TV Kids MIPCOM & MIPJUNIOR/OCTOBER 2022

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Top Buyers

Windowing Strategies / Metaverse Opportunities / L&M Trends / Lupita Nyong’o Dan Povenmire / Super RTL’s Thorsten Braun / BBC’s Patricia Hidalgo / Bruce W. Smith / WildBrain’s Tim Erickson

Ricardo Seguin Guise

Anna Carugati

Mansha Daswani

Kristin Brzoznowski

Jamie Stalcup

David Diehl

Simon Weaver

Director

Dana Mattison

Marketing Director Genovick Acevedo

Marketing Coordinator

Andrea Moreno

Affairs Manager

Journey of Discovery

As everyone involved in this business well knows, getting a child to discover something amid all the other things—millions of apps and Roblox and Minecraft and so on—has never been more challenging than it is today.

You’re not just competing with all the other shows; it’s all the other places kids are spending their time, discovering— and creating—entirely new universes for themselves. How you start that journey of discovery is on the minds of everyone seeking to launch new IP—or sustain interest in a returning one—in the landscape today. Content dis covery has a lot to do with algorithms these days. I’m not a fan of them personally; I’ll take human curation— especially if I’m on the fence about the suggestion—any day. I was spending time with the 8-year-old daughter of a friend recently, plopped in front of the television. She headed to HBO Max and asked, What should I watch? And I said, Miyazaki? Well, she had no idea who I was referring to, so off we went to the Studio Ghibli tile—and her journey discovering, and loving, an anime icon has begun (as has a new movie night routine).

CONTENTS

IN IT TO WIN IT

Leading programmers weigh in on their acquisition strategies.

TIME TO SHARE!

Several distributors discuss how best to craft a distribution strategy today.

VIRTUAL WORLDS

The metaverse is presenting a wave of opportunities for creators and IP owners.

SHOWS THAT POP!

Aardman’s Alison Taylor on the fresh IP and third-party properties for 2022 and beyond.

IN-DEMAND

Spotlighting new shows in preschool and comedy.

JUST FOR KIDS!

A recap of the second annual TV Kids Screenings Festival.

READY TO PLAY Leading executives in the L&M space discuss trends.

INTERVIEWS

Ricardo Seguin Guise

Anna Carugati

Mansha Daswani

Perhaps the most striking thing about the kids’ busi ness today is how much there is happening at both ends of the content spectrum—über-premium, expensive, generally in a subscription-only tier that not all kids will have access to, versus made-on-a-shoestring budget but has managed to amass millions and mil lions of loyal followers and is raking in the advertising dollars. Kids are more than comfortable switching between the two constantly, so if you’re building a brand, it real ly does help to be everywhere, several dis tributors told me for the windowing feature in this edi tion. And everywhere will soon include the metaverse— as in, you likely need a Roblox strategy. And you probably need to up your game, because metaverse platforms are allowing kids to create exactly who they want to see. And a lot of them are still not seeing themselves enough on television. The need for more diverse storytelling is prevalent across this edition— from the buyers we surveyed to the heads of two major children’s broadcasting groups, BBC’s Patricia Hidalgo and Super RTL’s Thorsten Braun, to leading animator Bruce W. Smith to Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o, who spoke to us about her YouTube series Super Sema Mansha Daswani

Dan Povenmire

Super RTL’s Thorsten Braun BBC’s Patricia Hidalgo

Bruce W. Smith

WildBrain’s Tim Erickson

Lupita Nyong’o

Animasia Studio

Dragon Force 3—Monsters Rise / Team Curios / English Tree TV

The fast-paced adventures of Dragon Force continue in Dragon Force 3—Monsters Rise from Animasia Studio. The company is also presenting the superhero-themed Team Curios. “Dragon Force and Team Curios are high-quality programs that are available immediately for buyers to acquire and air on their respective channels and platforms,” says Edmund Chan, managing director. “Each of these shows targets a different audience. Dragon Force is an action-packed, robot-fighting series. Team Curios is an edutainment series featuring a group of superheroes to promote the positive values of teamwork and friendship.” There’s also English Tree TV, featuring original music videos to help kids learn, laugh and grow. Animasia partnered on the project with Adam Williams-Walters. English Tree TV has nearly 2 million YouTube subscribers.

Australian Children’s Television Foundation

Crazy Fun Park / Built to Survive / Barrumbi Kids

Crazy Fun Park, a live-action horror comedy, leads the Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF) slate. From creator Nicholas Verso and producer Joanna Werner, the series follows a shy teen who wants to fit in and enjoy his high school years, but his dead best friend and a posse of ghouls sabotage him at every turn. Built to Survive sees host Phil Breslin get up close to the world’s unique creatures that are able to survive Australia’s most extreme habitats. Barrumbi Kids, adapted from Leonie Norrington’s novel, centers on best friends Tomias and Dahlia in a remote Northern Territory community. “No matter where they’re from, kids love adventure, laughter, real-life stories and a bit of harmless horror thrown in for good measure,” says Tim Hegarty, international sales manager at ACTF.

Bimi Boo Kids

The Incredible Stories of Bimi Boo and Friends

Bimi Boo Kids has on offer The Incredible Stories of Bimi Boo and Friends, depicting the adventures of characters from the company’s educational applications. Bimi pushes his friends into new adventures, and they all learn together by having fun. The series centers on the themes of curiosity, diversity, community, heart and love for constant exploring.

“The series also shows that there is no topic out there that you can’t tackle, that boundaries can be overcome with knowledge and passion, introducing children to a wide range of subjects from arts to sciences, spurring children to accept their unique passions, to try out different things and to settle into a state of constant learning,” says Ani Poghosyan, COO and producer. Bimi Boo is looking for broadcasters and distributors for the new series.

Built to Survive

“Broadcasters from around the globe will find content here that offers their audience a truly fabulous viewing experience.”

—Tim Hegarty

“Good cartoons make you want to stay home; great cartoons inspire you to roam.”

—Ani Poghosyan

The Incredible Stories of Bimi Boo and Friends

“Animasia is looking forward to striking strategic partnerships with IP owners, streaming platforms and broadcasters.”

—Edmund Chan

CAKE

CAKE is offering Super Sema, an African animated kids’ superhero series produced by Kukua, a London- and Nairobibased female-led studio. The series centers on 10-year-old Sema and her twin brother MB, who protect their African village using determination, creativity, science and technology. In My Brother the Monster, Petunia adopts a cute, ball-sized furry monster named Mombou who turns out to be 9 feet tall until he becomes worried or anxious, which happens a lot at school. “Mombou’s ability to grow and shrink depending on his emotions visually represents the challenges some children face and encourages them to support a sibling or friend who might be slightly different from themselves,” says Ed Galton, CEO of CAKE. A second season of the awardwinning preschool series Tish Tash is also on offer.

Cyber Group Studios

Zak Jinks / Droners / 50/50 Heroes

Cyber Group Studios is bringing to MIPCOM a second season of Zak Jinks, a “fun, one-of-its-kind, feel-good series adaptation of the hit French comic strip, sold in more than ten countries,” says Raphaëlle Mathieu, executive VP. For Droners, season one is fully available, while season two is currently in production. Cyber Group Studios’ catalog also includes 50/50 Heroes. “Our 100 percent comedy series comes with a wealth of 15 episodes available,” Mathieu notes. The series follows half-siblings who must share their inherited superpowers down the middle. Produced by Graphilm, The Case (La Custodia) is “a unique event movie that won 29 awards in the last six months,” according to Mathieu. It centers on a young boy who escapes war with nothing but his violin case.

eOne Family Brands

Transformers: EarthSpark / PJ Masks Power Heroes / Baby Alive

eOne Family Brands’ Transformers: EarthSpark introduces a new generation of Transformers to children. The actioncomedy series follows a human family as they build relationships with the first Transformers robots to be born on Earth. The series PJ Masks Power Heroes centers on a new generation of heroes with all-new powers. eOne Family Brands also has on offer season two of Baby Alive, which has garnered 530 million views on YouTube. “The key for all of our properties is that they’re telling universally appealing stories with themes that kids (and adults) around the world can relate to,” says Monica Candiani, executive VP of content sales. “Whether it’s an emphasis on friendship, empowering self-discovery and expression or teamwork, buyers know that these characters and stories will resonate well with viewers.”

“We are continuing to build on our exciting new development slate with unique stories from around the world.”

—Ed Galton

“We continue to offer the very best content of world-class brands and rich IP that spans multiple ages, demographics and genres.”

—Monica Candiani Baby Alive

Zak Jinks

My Brother the Monster

“We come with a variety of new and high-end content for all targets and of all genres.”

—Raphaëlle Mathieu

Super Sema / My Brother the Monster / Tish Tash

FOX Entertainment Global

Viajeros / The Curious Case of Dolphin Bay / Christmas Unfiltered

FOX Entertainment Global is introducing a slate of MarVista Entertainment-produced films, including Viajeros. In the movie, after Leo’s dad—with whom he’d made a make-believe time machine—suddenly dies, he becomes convinced that his dad is stuck in the past and is determined to find him. The Curious Case of Dolphin Bay sees marine biology enthusiast Quinn team up with friends to uncover the mystery of Dolphin Cove. A middle-child teenager makes a wish on a Christmas ornament for her family to truly hear her in Christmas Unfiltered. “Unfiltered and unable to control it, Becky throws her family’s Christmas for a loop,” says Fernando Szew, CEO of MarVista Entertainment and head of FOX Entertainment Global. “In the end, Becky’s uncontrollable honesty inspires her family and brings everyone closer together.”

Guang Dong Winsing Company

GG Bond: Kung Fu Pork Choppers / GG Bond: Ocean Mission / GOGOBUS

GG Bond: Kung Fu Pork Choppers , the 17th season of the GG Bond property, leads Guang Dong Winsing Company’s highlights. The rescue and adventure story follows a group of pigs and their pets whose superpowers are their Chinese kung fu skills. Whenever a planet sends a distress signal, the Kung Fu Pork Choppers are ready to rescue it from any threat. GG Bond: Ocean Mission , the seventh film of the GG Bond franchise, sees Star Agent GG Bond help his friend Noah search for his brother in the deep ocean. Based on social-emotional learning, GOGOBUS targets school-aged children and features an AI rescue school bus that can transform into different vehicles. In the newest season, the adventures take place in a world of snow and ice.

Guru Studio

Big Blue / 123 Number Squad! / Pikwik Pack

The Guru Studio highlight Big Blue, created by GhanaianCanadian artist Gyimah Gariba, “offers young viewers a comedic yet heartfelt look at what it means to be part of a tightly knit family and underscores the timely message of how caring for our planet and each other is the most important thing of all,” says Corey Caplan, senior director of international sales. From Omens Studios, 123 Number Squad! follows three children as they use numbers, counting and shapes to become a fast-response rescue team, teaching children about sharing, resilience, teamwork and friendship. Pikwik Pack centers on the themes of working together and sharing joy with those in the community. “Preschoolers are continuing to fall in love with Pikwik Pack’s adorable characters and stories packed with big adventures and heartfelt charm,” Caplan says.

“As a studio, our focus continues to be on creating, developing and producing character-driven shows that captivate and inspire kids.”

—Corey Caplan

123 Number Squad!

The Curious Case of Dolphin Bay

GG Bond: Ocean Mission

“We strive to bring to market a diverse slate of quality, globally appealing movies with notable creative auspices, both in front of and behind the camera.”

