entertainment—live shows, theme parks, family entertainment centers—will see a rise in attendance.

Milestones like the 50th anniversary of Sesame Street in Germany in 2023 and character birthdays throughout the year are great reasons to invite families to come out and celebrate, once it’s safe to do so.”

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Tom Ascheim WarnerMedia he launch of the Cartoonito block on HBO Max and Cartoon Network this September is the latest prong in Tom Ascheim’s strategy to ensure the portfolio of assets he is responsible for at WarnerMedia meets the needs of kids and families wherever they are. As president of Warner Bros. Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics, Ascheim has overseen a reorganization and expansion of WarnerMedia’s suite of businesses targeting young ones and their caregivers. In his detailed keynote at the TV Kids Summer Festival, Ascheim weighed in on the importance of the Cartoonito preschool initiative, catering to girl audiences and the ever-increasing need to deliver co-viewing opportunities.

T

TV KIDS: Tell us about the “Redraw Your World” tagline.

ASCHEIM: We have this incredible history at Warner Bros. A hundred years of Looney Tunes, years of DC and HannaBarbera and Cartoon Network. But we hadn’t had a chance to put all of our assets together to build a modern kids’ and family business that we think WarnerMedia deserves.

That’s the quest we’ve been on. To do that, we had to think hard about who we were and our relationship with the audience. You start with a great brand and an emotional connection—that was the root of Redraw Your World.

One of the things [people] most want to feel is that we get to be seen as who we really are. That sense of inclusion is the root of how we want our audience to feel. When they’re with us, they get to be their own best self. The second part is understanding that this generation of kids is really powerful. They have the ability to use social media. They see the role models who are just a little older than them—Emma González, Greta Thunberg, Amanda Gorman—looking at the world, finding it somewhat unsatisfying, doing everything they can to make a change and having an unbelievable impact. Redraw Your World borrows this idea of imagination, which has always been the root of who we are, and creativity, and anchors it in the sense that you can reimagine the world to have it be the way you want it to be.

That sense of inclusion and the potency of the audience is what animates our relationship with them.

TV KIDS: You’ve described Cartoon Network as a missiondriven platform for children.

ASCHEIM: The mission-driven part is both for the audience and for the people who work here. If you work in kids’ media, you’re always in service in a way. But we know if we’re just doing good without entertaining, there’s zero good. You need to make sure your message is delivered because people are compelled to watch—it’s wildly entertaining and deeply satisfying. Redraw Your World gives us a mission as we think about the audience. And if inclusion is the centerpiece of what you do, we had to face whether we were dealing appropriately with all the members of the audience that we want to talk to. We [launched] Cartoonito, the biggest preschool commitment we’ve ever made. We do well with boys 6 to 11, but we haven’t done as well with girls.

We have a huge initiative to make sure that girls are an equal part of the audience. Over the years, I think we have focused much more on the children part of the family. But

we know from research pre-Covid that as we get more divided by our own screens and profiles, families atomize a little bit around their entertainment. When we talked to families pre-Covid, they were looking for moments to gather, to have a cultural moment that unites them. That happens successfully when the entertainment is great for the family in totality; it’s not just for the children and the parents are gritting their teeth. It’s wildly entertaining for parents and for kids.

TV KIDS: How are you reaching out to attract more girls?

ASCHEIM: Some of it is just making sure that when we do animation, we are making girls prominent centerpieces of the story. We are venturing into live action. That’s one of the ways we need to attract girls, and honestly, grown-ups and boys too.

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IP because it helps signal that this is something you should pay attention to. Sometimes it’s eventizing. The idea of a global launch creates a sense of momentousness. Then we have a pretty big digital reach. So we have our channel, our streamer, our IP and we use the tendrils we have in the digital landscape to find the audience where they are.

WarnerMedia Kids & Family has greenlit a Looney Tunes movie featuring Porky Pig and Daffy Duck for its new family programming block, ACME Night.

TV KIDS: Tell us about Cartoonito.

ASCHEIM: Cartoonito [launched] this fall with 20 shows across HBO Max and Cartoon Network. We’re building to 50 shows over the next couple of years. We are using the power of some of what we have in our IP library. Batwheels is the youngest show made for Batman. Bugs Bunny Builders is a fantastical construction arena for Looney Tunes where they get to take their anarchic energy and apply it to buildings rather than each other. There’s Tom and Jerry Time. Cartoonito is anchored by a Humancentric Learning curriculum, which is an important part of building credible and effective preschool programming.

TV KIDS: You also oversee the kids’ and family block of programming on HBO Max. ASCHEIM: Ann Sarnoff [chair and CEO of WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group] has given our team responsibility to program HBO Max kids and family along with Cartoon Network. Now, when we think about projects and we go to creators, we don’t have to divide how we [approach] the platforms—we just need the best work, and we’re going to make sure that it’s available in all the places our audience wants to find it. For the most part, in time, our shows will be simultaneously in both places. We’re not quite there yet—now we often have shows on one and then the other. We know our audience is watching television when it’s linear and when it’s streaming, and they don’t want us to make that hard—they want us to make it easy, so we’re going to make it easy.

One of the competitive advantages we have at WarnerMedia versus a peer streamer is that our channels give that sense of focus and importance. It can get a little hard to find things on the streamers. One of the ways we make people pay more attention is we turn it into an event.

That helps drive interest in shows.

TV KIDS: How do you build awareness for shows and help children and families find them?

ASCHEIM: That’s one of the things everybody’s grappling with. There’s no one-size-fits-all, but there are a few things we do that make things easier. Sometimes we use existing 152 WORLD SCREEN 10/21

TV KIDS: What role does acquired product play on Cartoon Network, the other channels in the portfolio and HBO Max? ASCHEIM: We in the business talk about “acquired” versus “original.” To the audience, it’s an invisible line. It’s usually about our deal structure. We have lots of shows that the audience thinks are original, but the way we’ve done the deal with the production company, it could be called an acquisition. But it’s new to them, so it doesn’t matter. I would say what’s more important for us is “familiar” and “brand new.” We use familiar programming to pull people in, which helps us build a bed of awareness to build to something brand new. On Cartoonito, we’re using the library of Thomas & Friends as part of how we’re going to bring attention, but we’re also launching brand-new episodes. It’s an acquisition and an original all in one. I think almost all networks have been built from the successful mix of the familiar and the new.

That combination is important and will remain so.

TV KIDS: You oversee Cartoon Network’s studio and the Warner Bros. animation studio. What are the two different remits?

ASCHEIM: We actually have three studios. We announced one [in April]. We’ve had an under-the-radar studio in England that we renamed Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe, which has been super successful for us. It has shows like [The Amazing World of] Gumball and others that are huge hits on Cartoon Network. One of the most important decisions I made when I arrived was to centralize the leadership of what we do with our studios [under] Sam Register, who came from Cartoon Network and went to Warner Bros. Animation and built it into a powerhouse. He and I spoke about the importance of creating a centrality of approach to have the best practices for all but not lose the cultural norms that made them great. Warner Bros.

Animation uses a lot of existing Warner Bros. IP. That’s part of its power. Cartoon Network Studios has been more [focused on] originated brand-new work. While that is not the rule by which we govern all things, it will be part of what keeps them differentiated. In Europe, we have very different talent, sometimes a different approach. We try to bring the best of all three. Sometimes, it lets us send artists back and forth if they’re finished with one project.

Instead of having them roll off to a competitor, we can have them roll off to one of the sister studios. Sometimes there’s collaboration that happens between studios that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. They get to support each other. The ecosystem of the network and the studios together helps us differentiate ourselves.

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kids, these platforms are designed for adults, which has inherent problems. They have content that is inappropriate, advertising that is inappropriate and the algorithms are a problem. We had to think about it holistically; we couldn’t just put something out there with some licensed content. It was so crucial for us to get the environment and the experience exactly right.

TV KIDS: What’s the approach to distribution partnerships?

BERGER: We do think that connected TVs are very important. We are live on Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire, in addition to iOS and Android mobile phones and tablets and the web. We’ll continue to roll out on more smart TVs. That living room experience for streaming is so important—increasingly for kids and families, as they do more and more co-viewing with their kids. But for kids’ products, you need to have a collection of devices, which is different from adults, who tend to just stream on one device.

TV KIDS: How did you curate your initial slate of content?

BERGER: We wanted to curate content that allowed kids to explore their passions. We’re big believers in interest-

Eric Berger

Common Sense Networks

By Mansha Daswani

F

amilies and educators have long looked to Common Sense Media’s recommendations as they seek out trusted content for young ones. Those values have now been built directly into Sensical, a new AVOD service that launched this summer, operated by the organization’s for-profit arm, Common Sense Networks. Stressing the importance of high-quality programming in a safe environment, delivered for free to the consumer, Sensical has taken a highly curated and algorithm-free approach to devising its lineup. The viewing experience is built around age, with 50-plus topic-based channels and all content vetted for age-appropriateness, including all advertising campaigns. Sony Pictures Television veteran Eric Berger was tasked with using his deep knowledge of the streaming business to position Sensical for success in an increasingly crowded landscape. The CEO of Common Sense Networks shares with TV Kids his strategies for making Sensical the preferred destination for kids and families.

TV KIDS: Tell us about the thinking that went into crafting Sensical.

BERGER: Creating a service for kids is very different, so you have to be extremely thoughtful. We were focused on solving some specific issues in the market under the thesis that kids really do deserve better. Their viewing patterns have shifted to these large open platforms; they’re watching there far and away more than [anywhere] else. About 80 percent of kids are spending over an hour a day just on the [free] platforms; they’re also watching premium services and live TV. And unlike Sensical, which was designed specifically for 156 WORLD SCREEN 10/21

based learning—if kids like something, they’re going to go down the rabbit hole, so it needs to be a safe rabbit hole.

We have 50 topic-based channels designed around things like how-to in categories like sports or drawing or dance or cooking or DIY or building. At the same time, we have these areas of passionate interest that kids like—animals, dinosaurs, video games, outer space or nature. Parents are looking for solid preschool learning—reading, math, science, music—and making and moving activities. All of those are there. It gives Sensical an interesting breadth that doesn’t exist on another service like this for kids right now. It gives them a safe space.

TV KIDS: Did you find that the Common Sense Media brand name was beneficial as you approached distributors who sometimes can be wary about putting their content up on a brand-new AVOD service?

BERGER: Absolutely. A lot of the creators from whom we’ve licensed love the brand association because you have to be selected. It’s not a normal licensing deal; it goes both ways. You may want to get in, but you might not pass our criteria. If you went through the whole ratings process—and we watched every frame of every video, through human review, we tag all of it and capture the metadata—it’s a little bit of a badge of honor. At the same time, it’s incremental revenue for them. We’re putting them out onto other platforms they may not be on already—the Rokus, the Amazon Fires, other devices—so it’s a win for everybody.

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TV KIDS: Are you looking at international expansion?

BERGER: We’re testing in the U.S. right now but have a global vision. This is a global problem, one that we want to address.

We want to, as quickly as we can, start to move into other territories. There are some big AVOD territories around the world that are obvious targets. In Europe, the U.K., Germany, France, Spain. In Asia, Japan, Australia. And Mexico and Brazil. Those are the obvious targets for us because there are AVOD businesses there. And other countries, of course.

TV KIDS: How is Sensical determining the right advertising brand partners to align with?

BERGER: That’s as important as the content itself. The whole experience has to be right. We set up what we think are the best-in-class ad guidelines for digital. We do borrow a lot from television. There are some very good things about the ad guidelines in television; they just haven’t been brought into the digital world. The first is, the content itself has to be appropriate and age-appropriate. We exclude certain categories—unhealthy foods and drinks, for example—that we don’t think are appropriate. We also screen the creative itself. And then we look at things like frequency caps to make sure the volume of ads you’re seeing, and the spacing out of the ads, is appropriate. The biggest issue has to do with the blending of the advertising and the content. This is one of the biggest problems in digital right now. It happens in two ways. One is where you can’t tell where the content ends and the ad begins. We’re going to have bumpers and clear separation in the messaging to the child. In the digital world, there’s also a lot of brand integration into the content that is unclear, where the host of a popular show might be pushing a product, or they have these unboxing videos— that’s the type of thing we’re not going to do.

TV KIDS: I know preschoolers tend to rewatch the same content. As such, do you need to refresh your slate more often for the older demos?

BERGER: It’s true that when preschoolers find something, they will watch it over and over again. You don’t know what they’re going to find, so you have to have a good breadth there, which I think we do. The refresh rate, and the nature of the programming, are a bit different for 8 to 10s. We have much more live-action how-tos for them; that’s where we have more sports, drawing, dance, cooking, DIY things.

TV KIDS: Comparing the landscape today to the conditions in place when you were building Crackle out, what’s more challenging now, and what’s easier?

BERGER: The challenge is, you have a lot of competition.

When we started Crackle, we needed to educate people on streaming, connected television streaming, building an audience, and we had to educate advertisers about AVOD. You trade that off now with the fact that it’s very crowded out there. You have to have something that’s differentiated and [that fills] a very specific need versus another me-too streaming service. We do. We have Common Sense Media’s approach as our guiding light, and we have a base of users from Common Sense. When we do poll after poll in the market, 80 percent of parents are saying they know the content [on other free services] is not appropriate, the advertising is not appropriate. They’re looking for something that offers educational value and is age-appropriate. What’s easier is, when we started, you had to build everything, every piece of technology. Now there are a lot of off-the-shelf things you can do. When you’re building these platforms, the trick is to know where you need to focus on proprietary intellectual property and where you can pull things off the shelf. For this business, what I focused on were the things that really matter, the tools we created that are unique, like the ParentZone, where caregivers can gain insight into what their kids are watching and how to extend the learning process. Or the way we did these topic-based channels inside the application. That’s original IP. TV KIDS: It’s still early days for Sensical. Where do you want to be with the service six to eight months from now?

BERGER: We want a large and growing base of kids to be loving this service. We also want to be a partner to parents. You have a dual audience situation with kids’ media.

The parent tools we are supplying are not just helping them limit the watch time or put restrictions around it— it’s more to bring them into the conversation with their kids. These tools tell them what types of content they’re watching along learning lines, but also what types of topics they’re watching, and it enables them to extend the conversation with their kids and be part of the process. So yes, we want a lot of kids and a lot of parents, but we’re successful if we’re creating a different type of viewing and learning experience. And on a practical level, we want to be growing this around the world.

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Sensical acquired a huge slate of content from across the globe for its launch this year, including Superights’ Bo Bear.

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series on the internet, if you think about the turn of the new millennium. At the heart of everything, it’s still us being storytellers, but we’re always continuing to embrace unique ways to tell stories.