—Fernando Szew

Jetpack Distribution

DreaMars / Viking Skool / Mimi’s World

DreaMars, represented by Jetpack Distribution, tells the story of eight teenagers who fly to Mars in order to colonize the planet. For older kids and teens, the sci-fi series is filmed in the advanced research facility known as “the Habitat,” established by the Israeli Space Agency in the Ramon Crater area, replicating settlements on Mars. Brand new to Jetpack’s catalog, the comedy series Viking Skool takes place at a Viking training school and tells the story of three unlikely heroes who show what true Viking hearts and souls look like. Mimi’s World centers on Mimi, who takes care of a group of diverse kids in her apartment. “The show builds confidence, engenders well-being and nurtures friendship, inclusivity and cooperation,” says Dominic Gardiner, CEO of Jetpack.

Kidoodle.TV

Safe Streaming

The Kidoodle.TV Safe Streaming AVOD platform serves children under 12 and families in over 160 countries and territories around the world for free, with no barrier to entry. “We have led the Safe Streaming movement in the AVOD space,” says Brenda Bisner, chief content officer. “We action those words on a daily basis and adhere to the high est letters of the law for kids, period.” In addition to popular children’s series, the platform offers podcasts and an audioonly music stream. In terms of what the company is search ing for, Bisner says, “We are looking for brands that come with awareness and partners who are excited to participate in the brand’s success on our service and, most importantly, care about the important work we do to keep kids Safe Streaming.”

Konami Cross Media NY

Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS / Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS / Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters

Konami Cross Media NY’s catalog features a variety of series from the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. The latest series, Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS, leads the slate. It features all-new characters and introduces Rush Duels to the universe. For Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS, the third and final season, made up of 38 episodes, is now available for distribution. The fan-favorite Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters is also on offer. “Yu-Gi-Oh! ranks among the top 25 highest-grossing media franchises in the industry,” says Kristen Gray, president. “With anime content continuing to drive viewership on streaming services worldwide, it makes sense for buyers who desire a known entity that can deliver an audience.” She also notes that the company is looking to uncover further opportunities in 2023 to engage Bomberman, Contra and Frogger gaming fans on different platforms.

“The slate covers a mix of formats, genres and age groups—from teen live action to preschool animation.”

—Dominic Gardiner

Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS

Mimi’s World

“We offer a curated and refreshed category-based service where kids can easily find their favorite content.”

—Brenda Bisner

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

—Kristen Gray

Mattel

Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go / Barbie / Monster High

Mattel’s Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go debuted its 26th season, which introduces the franchise’s first-ever autistic character. The Barbie franchise has seen the debut of Barbie Mermaid Power as well as the second installment of Barbie: It Takes Two. With the relaunch of the Monster High franchise comes the live-action musical film Monster High: The Movie and an animated series based on the Mattel property. “Mattel Television strives to leverage our iconic brands and partnerships with streaming and broadcast platforms globally to tell inclusive stories in which children can see themselves,” says Fred Soulie, senior VP and general manager of Mattel Television. “Our programming has been able to achieve widespread appeal for our ability to create worlds and compelling storylines that audiences enjoy and can relate to.”

Mediatoon Distribution

Living with Dad / The Fox Badger Family / Nicholas’ Fantastic Summer

Leading Mediatoon Distribution’s highlights, Living with Dad is a family sitcom. Commissioned by M6/Gulli, it has been preacquired by RTBF in Belgium. “Full delivery is planned for Q3 2023, but the first few episodes are already available, and we cannot wait for you to see them,” says Jérôme Alby, managing director of Mediatoon Distribution. The Fox Badger Family will soon return for a second season that was commissioned by France Télévisions and picked up by WDR (Germany), TéléQuébec (Canada) and RTS (Switzerland). An animated series for young kids, Nicholas’ Fantastic Summer, commissioned by M6/Gulli, has rolled out on BOING (France), RTBF, VRT (Belgium), RTS (Switzerland), VSTV (Vietnam), TV Puls (Poland) and MTVA (Hungary). “Children everywhere are watching Nicholas and his friends’ holiday adventures,” says Alby.

Mondo TV Group

Annie & Carola / Monster Loving Maniacs / Agent 203

Mondo TV Group is shining a spotlight on three shows it believes could prove as successful as MeteoHeroes, including the 2D animated series Annie & Carola. The show follows the shy Carola and Annie, the robot clone she created who turns out to be her opposite. “This is a fun and entertaining animated comedy, full of great dialogue, hilarious situations and visual gags,” says Luana Perrero, head of content sales. Three siblings who are being trained as monster hunters by their grandfather try to find a way to save the monsters rather than hunt them in Monster Loving Maniacs. An adventure comedy for kids, Agent 203 shows what happens after a young girl learns that her father had been a secret agent charged with protecting the planet from alien invaders and decides to follow in his footsteps.

Monster Loving Maniacs

Barbie Mermaid Power

Living with Dad

“MIPCOM 2022 gives us a great opportunity to highlight some of our newest shows.”

—Jérôme Alby

“During this exciting period of growth for Mattel, we are well positioned to continue growing our IP-driven toy business and expand our entertainment offering.”

—Fred Soulie

“Our partnership with Toon2Tango has delivered some great shows.”

—Luana Perrero

Monster Entertainment

The Monster Entertainment highlight Fia’s Fairies tells the story of the titular 6-year-old and the fairies that live in her back garden who speak both English and an enchanting language that they teach her and her friend Amber. In Storytime with Ms. Booksy, the eponymous magical and whimsical storyteller dives into classic fairy tales and brings well-known stories and characters to life. Following an adventurous and curious 5-year-old girl and her fun-loving hippo best friend, Zizi and Hannibal takes its young viewers along to explore Africa and the animals that inhabit the continent. “Gorgeous animation, fun and compelling stories and educational content” give these titles their international appeal, according to Andrew Fitzpatrick, chairman of Monster Entertainment, who adds that the shows are “entertaining first.”

Paramount Global Content Distribution

Big Nate / Rock Island Mysteries / Blue’s Clues & You

Paramount Global Content Distribution is coming to MIPCOM with an expanded slate of kids’ content from Nickelodeon U.S. and International as well as Paramount+. Big Nate is based on an iconic American comic strip that has been published for over 30 years in 400 different newspapers. “The stories feature relatable middle-school antics, which appeal to kids from all parts of the world,” says Lauren Marriott, senior VP of content partnerships and brand strategy. Rock Island Mysteries is a live-action show shot on Australia’s Gold Coast. Each episode features a different mystery, which 14-year-old Taylor and her friends try to solve with adventure and laughs along the way. Blue’s Clues & You continues its success with a fourth season of the newest iteration. The show is a “multigenerational hit,” Marriott says.

Pink Parrot Media

Butterfly Academy / The Sleepy’s Dream Team / Snowsnaps

Pink Parrot Media’s Butterfly Academy series is based on the feature film Butterfly Tale , and the same group of directors and scriptwriters worked on both. “This guarantees us an incredible quality of 3D animation as well as dynamic and funny scripts without overlooking the sensitivity with which physical handicaps are treated, with a main character who was born with an undeveloped wing and is therefore unable to fly,” says Begoña Esteban, head of international TV sales and acquisitions. There’s also The Sleepy’s Dream Team . “Its characters, textures and colors make you fall in love with the series from the moment you see them,” Esteban says. Part of the established Snowtime brand, Snowsnaps rounds out the slate.

“Monster Entertainment’s aim for MIPCOM is to see as many of our friends, whom we’ve been missing, as possible and to maximize sales for our burgeoning catalog.”

—Andrew Fitzpatrick

“We always have humor in mind when we create stories.”

—Begoña Esteban

Butterfly Academy

Big Nate

Storytime with Ms. Booksy

“We aim to be everywhere kids are, and our content licensing partnerships are as important as ever in achieving this.” —Lauren Marriott

Fia’s Fairies / Storytime with Ms. Booksy / Zizi and Hannibal

pocket.watch

At MIPCOM, pocket.watch is showcasing a catalog of creator-produced and -inspired content, with a library of more than 20,000 hours available for distribution. “This content is diverse, kid- and brand-safe, proven to be globally popular and delivered at an incredibly efficient cost,” says Chris M. Williams, founder and CEO of pocket.watch. The company’s latest property from YouTube’s Toys and Colors, Kaleidoscope City is an animation and live-action hybrid series that features a global perspective and problem-solving. Part of the Ryan’s World franchise, Ryan’s Mystery Playdate is “a rich opportunity for international buyers who want to expand this number one show for preschoolers that stars the most popular kid in the world,” says Williams.

Rainbow S.p.A.

Pinocchio and Friends / Summer & Todd—Happy Farmers

The spotlight for Rainbow S.p.A. is on Pinocchio and Friends and Summer & Todd—Happy Farmers Pinocchio and Friends features Papa Geppetto’s toymaker’s shop, home to Pinocchio and his friends—a group of great little heroes always ready for incredible adventures. Set at Sunshine Farms, Summer & Todd—Happy Farmers follows the comedic adventures of the protagonists, who are always ready to try their hand at new activities. Summer is an enthusiastic bunny coming from the city. Todd the raccoon is the owner of the farm and a skilled inventor. For both properties, Rainbow is looking to “finalize partnerships in currently open markets with strong and strategic broadcasters, which we plan to add to the already rich list of prestigious TV partners on board,” says Andrea Graciotti, head of sales for TV series and movies and co-productions.

Serious Kids

Flix / The Sound Collector / Messy Goes to Okido

Based on a book penned by Tomi Ungerer, the Serious Kids highlight Flix celebrates friendship and differences. “The core values of the show are widely sought-after, such as tolerance, courage, friendship, community and family unity,” says Leila Ouledcheikh, senior VP of global distribution and commercial development at Serious Kids. The Sound Collector follows a small but active being who is hard of hearing and spends his days passionately discovering new sounds. An inquisitive and lovable monster, Messy in Messy Goes to Okido goes on adventures that bring science to life with his best friends Zoe and Felix. “The kids find that Messy’s excitement is appealing to them, all the while being proud to share that they have learned something new,” says Ouledcheikh.

“All of pocket.watch’s content is inspired by the world’s biggest kids and family creators who represent and reflect the global audience.”

—Chris M. Williams

Flix

Ryan’s Mystery Playdate

“Our growing catalog and brand-new stand will contribute to increasing the profile of our company and attracting new clients.”

—Leila Ouledcheikh

Summer & Todd—Happy Farmers

Creator-produced content / Kaleidoscope City / Ryan’s Mystery Playdate

“Whatever the project and whatever the partner, Rainbow will always be able to give emotions and win audience loyalty.”

—Andrea Graciotti

Sinking Ship Entertainment

Centering on literacy and inclusivity for the preschool audience, Sinking Ship Entertainment’s The Fabulous Show with Fay & Fluffy aims to promote a love of reading while also building empathy in its young viewers. Set in New York City, Alma’s Way focuses on learning how to make good decisions. “Kids and families will relate to Alma’s struggles and successes as she navigates decision-making,” says Kate Sanagan, head of sales and distribution at Sinking Ship. The coming-of-age drama series Phoenix Rise, which centers on the trials and tribulations of six teenagers, authentically represents the U.K.’s West Midlands, according to Sanagan, who adds that “there is also a beautiful mix of drama and more soapy elements” in the series, which hails from Perrie Balthazar and Matt Evans.