TV KIDS: What environment does Aardman offer creators?

CLARKE: The founders of the studio, David Sproxton and Peter Lord, always had an ethos to create a friendly, open, collaborative environment. That’s been underpinned by the fact that we’re now employee-owned. We are truly a values-based business, where all the value created, whether it’s money or investment, is with employees in mind—or partners, as we call them. It’s very much about creating a culture that allows creativity to thrive and an environment for those ideas to spark. We have a building that encourages people to meet and talk and discuss. We have forums for people to present ideas, for them to be nurtured and hopefully come to fruition.

TV KIDS: Would you give some examples of how an animation style is selected for a particular project? You have a vast toolbox.

CLARKE: The idea comes first. The parameters of working out the technique come into the nature of the idea. During the pandemic, we greenlit our first end-to-end CG series that we’re making here in Bristol, Lloyd of the Flies. It has been done in CG because it’s about a group of insects—there are just so many of them, if we did it in stop-motion, there would be scale issues, and you do see some of the humans’

Sean Clarke Aardman

By Anna Carugati

ince its inception by Peter Lord and David Sproxton, Aardman has been at the forefront of stop-motion animation technology, giving the world such beloved hits as Chicken Run, Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep.

The multi-award-winning British studio operates across various mediums—commercials, shorts, television series and feature films, with its characters also extended to consumer products and live experiences—and has expanded into new animation styles. Now employee-owned, Aardman continues to innovate across the animation landscape. Speaking at the TV Kids Summer Festival, Sean Clarke, managing director, outlined the creativity-driven ethos at the heart of the company.

S

TV KIDS: Everything that comes out of Aardman has some level of newness, inventiveness and innovation.

How has the company embraced new technologies, new creators and innovation for so long?

CLARKE: We’ve always been world-renowned for our stopmotion. The studio’s ethos has always been to embrace technology. I’ve been at the studio now for 23 years. Twenty years ago, we launched our first movie, Chicken Run, which was a mammoth task in terms of putting together a crew. In the same year, we did a series called Angry Kid, a live-action/stop-motion mix. It was actually one of the first 158 WORLD SCREEN 10/21

legs and the props in the house. So, CG was the right technique to bring that to life. There may be another dynamic such as budget. Not so much on the movies—there’s not a lot of difference between a CG movie budget and a stopmotion movie budget. But there may well be a commercial for a third-party client where they have a budget restriction and it makes sense that we look at it in 2D. The only other denominator we could look at is a practical thing of what our pipeline is like. Our stop-motion pipeline, I’m pleased to say, is pretty busy through the end of 2024. There will be some implications there that mean we have to look at other techniques as well. But, first and foremost, it’s how you bring that idea to life.

TV KIDS: Tell us about Aardman’s many diversity initiatives.

CLARKE: Like everybody, we’re very conscious that we need to address it and do more than we have done. Last June, we committed to being a lot more open and transparent in what we’re doing. Morally, it’s the right thing to do with an employee-owned company—to be internally open and transparent about our plans and objectives. And frankly, I wanted us to be publicly transparent because if it’s public, you’re held to account and it’s more meaningful.

We’ve done a lot of work on our development slate. We

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have industry standards that we work to, like the BFI standard. Many financiers now are, rightly so, insisting on a different diversity formula for the stories you tell. The area that we have more work to do on is behind the camera. We established a diversity and inclusion charter that was formulated by a group of people across the studio. I was keen on it not being just the exec board or me saying, This is the charter. For it to have teeth, you’ve got to get the people producing or hiring to embrace it and understand it. It is broken into three areas: ourselves, our stories and our voice.

Ourselves is about how we start to be more diverse and inclusive in terms of our workforce.

Our stories speaks for itself. And how we use our voice is encouraging other studios to adopt a similar approach. We have the Aardman Academy, where we look to do training courses. As part of every course, we now offer up two bursaries for people who perhaps aren’t in a privileged position to afford it. We have great associations with bodies like Creative Access, which help us find potential candidates from ethnic minority communities to bring them into the workforce.

We’ve rolled out various unconscious bias training and other initiatives, and we’ve invested a fair bit of money into trainee roles. For those roles behind the camera, we will do what we can now, but it’s also about what we can do to influence the talent pool going forward.

TV KIDS: The public knows about Aardman’s Oscarwinning movies and hit TV series, but the company does so much more.

CLARKE: We’ve got this world-class talent in the studio that does movies and series and creates stories and characters and worlds. We also do some work-for-hire, where we do commercials for various clients, ranging from the Serta Sheep in the States to DFS commercials for sofas in the U.K. We have a very strong interactive team that uses that toolbox to create stories in VR and augmented reality. With Wallace & Gromit, a 30-year-old brand, we did a new take on it called The Big Fix Up with another party called the Fictioneers, where we did a whole new immersive story in augmented reality. We created an award-winning app, StorySign, with Huawei. We created a character that signs books for deaf children. And two years ago, we did our first 4D film for the Efteling theme park in Holland. In Japan, we have Shaun the Sheep cafés where you can sit in the farmhouse and have a cup of tea. We have a Shaun the Sheep theme park in Australia and Japan. We’ve collaborated with a producer in Australia to create a Shaun the Sheep circus show using these worldrenowned acrobats. We’re always looking at different ways of telling new stories and connecting our brands with audiences all over the world.

TV KIDS: Tell us more about employee ownership.

CLARKE: Peter Lord and David Sproxton were starting to look at succession. There are a number of ways you can relinquish ownership. You can sell to a corporate entity or venture capitalists. Frankly, they both felt if they did that, they knew what would happen. The studio would be sliced and diced and everything would be made in a cheaper

place. The integrity and everything Aardman stands for would be lost. So they did a lot of research and felt the best way to move forward and future-proof the studio’s independence was to sell it to the employees. David Sproxton has left the studio; he’s now a trustee. I took David’s role and became managing director, and we have an operational board. I report to a group of trustees who are there to check that I’m still running the company in the way the original owners wanted the company to be run. The other accountability I have is to what we call a partner rep group, representing the hundreds of people who work here. They are there to ask questions of how we’re running the company. It’s important to future-proof our independence, which in turn, for me, future-proofs our ability to be authentic and protect our integrity. A group of suited shareholders isn’t asking us to make something in a formulaic way. It allows us to take calculated risks. It allows us to believe in ideas and push the boundaries. In terms of a creative work environment, it’s perfect. And I’d hope to see more studios become employee-owned.

TV KIDS: What opportunities do you see in the next year or two in the animation world?

CLARKE: I think the future looks good. It’s a thriving industry. There has been much change; I expect there to be more. Technology will underpin that. One of the areas we are investing in, both in terms of people and resources, is gaming. We did our first console game a couple of years ago. We believe that those pastimes of gaming and watching series and movies are no longer mutually exclusive.

They are starting to overlap. We did a great initiative with Epic Games, where they had a virtual film festival on Fortnite with one of our films. Unreal Engine is now becoming an engine used for animation. It feels like these worlds are starting to blend. The nature of our business is all about partnerships. It’s partly why we announced last year that we’re keen to work with people who share that vision. It’s an exciting time.

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For CITV, Lloyd of the Flies is the first full CGI series Aardman is producing at its Bristol studios.

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Guru Studio’s Big Blue.

Into Big Blue Creator Gyimah Gariba and Guru Studio’s Frank Falcone take TV Kids inside Big Blue’s path from compelling pitch to commissioned and completed series. By Mansha Daswani

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ettie and Lemo, the young sibling adventurers in Big Blue, are on a mission to unravel the mysteries of the ocean. In their submarine, the duo, together with their crew members and a stowaway named Bacon Berry, discover the wonders of the underwater universe while also finding ways to protect the planet.

Aimed at kids of all ages, the series is being rolled out worldwide by Guru Studio, with CBC in Canada as the commissioning partner and ABC in Australia on board with a prebuy.

Big Blue was created by Gyimah Gariba, a GhanaianCanadian whom Guru had spotted while he was still at university, tapping him for a design role on Justin Time. “The idea for Big Blue originated while I was working on Justin Time season three,” Gariba tells TV Kids. “I was inspired by an underwater episode. Guru launched an internal call for pitches for new original IP, and I jumped at the opportunity. I wanted to explore merging tangible, realistic things about the world’s oceans with the myths of the underwater world. The next layer was centering the story around a goofy, unusual family. When

crafting the story, we wanted audiences to care about the characters, but also laugh with them.”

And for those characters, Gariba took inspiration from his own family. “The characters started as caricatures of my three siblings,” he says. “Lettie represents the oldest sister who can do it all, Lemo is the obnoxiously confident little brother, and Bacon Berry is the adorable yet powerful baby sister.”

Frank Falcone, president and executive creative director at Guru Studio, says he and his team were immediately attracted to Gariba’s pitch. “Gyimah presented something he was passionate about,” Falcone says. “It was unique. It was a family story. We were looking for something that could reach beyond our 5-to-9 target demo—inclusive of preschoolers and parent co-viewers. The representation aspect was also very important to us—way back in 2015! We were supporting the honest reflection of a creator’s identity long before the world jumped on board. When we were presenting the show, many doors were closed to us, but in 2015, the CBC came on board and championed the show along with acquisition partner ABC Australia.”

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“When you have strong characters, they almost write themselves. We got to that place with Big Blue.” —Frank Falcone

Completing the financing was not easy, Falcone notes, with Guru Studio stepping up to deficit finance the project. “It was a difficult decision for an independent company, but we couldn’t leave the CBC and ABC high and dry, and we certainly didn’t want to let Gyimah down. So we committed to the show and its message and purpose, not just in word but in dollars.”

The relationship between Lettie and Lemo and their assorted crew is at the heart of the show’s appeal, Falcone notes. “It’s an honest representation of Gyimah’s family dynamic, without being topical or having any hint of political motivations or social commentary on race relations. It’s not a cartoon about the experience of Black people in society or what it’s like to grow up Black. Gyimah wanted to level the playing field in representation. He wanted to present an ideal. That’s something we stood behind so much so that we wrote it into his contract as a creator, which allowed us to stay the course with his vision.”

The result, Falcone explains, is a show that is “funny and delivers on the promise of a diverse modern family dynamic, with all of SpongeBob SquarePants’ goofy dysfunctional sensibilities, sitting at the helm of a USS Enterprise-like submarine exploring an underwater fantasy universe. That’s what we have on-screen: missions and a lot of comedy—silliness wins the day!”

The teamwork at the heart of the storytelling reflects the allhands-on-deck approach the creative team at Guru took to getting the elements of Big Blue perfect, from the look of the characters to the tone of the comedy.

“We focused on the characters and finding their voices— ensuring they have integrity so you know how they would react to any situation they’re written into,” Falcone says. “When you have strong characters, they almost write themselves. We got to that place with Big Blue.”

Outside of Lettie, Lemo and Bacon Berry, the core characters include ship medic Phil the dolphin and onboard engineer Freddie the turtle. Falcone notes that the casting process for Freddie, in particular, speaks to the theme of diversity that permeates the series. “Many broadcasters have representation quotas for female and male characters,” Falcone explains. “We fulfilled that for this show, but we also had a character, Freddie,

that fell between those binary categories. We didn’t care whether Freddie was male or female, so we cast the actor blindly—without knowing whether the actor identified as male or female. And still don’t know to this day! It’s a funny cartoon turtle; it doesn’t matter, does it? That was a great way to work within a broadcaster’s rules and yet landed somewhere between them so we could carve out some new territory for representation. In the end, we love the character’s voice and how Freddie, in many ways, embodies the real spirit of the show—true inclusivity without judgment or identity politics.”

Gariba hails the supportive environment he has found at Guru. “They helped me expand my ideas and streamline them so that every episode would build toward the larger picture.”

Falcone is a fan of betting on new talent at Guru, a process that he says comes down to “asking questions and allowing the creator to make those big decisions for their show. We’re there to provide advice and guidance—it’s an educational process. Pairing a creator with a strong, talented director who has experience is key to helping new creators quickly learn the ropes of production. You don’t want too much of the learning to be mid-production; you want it to be guided. Experiential learning can be expensive! You want to allow someone to learn but provide clear guard rails and priorities. We learned things in our early episodes that trigger improvements in the later episodes—stronger design, stronger layout, the show continues to grow and develop as the season unfolds. The process should always get better as the creator’s experience deepens.”

The sales team at Guru, led by Jonathan Abraham as VP of sales and business development, is busy doing deals on the series ahead of its CBC launch later this year, with NRK in Norway and CTC Kids in Russia among those on board. Gariba is excited for families around the world to fall in love with his creation. “I want people to have fun watching the show,” he says. “The characters go through hardships and overcome them like any other story, but my favorite part of the show is that they never stop enjoying each other’s company, and they never stop being a little silly.”

“I wanted to explore merging tangible, realistic things about the world’s oceans with the myths of the underwater world.” —Gyimah Gariba

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Linda Simensky PBS KIDS each show with a little bit of what it’s like to be really interested in something, or what it’s like to have a lot of fun doing something that you love. We have this strategy called “New Voices, New Approaches,” and it’s been a way for us to talk to people who haven’t historically developed shows for PBS, for a variety of reasons, and try to invite them in. We’re trying to get a lot of different viewpoints on our air and represent all different kinds of kids. We’re working on developing different ways in, different platforms that people can work on. We’re just trying to have fun thinking about how kids watch now, where kids watch now and how we can make shows for the way kids watch now.

TV KIDS: Are there certain content directives or mandates you must take into consideration with regard to programming?

SIMENSKY: We have to do programming that has impact.

When PBS was designed, I don’t think they were thinking this is a replacement for school; I think they were thinking we should use programming to enlighten people and to give them information that they might want that they might not get in school or otherwise. I always look at our programming as it needs to have impact, it needs to encourage kids, it needs to introduce them to things that they will find interesting but didn’t even know about. That’s what guides us. One of the things we say is, all American kids should see themselves somewhere on our air. We are working hard to live up to that.

It sounds easy, but there are a lot of different kinds of people in the U.S., so we’re working at figuring out how to do that. If kids are going to see themselves, those characters need to be created by people who know what they are talking about. It goes back to finding a variety of creators to bring their visions to our screens.

By Kristin Brzoznowski

s the only children’s programming block on U.S. public television, PBS KIDS has undertaken the mandate to deliver content that is educational, entertaining and authentically reflects the world that kids are living in today. It has developed a multiplatform approach to respond to the quickly evolving media environment and meet the needs of current and future viewers. Linda Simensky, head of content at PBS KIDS, talks about the role and value of public-service broadcasting in the kids’ programming landscape.