Studio 100 Media

Vegesaurs / SeaBelievers / FriendZSpace

Vegesaurs, which heads back to prehistory to join the adventures of young Tricarrotops Ginger and her baby PeaRex friends, leads Studio 100 Media’s slate. The ecotainment show SeaBelievers takes kids on missions to save the ocean and the environment. “Whenever the ocean or the shore are in trouble, Amelia, a human girl, is there to take a deep dive to save it,” says Dorian Bühr, head of global distribution at Studio 100 Media. “And she gets help from a team of awesome underwater superheroes: the SeaBelievers.” FriendZSpace follows three best friends who, behind their normal facade, are risk-taking deep-space friend-makers. The series “is all about kids and kid culture— alien and human,” says Bühr. “It’s about embracing our differences and getting into exciting trouble in the process.”

Superights

Go! Go! Cory Carson / The Adventures of Little Penguin / Momolu & Friends

Leading Superights’ slate, the CGI series Go! Go! Cory Carson, based on the toys by VTech, follows an orange car as he learns to make his way through childhood. “This multiple Emmywinning series combines engaging storylines, strong characters, a subtle sense of humor, beautiful graphic quality and various landscapes,” says Nathalie Pinguet, deputy managing director of sales and acquisitions. The Adventures of Little Penguin, a non-dialogue 3D animation slapstick series, sees a penguin named Oscar discover a mysterious diary that leads him to exciting situations. A new edutainment series, Momolu & Friends tells the story of a curious and creative team of animals while encouraging children to discover ways to express themselves through art forms. “The titles are modern, freshly acquired and with lovely universal storylines,” says Pinguet.

“We think it is important, especially now, to bring forward and offer exceptional programs, representing great entertainment that conveys important and positive messages.”

—Dorian Bühr

“Sinking Ship Entertainment represents a collection of diverse stories, locally based but universal in theme.” —Kate Sanagan

“The Superights team would be delighted to talk to you about our ever-expanding catalog.”

—Nathalie Pinguet

Go! Go! Cory Carson

FriendZSpace

The Fabulous Show with Fay & Fluffy

The Fabulous Show with Fay & Fluffy / Alma’s Way / Phoenix Rise

WildBrain

An Emmy Award-winning action-adventure animated show, WildBrain’s Carmen Sandiego tells a superhero story that promotes female empowerment and messages of diversity and inclusion. “Carmen is a master thief who uses her skills for good as she pulls off her international capers, and the series is really enticing to audiences around the world,” says Caroline Tyre, VP of global sales and rights strategy. “Carmen Sandiego is a model series for the type of content buyers are looking for right now.” Summer Memories, meanwhile, “is an irreverent, laugh-out-loud series with lots of heart, which is what viewers are really craving,” says Tyre. The 2D show centers on the adventures of two best friends and their relationship. Life with Luca is a spin-off feature film of the Life with Derek series.

Xilam Animation

Karate Sheep / Zig & Sharko / Oggy and the Cockroaches Next Generation

Xilam Animation’s first-ever CGI slapstick comedy, Karate Sheep is a non-verbal series that follows a sheep named Trico who loves to share new objects and ideas with the rest of the flock. “Slapstick comedies are a core part of our company’s legacy and DNA, so we’re excited to be launching another series in this genre for the international market,” says Morgann Favennec, executive VP of distribution. “We’re sure Trico’s adventures will charm and entertain audiences across the globe.” The fourth season of the comedy series Zig & Sharko will feature Zig, Sharko and Bernie making their way back to their island with Marina. A reboot of the comedy franchise Oggy and the Cockroaches, Oggy and the Cockroaches Next Generation sees Oggy take on the responsibility of parenthood as he watches his friends’ daughter.

Zodiak Kids & Family Distribution

Zodiak Kids & Family Distribution’s portfolio includes the sci-fi drama series Silverpoint, which follows a group of teens as they uncover a mystery in the woods while away at an adventure camp. “It resonates internationally, as it taps into the zeitgeist for mystery, sci-fi and adventure, and it is one of very few shows in this genre that can be enjoyed by the whole family,” says Delphine Dumont, chief commercial officer at Banijay Kids & Family, parent company of Zodiak Kids & Family Distribution. The animated comedy series The Unstoppable Yellow Yeti, set in a small snowy town near the Arctic Circle, sees two kids make friends with Gustav, a lovable yeti. Super Agent Jon Le Bon! centers on the titular secret agent tasked with saving Earth from various disasters.

“We are in a great position heading into MIPCOM, with a strong and diverse catalog of internationally successful shows and an incredibly healthy pipeline.”

—Delphine Dumont

“We’re looking forward to returning to MIPCOM in full force and bringing to the market a slate of shows that embody what’s at the heart of Xilam’s DNA and legacy: slapstick comedy.”

—Morgann Favennec

Silverpoint

“We’re looking forward to discovering new content and creating new partnerships as well as strengthening existing ones.”

—Caroline Tyre

Carmen Sandiego

Karate Sheep

Carmen Sandiego / Summer Memories / Life with Luca

Silverpoint / The Unstoppable Yellow Yeti / Super Agent Jon Le Bon!

Jetpack Distribution’s Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitty

IN IT WIN IT

From complex rights negotiations to the never-ending search for the perfect kids’ comedy, leading programmers weigh in on their acquisition strategies.

By Mansha Daswani

Kids ’ content buyers may be spoiled for choice given the sheer volume of animated and liveaction fare available on the market, from classic library shows to premium OTT commissions now hitting their second windows. But that cer tainly hasn’t made their jobs any easier as they look out for characters and concepts that will keep young ones engaged and tuned in when they have so many other options for their entertainment.

Negotiations have also become far more complex as dis tributors deploy finely crafted windowing strategies to make the most out of their IP.

“Exclusivity and windowing are very important when we look at the linear side and what we’re trying to achieve with Paramount+,” says Layla Lewis, senior VP of global acquisi tions and content partnerships for Nickelodeon. “We want to reach our audience everywhere they are. If you have a broader scope of rights, you can work to meet them there. That’s not always the opportunity. When we have the pitch at an early stage, we can discuss that with the partner to say, What is the opportunity? How best can we navigate through the platforms and the rights? We try to think about what’s best for both of us in terms of our partnership.”

Francesca Newington, director of POP Channels at Nar rative Entertainment—which operates POP, Tiny Pop, POP MAX and the POP Player in the U.K.—believes that the market is at a “pivotal point” when it comes to the question of exclusivity. “We are aware that cross-pollination is really important when it comes to the brand getting as many eyeballs as it possibly can. If you’re going to launch a commercial franchise, you want to be across as many platforms as you can. It seems that it isn’t that detrimental to each platform it is on—it seems to be successful for each one. I think there’s quite a large conversation to be had around this.”

RIGHTS STUFF

Newington adds that the POP channels will often take a second window on shows that previously aired on a payTV or SVOD service. “The issue for us is that we get such limitations on digital rights. If we reject those limitations, that is detrimental to us because we lose that show, but it’s also not helpful to the commissioner who wants eye balls on that brand and wants to launch consumer prod ucts. It’s about navigating those restrictions and whether we can deal with them. It is becoming increasingly difficult to

Commissioned by Milkshake!,

Studio 100 Media’s

Wissper is also available on Nick Jr. in many markets.

comply with five episodes only [on-demand] and no more than that at any one time. If we want to increase our digital offering, we will need to be brutal and reject con tent we would love to have.”

At Sky, where Lucy Murphy, director of kids’ content, is doing both volume deals and cherry-picking individual titles, “it’s not a deal-breaker if the content isn’t exclu sive; however, if it appears on several platforms, then, inevitably, our fees will be a lot lower,” she says. “The key is transparency—we need to know where else the content will be airing, so there aren’t any surprises fur ther down the line.”

Hop! Media Group in Israel operates four kids’ channels— Hop!, Luli, Israeli Childhood and WIZ—and “full rights and exclusivity are a must,” says Sharon Moverman, VP of acqui sitions and international operations. “Non-exclusivity and unavailability of digital and nonlinear rights may be a dealbreaker,” she adds. “Having said that, we are willing to con sider joint windows with global platforms in the territory on a case-by-case basis.”

MUST-HAVES

At De Agostini Editore, Brenda Maffuchi, head of acquisi tions and property development, is buying for two pay-TV channels and an on-demand player. She says that exclusivity for her is paramount. “The only thing we can have non-exclusively is VOD rights,” Maffuchi explains. “Hold backs are still quite important for us. Depending on the case, we will have between 6 to 12 months of exclusivity for the content.”

Meanwhile, at Sensical in the U.S., it’s all about volume, not exclusivity, per Bethany Boles, head of programming at the Common Sense Networks-owned AVOD service. “We are certainly looking to make deals that allow us rights for our growing products,” Boles says. “As we grow as a company, we’re thinking about worldwide, expanding with different FAST partners potentially. Those are the kinds of rights that we’re trying to work into our deals going forward. When we get to the point where we’re ready to have those conversations about exclusivity, it’ll be data-driven. We’re just not quite there yet.”

Brenda Bisner, the chief content officer at AVOD service Kidoodle.TV, is actively seek ing non-exclusive AVOD rights with world wide availability. “More rights restrictions that a brand has will translate to less reach and ultimately less revenue for them,” Bisner

The De Agostini networks are home to several DreamWorks Animation shows, including Trolls: The Beat Goes On!

The Adventures of Little Penguin to Hop! in Israel.

explains. “In some cases, and mostly with brands with measur able performance data and a historical relationship, we can look at opportunistic exclusivity models on a windowing basis.”

The POP services have largely been acquisitions-based, Newington notes. “We are trying to do more prebuys where possible so that we can broaden our rights and also so that we can plan future strategy a little bit better,” she explains. “And we are also now diving into the world of co-pros and commissions. We’re going to take it step by step, but we would welcome any submissions to us in that space. We also have our AVOD offering, the POP Player, which incorporates catch-up content. And for that, we are looking to introduce exclusive content that doesn’t fea ture on the linear channels.”

Newington also has her eye on gender-neutral shows for the 6-to-8 set on POP. “If we take something very girly, we need to make sure that we’ve got something for the boys as well,” she says. “We’re pretty much anima tion, but we are looking into that live-action space—either

a drama or factual entertainment, as long as it’s upbeat and pacy enough, and it’s not too old, dark or scary.”

On Tiny Pop, the wish is also for shows that will speak to boys and girls, again mostly animated, but she isn’t ruling out live action. “We haven’t seen anything musical for a while, so any musical content would be lovely. We’re looking for movies, too. We’d like to build up a movie inventory for spe cial themes: Christmas, October, half-term, Halloween.”

Newington adds that as the POP channels are free to air, “We have a broad socioeconomic audience. We’re keen for our channels to be all about diversity and broad representation. We want [audiences] to feel that the channels are genuinely inclusive and reflective of them. We are super commercial. We want to remain current. Volume is very important, so 26 half-hours minimum.”

WISH LISTS

Sky Kids’ Murphy is on the hunt for shows with a “fitness focus for younger children and premium animated specials that appeal to a wide age group. Music shows are successful for us, and this is an area that is constantly evolving that we’d always look to add to, although we already have a lot of ani mated nursery rhymes for preschoolers, so we wouldn’t be looking for more of those.”

For De Agostini’s Maffuchi, “characterdriven” shows are paramount. “Friendship and diversity are two things that we’re con stantly looking at. We are not 100 percent educational, so entertainment is important in terms of the balance.”