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TV KIDS: Can you share a brief overview of the programming focus for PBS KIDS? SIMENSKY: PBS KIDS is focused on kids between the ages of 2 and 8, and we are both educational and entertaining.

We focus on some core themes of curiosity, enthusiasm and optimism, which are all very important these days, although we’ve been focusing on those things for years.

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TV KIDS: What do you look for in acquired content?

SIMENSKY: We program for kids between the ages of 2 and 8 and, within that, there’s the younger preschool age group, 2 to 4, or 2 to 5, or 3 to 5. I think Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood is a good example of a “first” TV show.

These shows are kind of like entry-level PBS shows. It’s the show that introduces you to watching content. What we try to cover in those shows is, if you’re new to the world, what information is it that you’re looking for? We have some shows that are just teaching how the world works, like Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, or simple lessons like, if you slug someone, they won’t be happy, and what to do about that. I always think of us as the guide to how the world works for younger kids. For slightly older kids, the 4-to-7, 4-to-8 age group, we’re teaching more information that you might need. You might be curious about animals, so a show like Wild Kratts would work for you.

We do anywhere from one to three new series a year.

Sometimes that third series is because it was supposed

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to be the second series in another year, and we didn’t time it right. We usually put a few new things into development. Historically, we did 11-minute pilots.

We’re starting to try things like a whole series of shorts instead of a pilot. We put those 3-minute shorts out on different platforms. We’re trying to use different platforms to figure out what length things should be. A lot of what we’re doing is at the younger end of preschool.

[We] focus on that entry into content and making that a positive experience for kids and parents and caregivers.

[We did] Molly of Denali, where we focused an entire series on an Alaskan native girl, but we did it like it was a regular animated show, just telling stories of her doing fun and interesting things. The curriculum is in there, but it’s mostly an adventure show. Her whole world was depicted very accurately, and the producers at GBH went and did workshops and found native Alaskan writers and producers and worked very closely with them.

This was a world right in the United States that most kids, most producers at PBS, didn’t know much about. A lot of what we did know was incorrect. It was an amazing experience making that show because we all learned a lot. It’s opened our eyes to how many different cultures there are in and around the U.S. We could be introducing these worlds to other kids, but even more important is kids seeing themselves and saying, “Oh, that’s like what my family does, and I’ve never seen that on television before.” I just have to recommend it to everyone to experiment and hire those producers that come from places that you wouldn’t expect. That’s exactly the kind of thing that public broadcasting is going to do that no one else is going to do. In my mind, I was saying no one will acquire this because this is so specific. It turned out that the more specific we were, the more general the stories became just about a kid and adventures. To me, that was a total public-television moment.

TV KIDS: What are some of the core themes and brand qualities that you have to keep top of mind with programming for PBS KIDS?

SIMENSKY: Things like curiosity, enthusiasm and optimism. We’ve tried to make our brand be about optimism. We’ve been working on that for years. I think we got into that because we saw that it wasn’t really out there. A lot of shows were kind of cynical, and a lot of other shows just seemed earnest and cute. We wanted to find something that captured what we were trying to do, and optimism really captured it. Then our marketing department did some brand testing and found that people did associate optimism with us. I think it’s that hope that people need right now that’s so important. It’s been a really tough year. When we’ve taken on topics like Covid-19 or racism, we always try to take them to the point where we show that we believe that things ultimately will go the right way. There’s a little bit of an optimism gap out there, so we’re trying to fill that gap.

TV KIDS: With the entrance of so many SVODs, AVODs, apps and on-demand services targeting young ones, what do you see as the role and value of public broadcasting in addressing kids today?

SIMENSKY: The distribution question is just incredible.

We sat down and said, let’s make a list of the questions we have about distribution. We wrote up seven pages of questions, and that’s not one question per page; that’s 25 questions on a page. Some are very broad, and some are very specific. The world is changing so rapidly in terms of how people get their content, and kids, of course, try things out first. They are the early adopters of everything. We need to be there for them, so it’s figuring out how to do that. If each platform requires something slightly different, do you have the people to do that? It’s so much more complex than it used to be. The twin problems of discoverability and distribution are the biggest things we’re dealing with. It used to be funding. We’re past that.

Funding seems like a quaint problem to solve compared to navigating the world as it’s changing. We’re making plans, and things are changing as we’re making those plans. We all have to be so nimble.

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Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, sold by 9 Story Media Group, is among PBS KIDS’ top performers.

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Sarah Muller BBC Children’s TV KIDS: Tell us about the crucial role kids’ programming plays on the BBC. MULLER: In children’s, we’re working for kids aged 0 to 12. For that demographic, 80 percent of the U.K.’s children spend at least three-quarters of their time with us at some stage in the week. BBC Children’s is a microcosm, in a way, of the whole of the rest of the BBC. We provide a full service that goes from daily live news through live-action drama, factual, comedy and entertainment. We try to supply something for everybody. It was a difficult year last year. We found ourselves doing some different things than what we might normally do. We’ve been in a really good position to meet the challenges thrown at us in a unique set of circumstances. We’ve demonstrated our importance to our communities and societies in the last year in a way that we haven’t been offered before.

TV KIDS: Are there content directives you must take into consideration?

MULLER: We’re focused on our audience and delivering public-service value to them. It’s making sure we remain focused on a really good sweep of different types of content, from factual through to drama. It’s also about the type of work we do and where we do it. We’re always very keen to make sure our production bases and our commissioning bases are situated around all of the U.K., not just in the media-centric areas. So, across the regions, up into the north into Manchester and Newcastle, but also in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. That’s how we work our quota system.

By Kristin Brzoznowski

he BBC operates the most-watched kids’ services in the U.K., but like pubcasters everywhere, faces its fair share of challenges. Patricia Hidalgo, the director of BBC Children’s and Education, set out her vision to a group of reporters earlier this year, noting, “We knew we had to evolve, and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic has expedited that further. We needed to better understand what our audiences wanted and how they consumed our content and evolve our commissioning decisions.” In that light, Hidalgo unveiled a restructure of her content teams, dividing them by age rather than channel brand and combining commissions and acquisitions. To oversee content for the 7-plus set, BBC Children’s enlisted respected kids’ industry veteran Sarah Muller, who had returned to the pubcaster in 2019 after roles at Milkshake! and the POP services in the U.K. Muller tells TV Kids about her content approach.

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TV KIDS: What kinds of acquisitions are you eyeing?

MULLER: iPlayer has very much become the focus of our activity. So alongside our public-service commissioning, we will be looking for acquisitions for iPlayer.

We have a wide sweep of successful live-action pieces across all the genres. It’s 6 to 9, 2D, characterdriven comedy animations that we’ve struggled to find off the shelf. I have a personal wish to find some anime suitable for our young audience, and that means complex storytelling with an arc, something that demands attention and engagement in a different way but doesn’t have tons of violence and sexual stereotyping. We’re always looking for films. Apart from that, we’re looking for the lovely, holistic, unexpected thing that we haven’t made ourselves, we probably wouldn’t make ourselves, but that tells a really great story, shows a different way of life, somewhere else in the world that isn’t in the modern, contemporary U.K. kids’ experience. We’re always looking to be surprised by the unexpected.

TV KIDS: Tell us about the recent restructure based on age and combining the commissioning and acquisitions teams.

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MULLER: We’re trying to make sure that we reflect the audience and their needs in a more proactive way. It’s become clear that, for us, channels were potentially quite limiting in terms of how we reach different children. If you weren’t careful, you would end up picking the same narrow-gauge group of content over and over again. It’s just proved easier to break down how we approach finding world-class content for our audience across the whole 0 to 12 age group if we start to think about the individual needs of a smaller group of children.

Within the 0 to 6 commissioning band, you’ve got 0 to 3 and 4 to 6. Within my group, 7 to 12, you’ve got 7 to 9 and 8 to 12. That makes it much easier to micro-identify needs in a way we might not have done before. That picks up on the trend for self-scheduling, for selecting what you want to watch. It also allows us to be realistic about where we’re putting things, how we’re telling different parts of the audience about what we’re doing. It also makes us able to be honest with ourselves about the need for business structure and brands within what we’re doing, even within public service. We do have to make sure we’re still entertaining and engaging kids within public service.

There’s no point in making terribly worthy shows that nobody wants to watch. We’re hoping this will help us strategize around where the great things we’re already doing will need to land and how to land them. It’s about working more closely with audiences. It’s about getting ourselves battle-ready, future-proof, making sure the BBC—which is 100 years old soon—is going to be able to meet the challenges of the next 100 years.

TV KIDS: Tell us more about addressing diversity and inclusivity in your programming remit.

MULLER: Diversity is just a terribly straightforward and very important thing that we all need to think about in different ways. We have worked hard to get on-screen representation front and center. We’ve done well. What we’ve identified [that needs work] is behind the camera and at the managerial level. What writers, creators, directors are we bringing in? How can we reflect their stories? We’ll all be the beneficiaries of widening our net beyond the narrow pool of people we tend to draw from. For the BBC, diversity isn’t just about ethnicity. It’s also gender, ability, sexual identity and socioeconomic.

A very narrow group of people with a very narrow life experience end up creating a lot of our content, so the jokes are the same and the stories are the same and the characters are the same. We as an entire organization are committed to building on that diversity, going as far as to embed it into our contracts now, and we have a series of targets that are enshrined in our agreements.

We’re definitely going to make it work. It’s very important, and this is the time we have to get it right.

TV KIDS: How do you see the competitive landscape now since the emergence of global SVOD and AVOD services catering to kids?

MULLER: They have a global approach, a global outlook.

For me, that means that in their attempt to reach everybody, with exceptions, they might end up reaching nobody. When you’re trying to think on that scale, sometimes you miss things—the emotional beats, the curiosity. We’ve all got something that our audience is looking for. I think that’s harder to do if you’re trying to think very, very big off the page, rather than, “This is just the right thing to do off the page.” I still think they struggle enormously with discoverability. Yes, they’ve got lots of choice, but I struggle to find things I want to watch, to discover something new, without opinion pieces that I’ve read online that might direct me to something. It’s even harder for kids. It’s really hard to find the brands that are for you. The thing that [public broadcasters] all have—which I think everyone is envious of so we mustn’t lose sight of it—is the ability to reach a linear audience and tell them about the great things we’re doing elsewhere to create an ecosystem where everything can support and promote everything else. There’s always a way of finding something within the public-service bubble. That’s what we’ll continue to do. We will also continue to work with the content that mirrors every child’s experience because, again, that brings it down to a very narrow approach, but you have to be able to hold the mirror up to every kid in your audience. It’d be a really big mirror if the others had that approach. I absolutely welcome the competition and think it’s made us all think about how we work, really identify the content that we want and the producers we want to work with because we might lose the opportunity to work with them. We need to work that bit harder to make sure we still secure the right titles. Ultimately, it’s quite positive, and [public broadcasters have] really thought about how to raise their game and meet the challenges the future is going to bring.

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Distributed by Serious Kids, Operation Ouch! has been on the air on CBBC since 2012.

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In-Demand: Preschool

School of Roars Commissioners: CBeebies (U.K.), Sprout (U.S.) Produced By: Dot to Dot Productions Distributor: ZDF Enterprises represents all rights worldwide.

Description: (Preschool 3-6 comedy, S1-2: 104x7 min.) Children are prepared for school life through the experiences of our lovable mini-monsters. Through their adventures they learn how to care, share, make friends and have fun.

Pitch Perfect: Now in its second season, our series is full of monster laughs and teaches the core values of life. Going to school is something children all over the world experience and can relate to. The series introduces children to the first year of school and shows them that it’s full of fun and not scary at all.

Slot Winner: The show has also aired on Nick Jr., DeA Junior and Rai Yoyo in Italy, TG4 in Ireland and ABC Kids in Australia. Nominated for Best Preschool Series at the Broadcast Awards in 2017 and 2018.

Sales Contacts: Katharina Pietzsch, Director ZDFE.junior; Marei Bruckmann, Director ZDFE.junior; Jan-Frederik Maul, Director ZDFE.junior.

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B.O.T. and the BEASTIES Commissioner: CBeebies (U.K.) Produced By: Ragdoll Productions Distributor: CAKE represents worldwide rights excluding the U.K. Description: (Preschool 2-6 comedy, 50x5 min.) Introduces preschoolers to the comic adventures and misadventures of a lovable robot called B.O.T. (Beastie Observation Transmitter) as he discovers new worlds and an assortment of bizarre beasties that inhabit them. B.O.T. must collect data on the comically unpredictable beasties and while his mission is never easy, it is always fun!

Pitch Perfect: B.O.T. and the BEASTIES is the latest series created by Anne Wood (Teletubbies, In the Night Garden and Twirlywoos), whose reputation for producing high-caliber IP with global appeal is unprecedented in the preschool space. Strong visual comedy, playfulness and invention coupled with wonderful storytelling is ensuring its strong performance on CBeebies.

Slot Winner: Regularly appears in CBeebies’ top ten.

Sales Contacts: Edward Galton, CEO; Bianca Rodriguez, Head, Sales.

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Pip and Posy Commissioners: Milkshake!, Sky (U.K.) Produced By: Magic Light Pictures Distributor: Magic Light Pictures represents all rights.

Description: (Preschool 2-6, 52x7 min.) An animated series based on the hugely popular picture books by Axel Scheffler and Camilla Reid.

Pitch Perfect: Packed with warmth and humor, the series is a celebration of great friendship. Based on the million-selling book series illustrated by Axel Scheffler, Pip and Posy premiered in the U.K. in March to huge ratings success and is already a social media hit with 5-million-plus views.

Slot Winner: Number one on Milkshake! nine times in June 2021. Logged 2.4 million viewers. Among kids 4-15, Pip and Posy beats Peppa Pig (67,000 to 58,000) and is currently first or second every day. It commands a 25 percent share of viewing for the 4-6 group and 28 percent for kids 4-15. Averaged 191,000 viewers in June 2021. Reached over 3.1 million people on social media. Over 1.4 million videos viewed on social media.

Sales Contact: Muriel Thomas, International Distribution Director.

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Simon Super Rabbit Commissioner: France TV; prebuys from VRT (Belgium), RTS (Switzerland), Hop! (Israel), TéléQuébec (Canada), DR TV (Denmark), SVT (Sweden) Produced By: GO-N Productions Distributor: GO-N International represents all rights worldwide.

Description: (Preschool/kids, 52x5 min.) A fresh narrative and graphic take that explores the rich imaginary world of Simon and his friends when they play at being superheroes. We follow them in their imaginary games where Simon is becoming “Super Rabbit.”

Pitch Perfect: The cutest and funniest superhero animated series for preschoolers, based on the iconic character Simon.