She a nd her teams continue to seek out big animated franchises for preschoolers. Like Newington, she is also eyeing genderneutral shows for the 6-plus set, noting this becomes increasingly difficult for the upper end of the kids’ target. Finding good animated comedies for the 6-to-11 set is a challenge, she says.

In terms of live action, she is seeking content for the 8-to-10 set and possibly

Mattel’s beloved Thomas & Friends has been acquired by SVOD, AVOD and linear channels worldwide.

Superights licensed the preschool animated series

Monster Entertainment’s Paddles: The Huggable Polar Bear is headed to Cartoonito in the U.K. and Stan in Australia, among other platforms.

even reaching up to 13- and 14-year-olds. “We have the linear channels and the VOD platform. So, it’s not only the content but also all the content we can build around the IP to connect as much as possible with the kids on all the different platforms. From 9 to 12, it’s really difficult to keep them engaged as much as we would like to. This is what we’re trying to work on. We will produce local game shows or entertainment formats for this target, with family co-viewing. This is something we are work ing on for 2023.”

Sensical takes its cues from being affiliated with Common Sense Media. “All of our content is filtered through the world’s only age-appropriate content standards, grounded in child development and developed by experts from Common Sense Media over the last 20 years,” Boles says. The platform’s content is segmented by demo: 2 to 4, 5 to 7 and then 8-plus.

GAME DAY

Boles, too, has her eye on shows that will key into an older kid demo. “I think we all know how hard it is to keep kids watching kids’ TV,” she says. “Finding compelling content for the older kids is always important to us. In that older bracket, gaming content is crushing it. So we’re looking for more age-appropriate gaming content—that’s the tricky part. We’re looking for content across all ages that leans into what we call watch and do: cooking, arts and crafts, science experiments, things that kids can explore and hopefully want to go off and try, maybe even as a family. And give us all the Minecraft, the Roblox, bring it on!”

At Hop!, the focus is on “inspiring curiosity, promoting social-emotional learning and broadening the minds of our viewers,” Moverman says, focusing on toddlers and preschoolers up to the age of 7. “We acquire shows of all genres, but animation takes the lead as it travels well, is easier to adapt and often resonates better than acquired live-action shows.”

Kidoodle.TV targets kids under 12 and families and is looking for content in the preschool, 6-plus and 9-plus

sets, with a focus on “brands that come with awareness and partners who are excited to participate in their brands’ success on our service,” Bisner says.

Given the breadth of demos served by Nick’s platforms, “You have to have characters that resonate with the audience in all of those touchpoints,” Lewis explains. “Nick elodeon has always stood for the celebration of being a kid and understanding what it means to be a kid. So hav ing that filter of a kid’s point of view is important for us.”

MINDING THE GAP

For all the programmers surveyed for this piece, shows that truly embrace diversity and inclusion are in short supply.

“Diversity in children’s media is severely underserved,” Bisner says. “That is an area we always look at, along with foreign-language offerings, as we serve over 160 countries.”

“We talk about wanting every kid to be able to see themselves in our content,” Sensical’s Boles says. “That includes diversity in its many forms. We are seeking out content that’s not only featuring diverse characters but also made by diverse creators. We are struggling to find content by Latinx creators and featuring Latinx charac ters. We want content from creators of all backgrounds.”

For Murphy at Sky Kids, a “black hole” in the market currently is “learning content that does the job of being inspiring and creative. A lot of the learning programming we are pitched feels old-fashioned, didactic and lacks spark, so we’d love to find more learning shows created for kids, who, let’s not forget, already have the world of the internet at their disposal.”

POP’s Newington identifies girl-led comedies for the 6-to-8 set as a significant gap in the market. “It needs to be where the female gets the laughs rather than the tokenistic joke. We want the girl to have her time in the spotlight. And for that content not to turn off the boys but actually to appeal to them too.” She’s also seeking out anime that is appropriate for the POP demo. “It’s difficult to pick up anime that isn’t slightly too grown-up or

ABC in Australia is among the outlets that have snapped up Aardman’s Pop Paper City

risqué. It would be fantastic to find something aimed at 8-year-olds without the concern that we would have to rip it apart in the compliance edit.”

She’s also keen to find a “laugh-out-loud comedy” for preschoolers that will entertain parents and older sib lings. Lastly, Newington would love to see shows that “genuinely incorporate” environmental themes, “rather than being crowbarred in there.”

Hop!’s Moverman says she’s always in the market for shows that are “entertaining and fun with an added value— whether social, emotional or curriculum-based. We seek shows that echo children’s inner world and reflect their everyday routines, challenges and experiences at home, kindergarten or school. We are also on the lookout for shows that center around topical issues, such as the envi ronment, media literacy and inclusion, in a subtle and ageappropriate manner.”

PITCH PERFECT

For Boles, it’s crucial that distributors “have a clear audience in mind” when approaching Sensical with acquisition oppor tunities. “Having a clear idea of where you think your content fits within one or more of [our] age brackets is helpful for us. We want to make sure that the content demonstrates bene fits, whether learning benefits, D&I or social-emotional char acter-building elements. And then content that focuses on topics that kids love. So whether it is instructional— cook ing, arts and crafts, sports tutorials—or more topic-based like travel or sports or music, we want to give kids what they want and do it in an age-appropriate way.”

Lewis calls on producers to spend time watching Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. and Paramount+ before approach ing her and her team. “It’s being aware of the shows we have and how anything will sit among them. We don’t want to get into a situation of, what do you do with it? We have seen a lot of pitches in the bridge space, and we now have quite a lot of shows in that area. We’re

looking to complement that and maybe focus more on the younger end of the preschool demo. Another point that’s come up is around ancillary. We have within Paramount other lines of business. We can leverage our content partnerships and co-productions to look at how we can partner with our in-house consumer-products teams. We also have a movie studio. We are looking at explor ing opportunities quite far out now. Know the audience and think about them in everything that you do. Know our shows and some of those brand filters. And have fun and surprise us.”

De Agostini’s Maffuchi expresses a similar sentiment: “We appreciate it when we are having a meeting with someone and they show us that they have studied. They know who we are and say, We think this could fit with this program.”

SMART SALES

Sky Kids’ Murphy encourages IP owners to approach her with “distinctive and original content that will surprise us. Good visuals are important, so we can easily see how it will stand out on our crowded platform, alongside a rationale on why it would work for Sky Kids. We respond better to a tailored pitch of programs picked out for us versus a huge catalog of hundreds of shows.”

Kidoodle.TV’s Bisner offers this advice to distributors: “Know your rights, know how you can package to dif ferentiate your content in the AVOD space. Having a social media strategy is really important. The messaging to complement kids’ content for the parent experience on social media matters. Partners need to think of the parent demographic when establishing how the brand will have an impact outside of the content airing. Also, please email just once—we get over 800 submissions a week and will respond as quickly as possible. The more robust, complete and proper the submission, the quicker we can make decisions.”

Time Share!to

Mansha Daswani checks in with several distributors about how best to craft a distribution strategy today.

Sharing is caring when it comes to the message content creators want to send to the youngest audiences. But in the behind-the-scenes dealmaking to get that content made, however, many platforms and broadcasters today are still much more likely to say, “it’s all mine!”

Morgann Favennec, the executive VP of distribution at Xilam Animation, reports, “We’re finding that the buyers, whether at broadcasters or platforms, are not in a position to compromise to the extent they previously would. Given the competitive landscape, they want exclusivity and the premiere. This can be a little complicated as they don’t necessarily put the money in front of the offer that would compensate for the other sales you wouldn’t be able to make under those terms.”

“Everyone still wants more and more exclusivity,” agrees Raphaëlle Mathieu, the executive VP of Cyber Group Studios. “Free-to-air channels are less open to short holdbacks, and all deals are subject to strong negotiations.”

“We’re finding it’s becoming increasingly challenging to have several different partners around the same table, par tic ularly when there’s a mix of pay-TV, free-TV and SVOD players,” Favennec adds. “Given there are so many possible windowing setups, it can be tricky to find a balance and, in some situations, we even get to a point where for renewals, channels are now looking for exclusivity and VOD rights, too. When it involves a brand that has been in the market for a long time, this can get a little tricky.”

For Monica Candiani, the executive VP of content sales at eOne Family Brands, the key is to be agile and follow broadcast ers and platforms as they shift their strategies—and many are realizing the crucial role of YouTube and other ad-supported services, she says. “We seek to place our content on as many platforms as possible and so try to advocate for shorter exclu sivity periods wherever we can and when it makes sense.”

“We have found that broadcasters and platforms are slowly becoming more receptive to non-exclusivity in the AVOD space,” reports Bianca Rodriguez, the head of sales at CAKE. “This might change as some major players grow bigger, and we will need to see how that plays out.”

FREE FOR ALL

The increased presence of AVOD and FAST channel oper ators in the kids’ space is ushering in the most significant shifts in windowing structures—and providing additional revenue opportunities.

“Windowing strategies have continued to change in the last year as kids move to VOD platforms, whether stand-alone or part of a suite of channels,” says Kate Sanagan, head of sales and distribution at Sinking Ship Entertainment. “This has meant we have seen AVOD/FAST take a bigger position alongside our traditional TV rights.”

“We’ve seen an evolution even over the past year among studios and broadcasters to partner to maximize a show’s exposure on as many platforms as possible, but especially on

Cyber Group’s hit preschool series Gigantosaurus has been licensed to multiple platforms across linear, pay TV and streaming.

YouTube,” says Corey Caplan, senior director of interna tional sales at Guru Studio. “With licensees and retailers asking for YouTube performance metrics, YouTube has become an essential window after—or even sometimes before—the first linear window starts.”

“Non-exclusive windows are growing, especially for AVOD and, to some extent, local SVOD,” adds Cyber Group’s Mathieu. “AVOD can be YouTube, OTT or FAST channels. Or a mix of all of this. But most of the time, if a series is fully available on a broadcaster or a streamer, only very few elements will be available on AVOD.”

Caplan says, “Linear broadcasters understand the power of YouTube and child-safe streaming platforms to build awareness and bring eyeballs back to their channels. These days, non-exclusive AVOD rights are critical to most broadcast agreements. As some broadcasters and streaming partners are invested in the merchandising

perform ance as well, it adds an even stronger incentive to allow for content discoverability on free, ad-supported platforms like YouTube.”

Candiani says that eOne Family Brands has stepped up its activities with FAST services, referencing a pact with Pluto TV, Paramount’s ad-supported platform, for Trans formers TV. “It features Transformers content 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In the first month, we had 10.5 million minutes streamed and have seen 16 percent growth in viewership month on month since. We’re so pleased to be able to further engage fans of this iconic brand, which has such an impressive library of content.”

It is indeed the bigger brands that are translating well to the ad-supported space, CAKE’s Rodriguez says. “We have found that good platform-agnostic content leads to greater windowing possibilities with broadcasters more open to sharing rights with VOD platforms. This is particularly the case for big brands such as Angry Birds, which we have successfully placed across pay TV, free TV, SVOD and AVOD worldwide, with platforms sharing windows on a non-exclusive basis.”

BEYOND YOUTUBE

Xilam spotted the AVOD opportunity early, build ing a YouTube presence back in 2013, Favennec says, with a slate of channels built around its library of animation “that travels very well with no dub bing needed as they’re non-dialogue driven.”