Slot Winner: Three seasons of Simon are broadcast on major channels worldwide. It is number one on France TV’s Okoo and in the top five kids’ shows almost everywhere it is broadcast. Broadcasters include VRT (Belgium), Cartoonito (Italy), Tiny Pop (U.K.), Clan RTVE (Spain), SVT (Sweden), DR (Denmark), JimJam (Central Europe), EBS (Korea) and NHK (Japan).

Sales Contact: Eric Garnet, Producer & Co-Founder.

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Mumfie Commissioners: France TV (France), Rai (Italy) Produced By: Zodiak Kids Studio, Animoka Distributor: Zodiak Kids Description: (Preschool, 78x7 min.) Preschool comedy series from the creator of Thomas the Tank Engine featuring the optimistic young elephant Mumfie and his best friends Pinkey and Jelly Bean. As our trio embark on their daily adventures you’ll get to meet their eclectic bunch of animal friends.

Pitch Perfect: “Audiences will fall in love with Mumfie because it’s warm and friendly, with an eclectic cast of animal characters in a slightly off-kilter world. In each episode, there is one clear and simple story—with plenty of time for fun and laughter. The dialogue is always supported by bright and appealing visuals, with a lot of physical humor.” —Delphine Dumont Sales Contacts: Delphine Dumont, SVP, Sales, Acquisitions & CoProductions; Cecile Cau, VP, Sales & Co-Productions; Julia Rowlands, VP, Sales, Co-Productions & Acquisitions.

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Milo Commissioner: Milkshake!/Channel 5 (U.K.) Produced By: Fourth Wall in association with Planeta Junior, supported by the U.K. Government’s Young Audiences Content Fund.

Distributor: Planeta Junior for all media and licensing rights worldwide excluding the U.K. Description: (Preschool 3-6 comedy/educational, 52x11 min.) Milo aims to introduce preschool children to the large variety of vocations and their associated outfits, vehicles and uniforms in a fun and entertaining way.

Pitch Perfect: Milo and his friends discover that every vocation is amazing, giving a positive message to kids that they can be anything they want to be when they grow up. Like current times, Milo’s world celebrates delivery workers as much as explorers and doctors and nurses as much as astronauts. Lisle Licensing has signed a deal with Planeta Junior to promote and represent the property Milo in the U.K. and Ireland.

Sales Contacts: Lucia Vismara, Judit Foz.

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Mister Paper Commissioner: VRT Ketnet Produced By: A Private View, Beast Animation, Viking Film, NDR, Balance Film Distributor: All rights worldwide from Global Screen.

Description: (Preschool 0-5, 26x5 min.) With his scissors, Mister Paper cuts and sticks together the world that he wants. With his childlike imagination, he is never alone. For every situation, Mister Paper creates a solution by cutting or pasting something new. Through his adventures, the world of children is brought to life in a playful, imaginative manner. A world, rooted in reality, where anything is possible and imagination is king.

Pitch Perfect: We are convinced that this animation series will stimulate children to get creative themselves. We want them to start working with paper, glue and paint, just like they do in kindergarten.

We hope that our young audience will create their own universe, just like Mister Paper does.

Sales Contact: Julia Weber, Head, International Sales & Acquisitions.

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Tulipop Commissioner: Síminn (Iceland) Produced By: Tulipop Studios Distributor: Television, VOD and home entertainment from Serious Kids.

Description: (Preschool 3-6, 26x5 min.) Modern-day fairy tales set on the fantastical island of Tulipop, where anything can happen—and usually does! Follow the adventures of Gloomy, Bubble, Fred, Miss Maddy and Mister Tree, a group of unique and equally lovable characters. The series follows on the heels of a strong performance for Tulipop merchandise in 2020. Tulipop has also introduced print-on-demand items to its extensive range of toys, T-shirts, accessories, home items and more.

Pitch Perfect: We look at others and wished we could be them. We wished we could have what they have. But you can’t be someone else. You are you.

Tulipop encourages you to be who you are! The stories celebrate diversity and uniqueness in a magical world where anything is possible. The kids can learn they are unique and have their own talents and experiences.

Sales Contact: sales@seriouskids.com

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In-Demand: Comedy

Scream Street Commissioner: CBBC Produced By: Coolabi Productions, Factory, Nau Productions Distributor: ZDF Enterprises represents all rights worldwide.

Description: (Kids 6-10 animated comedy, S1-2: 78x11 min.) This funny, scary, gross-out stop-motion animation show follows the adventures of Luke Watson, a smart, fun-loving, mischievous teenage boy—except Luke is a werewolf! On Scream Street, he can finally be himself.

Pitch Perfect: Scream Street is a fast-paced, stylish, comedy-horror extravaganza, based on the hit book series by Tommy Donbavand, following Luke Watson: a regular teen—apart from the werewolf gene! The stories are packed full of humor and horror, delivered with warmth and heart— even if some of those hearts have stopped beating!

Sales Contacts: Katharina Pietzsch, Director ZDFE.junior; Marei Bruckmann, Director ZDFE.junior; Jan-Frederik Maul, Director ZDFE.junior.

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Big Blue Commissioners: CBC, SRC Produced By: Guru Studio Distributor: Worldwide content and L&M rights from Guru Studio.

Description: (Comedy, 52x11 min.) Siblings Lettie and Lemo lead their quirky submarine crew to solve the ocean’s mysteries and find the origins of a new magical recruit named Bacon Berry.

Pitch Perfect: Captain Lettie and The Calypso Crew are always ready to tackle every challenge.

Slot Winner: Big Blue is getting ready to launch on CBC Kids in Canada, SRC in French Canada, ABC in Australia, CTC Kids in Russia and CIS, NRK in Norway and Boing in France, Africa and Israel, with more broadcasters to be announced soon! The series is created by Gyimah Gariba, named one of “15 Young African Creatives Rebranding Africa” by Forbes Magazine.

Sales Contacts: L&M: Jonathan Abraham, VP, Sales & Business Development; Content: Corey Caplan, Director, International Sales.

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FriendZSpace Produced By: T&B Media Global, Flying Bark Productions Distributor: Studio 100 Media represents all rights worldwide, excluding Thailand, Australia and New Zealand.

Description: (Comedy/adventure, 52x11 min.) Meet Alice, Leo and Kim, seemingly regular human kids, but behind their normal facade they are risk-taking deep-space friend makers! Each episode follows the three kids as they jet into space in their unpredictable star cruiser. Their mission is simple and wonderfully weird: locate planets, find alien kids, introduce themselves and make friends.

Pitch Perfect: “The idea of FriendZSpace is: Different is good! The core messages are about friendship, inclusion and welcoming diversity with open arms. The producers and our goal with this series is to create a rich immersive world of fresh characters for a universal community of kids.” —Dorian Bühr, Head, Global Distribution Sales Contacts: Dorian Bühr, Tanja Aichberger-Schaetzle, Fabrice Laventure.

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Monster Loving Maniacs Commissioners: Super RTL, DR, NRK, SVT Produced By: Ja Film, Belvision, Ginger Pictures, Mondo TV Distributor: All rights worldwide, excluding Scandinavia, from Mondo TV and Toon2Tango.

Description: (2D comedy adventure, 52x11 min.) Three kids, raised by wildlife specialist parents, are sent to live with their grandfather. They soon realize that Grandpa Arthur is a genuine Monster Hunter. To fulfill the family legacy, our kids embark on a journey of training and discovery, to become the next generation of Monster Hunters. Except these kids don’t want to hunt the monsters. They want to save them.

Pitch Perfect: The show is fun, with lots of excitement and humor as well as bigger themes, like families, relationships and coping with our fears, all delivered with wit, energy and stylish, skilled animation. And, of course, there are lots and lots of monsters and lots of comedy.

Sales Contacts: Luana Perrero, Mondo TV; Ulli Stoef, Toon2Tango.

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The Muscleteers Commissioner: ZDF Produced By: Caligari Film Distributor: All rights worldwide from ZDF Enterprises.

Description: (Kids 6-9 animated comedy, 45x11 min.) In action-filled tales of intrigue and hilarity, two mice, a hamster and a lab rat band together to help those who cannot help themselves. One for all and all for one!

Pitch Perfect: The series is all about helping and being there for each other. Traditional values, such as solidarity and fairness, are transported into the modern world and it becomes obvious that they are not oldfashioned but timeless. The episodes are a mix of action-packed, often perilous adventures, mixed with a lot of fun and entertainment.

Sales Contacts: Katharina Pietzsch, Director ZDFE.junior; Marei Bruckmann, Director ZDFE.junior; Jan-Frederik Maul, Director ZDFE.junior.

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Critters TV Produced By: Turnip & Duck Distributor: Worldwide rights, excluding Ireland, from Jetpack Distribution.

Description: (Comedy, 25x11 min.) A spoof nature documentary featuring a cast of hilarious cartoon animal families, from fun-loving foxes to filthy fleas, oddball squirrels to very silly owls. Critters TV shows kids wildlife like it’s never been seen before!

Pitch Perfect: Can you imagine animals watching nature documentaries on TV? Owls laughing at otters or foxes fighting over the remote control? Well, on Critters TV, for the first time in the history of television, we get the animal’s-eye view on nature docs, discover what our furry friends are really thinking, and learn some amazing facts about the natural world along the way!

Slot Winner: The series first aired on RTÉjr in Ireland in 2019 and 2020, with further episodes due to air before the end of 2021.

Sales Contacts: Dominic Gardiner, CEO; Gillian Calvert Ridge, Global Distribution Director; Sophie ‘Kido’ Prigent, Global Sales Director.

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Cyberchase Commissioner: PBS Produced By: THIRTEEN Productions for WNET Distributor: All international rights for seasons 12 and 13 are available from PBS International.

Description: (Kids 8-11) Join Jackie, Matt and Inez on exciting, math-based adventures! Students will learn how important and useful mathematics can be when solving everyday problems and how to apply their math skills to the real world. Season 12 consists of 12x30-minute episodes.

Pitch Perfect: The villain Hacker is on a mission to overthrow Motherboard and take over Cyberspace. But Motherboard enlists the help of three curious kids to stop him! Cyberchase shows children that math is everywhere, and they can be good at it by teaching concepts in a fun way that is easy to understand.

Sales Contacts: Betsy LeBlanc, Director, Sales; Anna Alvord, Senior Sales Manager; Nanci Church, Senior Sales Manager.

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Zoom—The White Dolphin Commissioners: TF1, ZDF Produced By: Media Valley, Marzipan Films Distributor: All rights worldwide from ZDF Enterprises.

Description: (Kids 4-10 animated adventure comedy, S1-2: 104x12 min.)

Fifteen-year-old Yann and his little sister Marina live on the paradise island of Maotou with their uncle. They go on amazing adventures with Zoom, a white dolphin of exceptional intelligence.

Pitch Perfect: Now in its second season, the eco-friendly series is a proven hit in Europe with outstanding ratings. It is about every child’s dream: having a dolphin as a best friend! The young viewers plunge into an amazing natural world in this series full of comedy and danger, where adventure awaits at the tip of your diving fins.

Sales Contacts: Katharina Pietzsch, Director ZDFE.junior; Marei Bruckmann, Director ZDFE.junior; Jan-Frederik Maul, Director ZDFE.junior.

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of the parents from Denmark [should] know Minisjang by the end of the year.

TV KIDS: Are there specific content directives or mandates in your market that you must consider concerning programming?

LINDBERG: We are driven by having some sort of publicservice value in everything we do. However, we still need to be competitive enough in our original programming so it can compete with Peppa Pig and PAW Patrol, which are the biggest brands for us currently. We have one rule regarding our acquisitions: The series that we buy that we get FVOD or longer VOD rights on have to be funded somehow by a public-service broadcaster. Luckily, there are many great brands out there. Bluey is doing tremendously for us right now. Hey Duggee has done [well] for the past couple of years. That’s the biggest hurdle for us in terms of acquisitions.

TV KIDS: What do you look for in acquired content?

LINDBERG: It is getting harder and harder to secure those early windows of the big animation series. It is a huge

Niels Lindberg DR

By Kristin Brzoznowski

ubcaster DR Ramasjang reaches up to 85 percent of its core demo of viewers between the ages of 4 and 8, a testament to the channel’s work over the past decade to become a firm fixture in the lives of Danish kids. DR is now looking to replicate that success with Minisjang, a new brand focused on toddlers. Niels Lindberg, commissioning editor of the two services, tells TV Kids about the complexities and rewards of serving young ones with public-service content today.

P

TV KIDS: Can you share a brief overview of the role that kids’ programming plays on DR? LINDBERG: I’m the commissioning editor across two channel brands at DR. We’ve got Minisjang, which is our toddler brand aimed at 1- to 3-year-olds that launched at the end of March. I think we’re the last of the Nordic territories to focus on programming for toddlers, and it’s just been going tremendously. We have a lot of commercial interest in that demographic. YouTube is really big for toddlers, and we have a lot of local, big YouTube channels that we are competing against for that target demographic. We have a lot of music and games and small animated character universes alongside Hey Duggee. It’s something that the parents of Denmark have [responded] to. Our older brand is for 4- to 8-year-olds and is called Ramasjang. The channel is ten years old, and it’s linear and online. Our FVOD service is our primary way of measuring success. We are reaching 80 to 85 percent of our demographic with the Ramasjang brand. With Minisjang, we’re not measuring based on reach. We measure it based on knowledge. So 50 percent 166 WORLD SCREEN 10/21

challenge for all of us as we are looking into competition with the big streaming services [that are] filling us with monoculture. We’re looking a lot into what we can have as a first window and maybe handle exclusively. Many of the VOD services coming into the Nordics are doing nonexclusive deals on every kids’ brand that they can get ahold of. It helps us a lot to focus on big brands. I think Stephanie Blake’s Simon has been with us from the start and has been doing incredibly well for us alongside Hey Duggee, Bluey and Peppa Pig. It’s proven to be a great value to us to have it from the start. I’m interested to see what else we can do and what other animation brands we can consider. We have an ambitious animation fund that we’ll take out for co-productions during the next couple of years. We have three or four projects in development that we are just starting to pitch to bring some new, original universes from the incredibly talented Danish business.

TV KIDS: What are the biggest challenges for public broadcasters today?

LINDBERG: We’re discussing distribution a lot and making sure that you can meet our character brands in real life— maybe in school materials, or the library, or the mall.

What we’re discussing the most is how to make sure we stay relevant when Disney+ can come in and take a reach of 38 percent of our target demo in one quarter. We’re trying to develop how to stay in touch with schools and maintain our relevance. I think [all public broadcasters] will be fighting for that relevance and that reach through the next many years.

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