With around 50 channels on YouTube, “it’s a very big business for us,” Favennec says. “However, since January 2020, when YouTube made changes to advertising, we’ve had to work harder to meet the same revenues. It will remain a key part of our distribution strategy, but we’ve since opened the door to more collaborations and part nerships with other AVOD platforms. Today we work with all the key AVOD players, including Rakuten, Tubi and Pluto, to name a few.”

The AVOD opportunity, while increasing, is still heavily concentrated in English-language mar kets, Mathieu adds. “The revenues generated are

Guru Studio has been licensing second-window rights on the Netflix original True and the Rainbow Kingdom

Sinking Ship Entertainment has secured broad exposure for Dino Dana around the world.

growing but are still very far from those generated by broadcasters or streamer sales.”

BRAND PLANS

But that opportunity is significant with the right brands.

“With our hit preschool series True and the Rainbow King dom, we are simultaneously on ad-supported OTT platforms and continuing to grow the show’s multilan guage presence on YouTube—which this summer hit a billion views and is growing!” Caplan says. “In tandem with the advertising revenues from our OTT partners, our show’s YouTube presence is generating a consistent stream of monthly advertising revenue, and with the in-depth metrics from YouTube and Guru’s AVOD partners, we can bring on more licensing partners to bring True products to market.”

Mass exposure is key, Cyber Group’s Mathieu notes. “Kids will see it more and more, and it will support the brand, making it stronger and supporting its licensing potential. If

you have strong multi-exposed content, you are more likely to go for additional seasons and to make it work.”

Essentially, factoring multiple platforms into your win dowing strategy is key. And you do, in fact, need a plan to ensure you’re, as Mathieu puts it, “maximizing revenues and optimizing exposure.”

Candiani at eOne Family Brands puts it like this: “Our priority, always, is to find the right home for each of our shows—and not necessarily to maximize short-term rev enues. And our approach is never one-size-fits-all; we pride ourselves on being nimble and able to design differ ent partnerships with platforms that best suit each brand. We want to meet fans where they are. We want to be on the go-to platforms for kids. But we’re also highly selective and choose platforms that align with our values; where our characters and stories can be consumed in a safe and enlightening way.”

“It needs to be approached on a case-by-case basis and depending on several factors,” agrees Favennec at Xilam. “The definition of rights is changing all the time, but it’s all about adjusting and trying to get the best out of the situation not necessarily in the short term, but in the medium and long term, whenever possible. It’s important to stay flexi ble and know when to make some compromises.”

It’s also about assessing the DNA of a brand, Favennec adds. “A rollout strategy depends on the history of the show. For example, a jewel of our catalog with an impres sive legacy, such as Oggy and the Cockroaches, will have a particular treatment. We’ve produced a new series called Oggy and the Cockroaches Next Generation, a reboot of the iconic brand. When it comes to the distribution strategy for this new series, alongside France and Italy, where Oggy and the Cockroaches is loved and well-known, the next

While Netflix is a global partner on Xilam’s Oggy Oggy, the reboot is airing on free-TV channels in several key markets.

key territory we paid close attention to was India because the brand is also hugely popular there. Netflix came on board the series with a global proposal that we accepted. Still, we wanted to ensure that in these key territories— France, Flemish Belgium, Italy and India—we could secure the best visibility on terrestrial channels before or at the same time as Netflix’s launch (excluding India, where the series debuts this fall and a few months after Netflix).

These are the kinds of things we’re very careful about. Overall, our rollout strategy depends on how the series sits within the wider DNA of our company, the potential of the licensing and then the overall potential territory by territory. Those are the three elements we first take into account.”

Rodriguez at CAKE is of a similar view when it comes to devising distribution plans for key shows. “Firstly, you need to consider the nature and aim of the show,” she

notes. “The strategy will be different if it is a commercial show aimed at capturing eyeballs, an educational show perhaps more appealing to public channels or a niche show aimed at a particular audience or platform. Secondly, you need to take into account excluded territories and rights. If some key territories are no longer available, the show may have less appeal for certain global channels, so we might look at creating territory- or region-specific strategies. With regard to rights, if the show is a YouTube or Netflix original, the strategy would be different from a show that has not aired previously. And lastly, it is important to consider whether the show is fully financed. If part of the financing is still required, we will first approach partners who can fill this gap and plan our strategy accordingly.”

Sanagan at Sinking Ship relies on similar criteria. “The factors to be considered are age demo, animation or live action, and specific content factors,” she says. “The financ ing determines the distribution strategy to a large extent given that now we often work with worldwide streamers for large footprints or globally.”

Caplan says that Guru Studio operates on a “contentfirst mindset” as it determines the best route to mar ket on an IP. “Before we take on any new project, it must first have the right ingredients to capture the hearts and minds of young viewers. We always try to maximize the awareness of every show we produce and represent by ensuring our distribution strategy includes a detailed YouTube content release schedule,

eOne Family Brands worked with Pluto TV for a FAST channel with Transformers content.

AVOD windowing strategy and, of course, partnering with the right local broadcaster who will get behind and support the show.”

FUNDING FORMULAS

As for how the ever-shifting platforms landscape is altering funding models, CAKE’s Rodriguez observes, “Historically, we relied on global pay-TV and free-TV channels and late ly, big SVOD and AVOD platforms to help complete the financing of a show. Today, there are increasingly more options, and if you can secure financing from several plat forms that can either commission or prebuy, their individ ual investment tends to be lower. The risk is spread across several partners, which can be a winning scenario.”

Guru’s Caplan notes, “We are seeing an industry that is growing increasingly risk-averse when it comes to fund ing, especially as traditional linear broadcasters continue to compete for viewers and exclusive rights, and as SVODs fight just as hard against high churn rates. Companies are starting to fund original IP using innovative and some times even unorthodox forms of financing, like enlisting independent equity investors to fill sizable gaps. It’s critical for these models to work that IP holders exploit as many rights, in as many regions as possible, to allow investors to recoup their investment.”

Distributors are also keeping a close eye on AVOD investments in originals as that sector matures beyond the largely library, non-exclusive space it operates in now.

“With the ever-evolving world of AVODs and now FAST aggregators like major connected-TV manufacturers Samsung and Sony, we will begin to see more competition in the ad-supported space,” Caplan says. “Hopefully, this will lead to increased funding for original AVOD-first con tent and an increasingly high bar for IP owners to place their series on ad-supported platforms.”

CAKE arrives at MIPCOM with a YouTube original, Super Sema, executive produced by Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o. “While the series is performing well on YouTube, we feel it will also appeal to broadcasters and SVOD plat forms,” Rodriguez says. “The content is original—the world’s first-to-launch African animated kids’ superhero franchise— and has a strong creative team behind it.”

With the emergence of more AVOD-backed shows, Rodriguez expects that content will soon make its way to other services, noting, “For platform-agnostic content, windowing strategies will certainly become varied and more complex.”

VIRTUAL WORLDS

Heralded as the next great trend to watch in the intersection of technology and content, the metaverse is presenting a wave of storytelling, marketing and revenue opportunities for creators and IP owners. By Mansha Daswani

Up until last year, more than half of Roblox’s users were under the age of 13.

Even as the online gaming platform has seen gains in the older teen and YA seg ment, it’s still reaching an awful lot of children. Roblox had some 45 million daily active users in 2021—so if you’re not looking at Roblox, you don’t really know what more than 20 million kids worldwide are doing with a decent chunk of their time.

“Over 50 percent of U.S. 9- to 12-year-olds play on Roblox at least weekly, and they’re spending their money there right now,” says David Kleeman, senior VP of global trends at research and strategy consultancy and digital studio Dubit.

And if you want to get a sense of how the metaverse is developing, Roblox is your best starting point. “You can play any or all of the games on the platform with just one down load,” Kleeman says. “You can attend special events. We’re producing concerts in the metaverse. It’s a place to hang out with friends. You can customize gear, your avatar, do a lot of self-expression and earn and spend in-game currency.”

Kleeman calls the popular platform an “emerging metaverse” because, as he notes, “There is as yet no real

metaverse. There are little pieces of it. You may have heard the expression that the future is here; it’s just not equally distributed. Well, the metaverse is here, but it’s in pieces, and we need to put it together. The great thing about that is that we can envision the metaverse that we want, not just take one handed by the big companies or anyone like that. We can [create] a metaverse that is great for kids, building on the brand equity that we as tele vision executives have built over the years.”

ALWAYS ON

At its most basic definition, the metaverse describes “immer sive, virtual, global, always-on spaces,” Kleeman explains.

“The real idea is that it lowers frustration barriers to people doing the things they want to do. You can be a gamer—you can play a game or make a game. You can tell stories. You can be part of somebody else’s stories. You can learn. You can teach. We mostly find people are using it right now for socializing, communicating, gameplay, and they’re becoming creators. Shopping is emerging in it. It’s more about brand awareness and affinity than about actual shopping.”

For Mattel, exploring ways to engage with kids on Web3 platforms via NFTs and metaverse experiences was a logical

Banijay partnered with FOMO Lab on an NFT collection for Mr Bean: The Animated Series

extension of its business. “The metaverse is yet another avenue in which our customers can experience our iconic IP,” says Mike DeLaet, the global head of digital gaming at the toy giant. “As with other platforms, we strive to create best-inclass, interactive entertainment experiences that will delight our fans. The metaverse opens up a significant domain for brands like ours, which have built-in communities with pas sionate fan bases.”

FAN-DOM

It is all about the fans, Kleeman says, or as he describes it, “fanatomy,” a strategy that might require IP owners to be a little less controlling over how their brand appears in the metaverse. “You serve up your IP the way you want it to be, and fans come back to you and say, Yeah, but wouldn’t it be cool if? If you respond to that, even if you don’t do what they suggest, if you just show that you’re listening, you deepen that fan’s experience, and you make them want to go and share it with their friends, and you make them think, This is a place for me because they listen to me. Fanatomy, in the case of the metaverse, is going to mean letting go of your brand a little bit. It’s the hardest thing for IP owners to do, but we’re seeing some compelling reasons for doing it. Young people chase their favorite brands across all the platforms that they use. If they love some thing, they will pursue it in toys, products, clothes and games, on television, or wherever they can find it. And they now expect it to be multiplatform. They want to be cre ators. They want to share their way of thinking about their favorite content, and they deeply want that authenticity— that idea that a brand is speaking to them.”

For IP owners, it’s a balancing act. “I think people are still trying to figure out how to tell stories in the meta verse because so much interactivity happens,” according to Anne Loi, executive VP for M&A and chief commercial officer at WildBrain.

Given its treasure trove of beloved IP, WildBrain has done several deals in this space, including bringing Tele tubbies into the metaverses of the online Habbo and Hotel Hideaway games and rolling out the Bake with

Strawberry Shortcake Roblox game, coinciding with the relaunch of the Strawberry Shortcake brand.

“It’s not that different from back when we were making mobile games or online web games,” Loi says. “There’s always that challenge of, when you hand control over to the player, how do you create the world where they can tell the story their own way? A lot of our content development people tend to look at that as one form of telling, not the only form of telling stories.”

FULL IMMERSION

Toonz Media Group set up an NFT design lab last year as part of its efforts to position itself as a leader in this space. “Be it the immersive story telling experience providing deeper engagement for the viewers or gamifi cation to ensure increased engage ment time, adoption of the metaverse fits with our larger strategy to provide quality content to kids and families,” says Bruno Zarka, president of distribution and the feature films division at Toonz.

DeLaet at Mattel says that the focus is always on creat ing “an amazing experience for fans” via metaverse plat forms. “Staying true to our brands is critical for us, and we maintain strict processes to ensure that the quality bar is met with everything we do,” he explains. “We per form extensive research on what our consumers want and how we can extend our mission in this area, which is to create innovative products and experiences that inspire and entertain through play.”

The immersive experiences being developed on Roblox “lend themselves well to our IP,” DeLaet adds.

Of course, being found on Roblox isn’t easy, given the sheer volume of games and experiences for users to access. “Dis coverability will be an issue,” WildBrain’s Loi says. “It’s a very democratized platform. If your game is not good, people just simply won’t come. You don’t need anybody else to tell you that you have to do better. We love that, but it’s challenging as a company wanting to take risks on these things. Six to eight months ago, our thinking was that an individual stand-alone game is the way to do it. Now we’ve evolved. If you are look ing for your brand itself to get noticed, we see a lot of success with in-game collaboration with another very well-known game. We will create experiences as part of that bigger game, but that’s very brand specific. We’re doing testing with kids who have played it—before and after. Do they have a higher awareness level of that brand? Our thinking has shifted back and forth on where you actually want to create a stand-alone experience. There has to be some pretty special reason to do that. [You can] collaborate with where the big eyeballs already are and try to take advantage of that.”

While established IP is already resonating on meta verse platforms, those with brand-new ideas can’t afford to ignore this space either, Kleeman notes. “As a televi sion company, you need to be thinking about how kids are going to discover you: through a game or the TV? And this is a generation that considers authenticity and

con nection with their favorite brands to be really impor tant. They need to sense that you’re listening to them. And an immersive space in the metaverse is a really good way to have that two-way exchange with your fans.”

Zarka notes that NFTs and other metaverse opportunities can be used as a source of funding for new content. “We can build brand experiences by creating communities.”

IP owners with limited budgets should not despair about the level of investment required, Kleeman notes. “You don’t need to build a really big, deep, always-on, long-term game to be present in the metaverse. We’re doing a lot of short-term acti vations. Or you can integrate with an existing game.”

And thinking about the metaverse can begin at any time in an IP’s lifecycle, Kleeman states. “If you are in the creative development phase, you can create playable concept testing that’s going to be much less expensive than producing a pilot. You can watch how your fans play with your characters, play with your settings, what they like, what they don’t like, and use that in your development. We had an experience with a brand-new television IP where we launched a very small Roblox experience—you could live in the setting of the program—and spent about £1,000 to promote it. We got tens of thousands of views in the first weekend at an acquisition

cost of about $0.04 per user. Now compare that to the App Store, where it’s multiple dollars per user. Some fans made videos because no one had seen this IP before. Free promo tion via the fans.”

INTANGIBLE APPEAL

Roblox and other gaming communities are presenting the greatest opportunities for content owners, but several compa nies are also playing in the NFT space. “NFTs with utility fac tor into all types of gaming experiences,” DeLaet says. “The metaverse is no different in that sense. Players want true ownership of their digital assets. We think about this space in the long term, determined to shape the future of play by con tinuously stretching and scaling our brands to find the bridges between traditional toys and what’s next: Web3 (NFTs), the metaverse, traditional gaming and beyond.”

“The thing about the metaverse is, if you don’t find what you want, create it,” Kleeman says. “Today’s young people are cre ators on these platforms. There are millions and millions of Roblox games, and substantially, they are made by the users themselves. And with the metaverse, because it’s not here yet, we hope to create it from the start as a safe, engaging, fun place for kids where they can do what they want.”

WildBrain launched a Roblox game for Strawberry Shortcake as part of the reintroduction of the brand.

In September, Mattel’s Polly Pocket joined Livetopia , one of the most successful role-playing games on Roblox.

Lupita Nyong’o

Br oadway star. Oscar-winning film actress. Activist. Children’s book author. Lupita Nyong’o has demonstrated her prolific versatility since her break through role in Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave. A passionate advocate for driving diversity and inclusion in the content landscape, Nyong’o is the executive producer of Super Sema, a YouTube original series about a heroic 10-yearold girl, Sema, who, together with her twin brother, protects her African village. Nyong’o also voices a character in the show—which CAKE recently picked up the international distribution rights on—and is a shareholder in the female-led studio Kukua, which pro duces the series. She tells TV Kids about her involvement with Super Sema, which went into its second season on YouTube this summer.

TV KIDS: How d id your involvement with Kukua and Super Sema come about?

NYONG’O: Growing up in Kenya, I watched foreign cartoons with no characters that looked like me. The COO of Kukua, Vanessa Ford, approached my team with the project and the first season in hand. I watched the entire season in one sitting, and it brought me to tears. I was elated to think that a new gen eration could grow up with an African girl as one of their heroes and for people with dark skin to recognize themselves in a world of imagination, science and creativity. I was inspired that someone else was interested in promoting the same per spective and values that I was, especially a team led by women from all over the world.

TV KIDS: Tell us about some of the show’s key themes. NYONG’O: The show cultivates African children’s cultural iden tity and breeds empathy for different people, cultures and places. It’s also about kid empowerment: boosting children’s confidence and belief that they can change the world, espe cially for girls. And finally, it promotes STEAM and DIY by inspiring kids with technology, science and innovation and getting them excited about “technovating” and “doingit-your self” at home.

TV KIDS: How do you think the children’s content business is faring in terms of making sure that every child gets to see themselves represented on-screen?

NYONG’O: The world of children’s media is slightly more diverse than before, but we still have a lot of progress to make to ensure it’s representative of the audience that’s watching it. Kids need to see characters who share their skin tones, languages, religions, disabilities and conditions, and even hair textures in the cartoons they watch to show them that they matter, that they belong and that their stories are worth telling. It means that all children have someone to look up to and

By Mansha Daswani

recognize that they too can be leaders, innovators, heroes, sci entists or anything they dream of. You can’t tell new stories without changing the storytellers, so as content creators, we have a duty to diversify the personnel behind the scenes and bring on board diverse writers and talent who bring their unique experiences to make shows more authentic.

TV KIDS: How important is it that Super Sema airs on YouTube versus a walled garden like Netflix?

NYONG’O: YouTube makes Super Sema instantly accessible worldwide and allows us to build a strong community. It has been particularly fascinating to understand our audience and the families falling in love with the show.

TV KIDS: What are some things you’ve learned about voice act ing from your time with Mama Dunia?

NYONG’O: Mama Dunia, which translates to Mother Earth, embodies love, empathy and nurturing. I loved bringing that to life by exploring the power of my voice through singing.

TV KIDS: What are your goals for Kukua as it looks to bring more diverse voices and unique stories to the global ani mation business?

NYONG’O: I’m looking forward to the power of our voices and storytelling transcending into a 21st-century edutainment uni verse through toys, books and especially immersive digital experiences. I’m inspired by the idea that one day there will be a virtual Sema lab where kids can enter the metaverse and do experiments alongside their favorite characters. Normalizing science, technology and math is also a goal of mine. These are three subjects that I was never good at in school, and they were not always considered cool and fun. Super Sema helps to pop ularize these fields that are growing more and more vital in today’s world and prepares Gen Alpha for the world they will inevitably inherit and hopefully change for the better.

Dan Povenmire

For more than 25 years, Dan Povenmire has been working on some of the most successful and critically acclaimed animation series, including Family Guy, SpongeBob SquarePants and The Simpsons. He cocreated and executive produced the Emmy Award-winning series Phineas and Ferb with Jeff “Swampy” Marsh, for which he voiced the zany evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz. Most recently, Povenmire created and executive pro duced Hamster & Gretel, about a young girl and her pet hamster who receive superpowers from aliens. He talks to TV Kids about the show’s origins, Tik Tok as a destination for spotting talent and how his 14-year-old daughter Meli came to voice Gretel.

TV KIDS: How did Hamster & Gretel come about?

POVENMIRE: Hamster & Gretel started the way most of my shows have. I was doodling [while] I was doing something else! We were writing the Phineas and Ferb movie for Dis ney+. I had this stack of three-by-five cards because we were using them to block out the movie. I was doodling while we were pitching ideas. I had this little pink threeby-five card with a superhero hamster flying over the city because my daughters had hamsters at the time, and I thought, Oh, I like this! And the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a show.

I pitched a bunch of show ideas to my daughter and asked, What do you think of this? And she said, Oh, that’s funny! I started riffing on that, and she was laughing, and I thought, Maybe I should put some effort into this. Then on vacation with my family, I did the cold open to the pilot like a storyboard animatic. I had my youngest come in and do a read for me. Hey, Meli, can you come in and read a few lines, so it won’t just be my voice doing everybody? She read, and I thought, Oh, she’s really good! She survived; we recast everybody [else], even me. I was originally doing the villain. But Meli kept surviving all the recasts because her voice really worked for us. And when we tested it, that character tested so high. She has my sense of humor because she grew up with me, so she gets the reads right away.

TV KIDS: How has the experience of working together been for both of you? Is it her first professional gig?

POVENMIRE: Yes, it’s her first professional gig. She had done temp lines for other show creators, for friends of mine. They always really liked her, but those shows were all pilots that didn’t [get picked up]. I knew she could do it, but I had not written anything for her to do other than TikToks we’ve done together. It’s been great. She records sitting here

By Anna Carugati

in this chair right next to me. It saves us a trip to the studio, and we can work around her schedule on the weekends.

TV KIDS: Tell us what Hamster & Gretel is about. These kids have superpowers, right?

POVENMIRE: Yes. It’s about a much older brother and a younger sister. He’s driving her to soccer practice. They get stopped by aliens who tell them they have been chosen to receive superpowers. The aliens shoot them with this ray, and the brother is all excited about it. But the superpower has gone to Gretel, his younger sister, and her hamster, who just happened to be in the car, instead of on to him. And as you can imagine, that causes some comedic situations.

TV KIDS: I understand you have more than 6 million follow ers on TikTok. How did that happen?

POVENMIRE: It’s the weirdest thing to happen to me at this point in my life. I had this great version of fame where I wasn’t famous unless I wanted to be; unless I outed myself to people about what I do, then people would be all excited about it. But I wasn’t getting recognized in public except by people who were serious fans who had looked me up to see what I looked like. That almost never happened. Now, everywhere I go, I get recognized by people. Sometimes they talk to me about Phineas and Ferb; sometimes, they just talk to me about TikTok, which I think is really funny. I’ve never seen your show, but I love your TikToks! Some body did an article about me in which they said Dan Povenmire, TikTok star. When did that become the paren theses after my name?

TV KIDS: Children have so many sources of entertainment. To capture and hold their attention, does the storytelling or the pacing of an animated series have to be different, or is a good story a good story regardless of how it’s viewed?

Hamster & Gretel premiered on Disney Channel this summer.

POVENMIRE: I think a good story is a good story. A good story has always been a good story, but some shows hit, and some shows don’t, depending on the zeitgeist. I think Phineas and Ferb came along at the exact right time for that show. I think Hamster & Gretel will find an audience. I’m extremely proud of it. I think it may be better than Phineas and Ferb, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be a bigger hit because, as you say, entertainment has become very segmented. There’s so much more out there for them. It’s harder to grab the same size audience. Hopefully, the fact that I’m talking about it on TikTok will help at least 6 million people find it! I’m just hoping people tune in.

TV KIDS: Is humor still an essential ingredient in reaching kids?

POVENMIRE: If you can make people laugh, then they’ll tune back in. That’s what I’ve always tried to do; let’s make them laugh on as many different levels as we can, which is why we had a big adult following for Phineas and Ferb. We nev er [excluded] a joke because we didn’t think the kids would get it. We would put stuff in for everybody. And that’s what we’re doing on Hamster & Gretel. The meat is the comedy, the music, the action. There are all these differ ent hooks we can use to get people to want to watch it.

TV KIDS: Are you still writing songs, as you did on Phineas and Ferb?

POVENMIRE: I’ve written or co-written all the songs in Hamster & Gretel . When I was on Phineas , I had a bunch of people who were also songwriters on staff, and we were all in the same place at the same time. Now, I’m doing it from [my home office]. I have to really work to figure out how to collaborate. But I’ve also found songwriters that I would not have found before because of TikTok. There are songwriters on TikTok that I’ve reached out to say, Hey, would you want to write a song for my show? I’ve done collabs with ten different people that I wouldn’t have gotten to collab with before. There are about 50 songs in the show so

far. I’ve had to write a bunch of them by myself, which is fine and fun. But it’s more fun when you get to write with somebody else. You get different ideas musically and lyrically than you would by yourself.

TV KIDS: Do you create the storylines by yourself, or do you collaborate on those as well?

POVENMIRE: I have a whole writers’ room full of people. I’ve got Joanna Hausmann, who is a YouTube comedian from Venezuela. My wife is from Venezuela, so we started watching her stuff, and I just loved it! I reached out to Joan na on YouTube. Because of the pandemic, it didn’t matter where somebody lived anymore. I was able to get her to run the writers’ room for me. We all get in a room and throw ideas up, and they pitch me stuff. I get busier toward the end of the season because I’m doing postproduction and preproduction, so I spend less time in the writers’ room. But they grab my time when they can and pitch me what they’re doing, and I say yay or nay. It’s been great. I’ve got some 70 people on staff who do art and models and editing and sound recording. It’s a Herculean effort by a large group of people.

TV KIDS: You mentioned TikTok and YouTube, platforms that didn’t exist when you started out in the business. Do they help you find talent?

POVENMIRE: Yes, we found voice actors on TikTok, some of whom had never done voice work before but were trying to get into it. [Some are] on TikTok every day, being interesting and able to do a lot with their voice. You get to see people who are just really self-starters. They’re doing this because they love it, and they’re doing it every single day. If you get them into a [record ing] booth, they’re not a one-trick pony. They can really deliver. I’ve got six or seven people I found through Tik Tok that way. I found songwriters through TikTok. It’s a good way of getting your talent out there so people like me can see it and say, Hey, would you like to come and do this?

Thorsten Braun Super RTL

TV KIDS: How competitive is the children’s TV market in Germany?

BRAUN: It’s a very competitive market. We have four rele vant players in the linear business. Three are ad-funded, and one is a public player, but there are many other options for kids to be entertained and to consume content. Digital platforms, like YouTube and all the streaming services, are also available in Germany. All of this brought us to the point that we had to reframe our strategy from a linear business to a multiplatform one.

TV KIDS: What role does Super RTL have in the market, and what sets it apart from the many other children’s channels and platforms?

BRAUN: We are the market leader, and our USP is our multi platform approach. Next to linear TV, we invested a lot of money and resources in building a proper kids’ web opera tion. We launched a radio channel for children and families. We also invested in our TOGGO tour, which traveled through various cities in Germany during the summer and was attended by more than 500,000 people. In addition, we have a footprint in the retail business through our con sumer-products operation. So, we serve a broad range of platforms and are the only German player to do so.

TV KIDS: Has Super RTL’s strategy changed since the RTL Group became its sole owner by buying Disney’s 50 per cent stake in the channel?

BRAUN: It’s more about refining the strategy. With RTL as the 100 percent shareholder, we have more opportunities, especially in the tech and data segment, as well as regarding original productions. We recently gained a new responsibil ity for the kids’ section on the streaming service RTL+, to which we can bring years of experience with kids’ pro gramming. Generally, our expertise is very much appre ciated by our colleagues at RTL. I’m pleased to have this big ship behind me and on my side.

TV KIDS: Could you give examples of how children use the different services that Super RTL offers?

By Anna Carugati

Between fast-changing consumption habits, tectonic shifts in financing models and managing the expecta tions of young, sometimes fickle audiences, the kids’ business has become remarkably adept at navigating change. As CEO of Germany’s leading commercial media group for kids, Thorsten Braun is managing these profound changes in the landscape by being firmly focused on transi tioning Super RTL from a linear broadcaster to a multi platform service serving audiences wherever they are. He tells TV Kids about the benefits of being wholly owned by RTL Group since early 2021, emerging opportunities on plat forms like TikTok and Roblox and the importance of the com pany’s prosocial initiatives.

BRAUN: Our main approach is to lead kids through all the platforms, and especially to lead them to our owned and operated platforms, which is our linear channels, web and app service, and TOGGO Radio. We use third-party platforms like TikTok, YouTube and, in the future, Roblox, to give them an anchor point, but then inform them and guide them: “If you want to see more, please come to our environment.”

TV KIDS: You mentioned TOGGO Radio, which launched in 2020 during the pandemic. How has it been received?

BRAUN: We are super happy with TOGGO Radio. The plan behind this was to have usage from kids and their parents during times when they do not use video content, especially before school and after school. It’s incremental reach from our point of view. In the last quarter of 2021, we showed a growth of 200 percent in usage on the TOGGO Radio

channel. And with this success, we invested in more audio experiences. We produced our first TOGGO song and web channels related to specific IPs and topics and worked on our distribution. In July 2022 alone, TOGGO Radio, includ ing all web channels, reached 4.1 million listeners. Two years in a row we have won the most prestigious award in the German radio industry, this year even in the most important category—best morning show. This makes audio an important strategic pillar for future Super RTL and TOGGO operations.

TV KIDS: Tell us about your content investments.

BRAUN: We make a lot of investments in co-productions and buying shows. This year, we received approximately 1,000 new episodes of existing IP. The share of new content will be 50 percent as of this autumn. This is significantly more than usual. We are showing recent highlights such as Star Trek: Prodigy and Sesame Street Mecha Builders, as well as new seasons of top formats such as PAW Patrol, Peppa Pig and our original production Woozle Goozle. When we make acquisitions for the linear channels, we follow an all-rights strategy. We also acquire content only for our AVOD service and our SVOD service. The range becomes much broader as kids’ media usage goes in the same direc tion. So, we invest in the content, maintaining the infrastruc ture and building new touchpoints.

TV KIDS: Where do you see the need for increased market ing at Super RTL?

BRAUN: In the pandemic, we saw that TikTok had a huge interest from the kids. This has new relevance to us. We have to look at it from a content marketing point of view. So, we now work with influencers to tell kids on TikTok: “This is TOGGO, this is a cool experience; come into our world.” It’s the same as what we plan with Roblox. The goal is that if the kids think about entertainment, TOGGO is the first thing that comes to mind. Being top of mind is one of our key strategic pillars.

TV KIDS: What more can Super RTL do in the technology and data areas?

BRAUN: We are very well equipped in the data and tech area, especially since we are now 100 percent owned by

RTL Group. The tech and data team at RTL is roughly 1,000 people. Insights for us are critical. Having this broader scope of people and knowledge directly in-house helps us—even if we know that kids’ data topics are not so easy to handle because of legal regulations. But we do have approved methods to find out what the kids are interested in, what is driving the usage and what is helping us to guide them.

TV KIDS: Super RTL is involved in prosocial initiatives. Why are these important?

BRAUN: We are the biggest kids’ entertainment house in Germany. With this comes great responsibility for the target group. That is why we run several prosocial initiatives.

First of all, we support the RTL Foundation, which helps children in various projects within Germany and around the world. In addition, we work with organizations like Media Smart and fragFINN (“ask Finn”), of which I’m the chairman of the board. Media Smart promotes media literacy and sen sitivity toward advertising among schoolchildren, while fragFINN creates a protected web surfing space for children.

In the last year, we also started several working groups at Super RTL to make sure that important topics like diversity, climate, sustainability and mental health are represented in our content. This has become a core for us. When we pro duce or acquire new content, we consider how to include these dimensions. A recent example is GEOLINO TV, an educational format, which we launched with our col leagues from the publishing department.

TV KIDS: What challenges and opportunities do you see in the next 12 to 24 months?

BRAUN: Linear television is under pressure. The ratings for all kids’ channels in Germany are decreasing. That’s the most important challenge we are facing. The other is the fragmentation of media usage. However, with our multi platform approach, we have a strategy that is working well.

Wherever the kids are, we are there with the TOGGO brand. Besides, the cooperation with RTL enables us to look deeper into areas that, in the past, were not our focus, for example, streaming SVOD. We are mainly AVOD across all platforms, but we can orchestrate both ways. Last but not least, the merger with Gruner + Jahr brings new opportuni ties for collaborations in the kids’ publishing business.

The first collaboration between Super RTL and sister company

Gruner + Jahr, GEOLINO TV is an educational show based on a well-known German magazine for kids.

age groups rather than channels allows us to give children what they want now and allows us to move into the streaming world. We are building our channels alongside iPlayer, and we are now much more focused with the type of content we’re looking for.

TV KIDS: What led to the three-fold increase in investment for U.K.-made animation for 7-to-12s?

HIDALGO: The content we produce for older demographics has traditionally been achieved by delivering stories they saw themselves reflected in. We have been very focused on producing live action for the older demographics, but we know that animation is something they also love. We wanted to increase the amount of animation produced for children of older demographics in the U.K. The U.K. is one of the most successful producers of preschool animation in the world, but it’s not the same with 7-plus. We will be delivering more animation to the older target group, but we won’t stop delivering for the young ones.

TV KIDS: How is the BBC adapting to competition, notably from streamers and YouTube, by dedicating more resources to fewer titles?

HIDALGO: We have been working for a while to offer content to our audience how and where they like it.

Patricia Hidalgo BBC

By Kristin Brzoznowski

I

n the two years since Patricia Hidalgo took over as director of children’s and education at the BBC, there have been sweeping changes for the kids’ remit at the storied British pubcaster. From its reshaped commissioning structure to its amped-up animation spend and merged inhouse and commercial production teams, BBC Children’s is working hard to stay competitive amid an evolving landscape, all the while standing firm in its mission to entertain, educate and inform. Hidalgo tells TV Kids about what’s behind some of these strategic shifts.

TV KIDS: Tell us about the decision to restructure commissioning and acquisitions based on age group.

HIDALGO: Our children’s channels target 0 to 12. It is a really broad age group, with CBeebies, our preschool channel, targeting between 0 to 6 years old and CBBC 7 to 12. Because the range is so broad, you always have to consider what is appropriate for the very youngest children in your age band who could be viewing when you are producing and broadcasting content—and that leads to the issue of older kids feeling that the programming is too babyish. It is a bit of a problem, and the streamers have been much better at providing content that is focused on children in the different age groups rather than being so broad, which really benefits older children within that 0-to-12 range. Focusing on

While we still have the two linear channels for children 0 to 12, we saw last year a lot of success in how children are consuming our content on iPlayer. We had 1.2 billion h ours of our content watched on our streaming platforms. We still commission about 450 hours of original content every year. We have a real richness in the types of content we commission. We are like a general-entertainment channel but for children, and that makes us quite different.

When we say “fewer” titles, we don’t mean producing less. What we mean is that we will commission more episodes of those titles that our audience loves. We make sure that we’re not recommissioning things that don’t have enough value for them. We double down very quickly on the content we know our audience really wants. In a lot of our content, we have exclusivity, and that puts us in a very good position versus any other competitor.

We also think about how to bring the family together. The point of difference is that we offer great content for children that is representative of their lives, but also of British culture and the great heritage of storytellers that this country has. We have another USP, which is that our audiences always see themselves reflected in our content. It is very local, and our school dramas are ever so popular with them.

In addition, we have acquisitions. So, when we can’t make everything, we acquire content to supplement

the content we commission. We look for global brands that have resonance. It’s not about having a lot of titles; it’s about having the right content and the right mix that our audience wants and that has relevance for them.

TV KIDS: How are you working to extend content on the digital front?

HIDALGO: For digital, we know kids are there, so we need to be there. We need to continue to produce games and content and interactions that they enjoy. Our BBC games and websites are delivering really good numbers in terms of usage and engagement. We’re reaching over 300,000 children in the U.K. every week. For the younger ones, we have a suite of CBeebies apps, which rank as number one for this type of entertainment app in the U.K. We do know that games are becoming more popular also with education. We tried a couple of experiments last year where we brought our education execs and our digital execs together to create some educational games.

TV KIDS: How are you investing in educational content and services?

HIDALGO: The pandemic propelled what we had to do. Around the world, everybody had to think, What do we do as children’s broadcasters to bring education to our audiences? That gave us the opportunity to develop more educational content to be more fun as well. We created a series called Bitesize Daily . The series is dedicated to different lessons: math, English, science, geography and music. We did this all in a virtual studio. We have produced 150 hours of this content, split by age group. There’s content for all different ages between 4 and 14. It can be watched on the linear channels, but also, of course, it’s available online and through iPlayer.

We’re also collaborating with other big BBC brands to deliver Live Lessons. We will have eight Live Lessons throughout the year. Teachers can go to our channels and participate and be part of that as they watch. We are working with the likes of the Natural History Unit at BBC, with Planet Earth, to create these Live Lessons. We have a wealth of brands and possibilities, and we are doing a lot more in terms of collaborating across the BBC to [deliver] education in so many different ways.

TV KIDS: What would you like to see the teams deliver across in-house productions, co-productions and acquisitions?

HIDALGO: We want both animation and live-action comedy. We are keen to get more comedy into our slates for all ages. We also want to have more family content. Families are looking for content to share. We want our audience to continue to identify with the characters, settings and stories that we create. And we are still looking for unique British heritage and cultural values to be in those stories. We also want to develop unique content that has the potential to travel outside the U.K. At the end of the day, we want to make sure that we all work together across our commissions, productions and acquisitions to bring that richness of content across all the platforms.

TV KIDS: How is BBC Children’s progressing in its diversity and inclusion initiatives?

HIDALGO: Last year, we announced a new fund of £300,000 ($343,000) to help source behind-the-camera talent. We have been able to support about 30 placements across a lot of our programs. A lot of commissions that we are involved in are taking advantage of these funds. We are also in our second year of investing in finding diverse new voices in our writers’ rooms. We have a collaboration with our in-house BBC Studios Kids & Family unit. We are bringing together people from different backgrounds who might not have necessarily been writing before for children but have a passion for it. We have so far supported about 197 new writers from diverse backgrounds, and 40 of these last year we placed to work on our commissions.

TV KIDS: What do you see as the role and value of public broadcasting in addressing kids today?

HIDALGO: Our role is to entertain, educate and inform. It’s really important that we do this well because we need to make sure that children can make sense of the world around them and grow into healthy and rounded individuals. This is why we’re not just delivering one type of content and why we have so many genres and formats. We aim to represent their world and talk about what matters to them. So, our dramas and our fiction will continue to include important themes that they can relate to, while our factual and entertainment or news content will be a window to the world around them so they can learn about their world and make sense of it.

TV KIDS: BBC Children’s in-house production has moved into BBC Studios Productions, creating the brand-new division of BBC Studios Kids & Family. What are the benefits of this?

HIDALGO: We have had for many years at BBC Children’s a wealth of experience and incredible talent in making children’s content. Moving these teams under our commercial arm enables both BBC Studios and us to invest in bigger and more ambitious kids’ and family projects. That’s something I’m looking forward to, as well as the prospect of delivering our content and brands not just to the U.K. audience but also to a global audience.

Operation Ouch!, which is sold globally by Serious Kids, is in its 11th season on CBBC.

Shows That Pop!

Following an exciting start to the year that included an Acad emy Award nomination for the stop-motion short Robin Robin, the Aardman team looks forward to exhibiting at MIPCOM, meeting with new and existing partners to present their fresh IP and third-party properties for 2022 and beyond.

Developed in-house and supported by the BFI-managed Young Audiences Content Fund (YACF), Lloyd of the Flies shines a light on the weird, wonderful and sometimes bizarre world of insects

Aardman’s Alison Taylor on the fresh IP and third-party properties for 2022 and beyond. By Kristin Brzoznowski

and their behavior. Aardman’s first in-house CGI production pre miered on CITV in September. Licenses already confirmed include ZDF in Germany, ABC in Australia, MBC3 in the Middle East and North Africa and DR in Denmark.

“It’s certainly been a busy time at the studio.” —Alison Taylor

Following a successful launch on Sky Kids in 2021, The Very Small Creatures, the first spin-off series from the studio’s hugely popular Morph series, is coming back for a second season. It will once again feature the adventures of five toddler-like clay crea tures who explore a child’s play area when no one’s around.

There are 20 new episodes slated for launch in 2023-24.

In addition, the studio has been busy acquiring third-party content for distribution for the preschool market, including Interstellar Ella (produced by Fabrique Fantastique and Apartment 11), Pop Paper City (produced by LoveLove Films) and Happy the Hoglet (produced by Paper Owl Films).

“It’s certainly been a busy time at the studio!” says Alison Taylor, director of distribution and business development at Aardman. “We’re thrilled to be showcasing these quality new shows at MIPCOM and will be looking for partners across the globe to come on board. In addition, we’re adding to our catalog The Abominable Snow Baby from Eagle Eye Drama, and Colourblocks from the talented team at Blue Zoo, with further announcements in the pipeline.”

In-Demand: Preschool

Bing

Producers: Acamar Films, Brown Bag Films

Distributor: Acamar Films with all rights.

Description: (0-6, S1: 26x7 min., S2: 26x7 min., S3: 26x7 min., S4: 26x7 min.) Celebrating the noisy, joyful, messy reality of life when you’re a preschooler. Bing stories are small, but they are full of drama.

Pitch Perfect: Bing is a global preschool award-winning series supporting healthy child development. Bing has been licensed to 130 territories world wide and continues to “move and delight” Bingsters and their grown-ups through an increasing range of award-winning films, books, magazines, apps, consumer products, digital, live shows and cinema experiences.

Slot Winner: A top-rated TV show across multiple key territories, including Rai Yoyo, Clan TV and CBeebies. The most requested preschool show in the U.K. on BBC iPlayer, with over 423 million requests since launch. Recently launched in the U.S. on Cartoonito on Cartoon Network and HBO Max. Box office success for Bing cinema releases across the U.K., Poland and Benelux. Over 5 billion lifetime YouTube views.

Sales Contact: Eroulla Constantine, Director, Sales & Distribution.

Gigantosaurus

Commissioners: The Walt Disney Company, France Télévisions

Producer: Cyber Group Studios

Distributor: Cyber Group Studios represents all rights

Description: (4-6 comedy/adventure, S1-3: 156x11 min./78x26 min.) Tiny, Rocky, Bill and Mazu are four dinosaurs growing up in the world of Cretacia, where every day is a new adventure under the watchful eye of Gigantosaurus!

Pitch Perfect: “ Gigantosaurus invites the youngest of viewers to fol low along with inquisitive Mazu, playful Tiny, timid Bill and courageous Rocky as they go on quests to explore their world in each episode, fac ing their fears, working together to solve problems, learning more about the mysterious Gigantosaurus himself—and having lots of fun all along the way.” Raphaëlle Mathieu, Executive VP

Slot Winner: Gigantosaurus , which began airing worldwide on Disney Junior in 2019, is now translated into 29 languages and available in 194 territories.

Sales Contacts: Raphaëlle Mathieu; Michèle Massonnat, Senior Sales Manager; Pauline Bérard, International Sales.

In-Demand: Preschool

Grisù

Commissioners: Rai Kids, ZDF

Producers: Mondo TV France, Mondo TV SpA, Toon2Tango

Distributor: ZDF Studios with worldwide rights.

Description: (3-6 adventure/friendship, 52x12 min.) Grisù is a little dragon who dreams of becoming a firefighter. Even if there’s no job available at the fire station, he is always ready to help—firefighters never give up! Grisù puts more into the job than anyone else by using his energy and his “touch,” which always brings an unexpected twist. When the situation gets compli cated, Grisù’s emotions overwhelm him and he can’t help releasing a little spark, which makes things worse. In these moments of doubt, Grisù knows how to draw on his heroic spirit.

Pitch Perfect: “Grisù is back with brand-new stories. This remake of the classic story of a little fire dragon who wants to become a firefighter will enchant a new generation of preschoolers.”

—Arne Lohmann, VP Junior Sales Contacts: Katharina Pietzsch , Director Junior; Jan-Frederik Maul, Director Junior; Marei Bruckmann, Director Junior; Oliver Grundel , Director Junior.

Mumfie

Commissioners: France Télévisions, Rai

Producers: Zodiak Kids & Family France, Animoka

Distributor: Zodiak Kids & Family Distribution

Description: (Preschool, 78x7 min.) A preschool comedy series based on Magic Adventures of Mumfie created by Britt Allcroft (the creator of Thomas the Tank Engine). Told with heart and humor, this reboot features the opti mistic young elephant Mumfie, who, along with his best friends Pinkey and Jelly Bean, are the helpful heroes of the whimsical world of Flutterstone. To them, no challenge is too great, and no flop, failure or fiasco is unfixable.

Pitch Perfect: “Mumfie brings the beloved Britt Allcroft series to a new genera tion of children, with an eclectic array of characters and colorful animation. The charming and uplifting storytelling by the wonderful teams at Animoka and Zodiak Kids & Family France is set to delight preschool audiences around the world.” —Delphine Dumont, Chief Commercial Officer, Banijay Kids & Family Slot Winner: Winner of Best Preschool Series at the Pulcinella Awards.

Sales Contacts: Delphine Dumont; Cecile Cau, SVP, Sales, Co-Productions & Acquisitions; Julia Rowlands, SVP, Sales, Co-Productions & Acquisitions.

In-Demand: Preschool

Pettson and Findus

Commissioners: ZDF/KiKA

Producers: TV-Loonland, Edel Kids, B.Water Animation Studios

Distributor: ZDF Studios with worldwide rights.

Description: (3-6 adventure/friendship/sustainability, 52x13 min.) The series is based on the well-known children’s book series by Sven Nordqvist. Pettson is an old man who lives on a farm way up North and cares for his lively and imaginative cat, Findus. Findus constantly wants to discover exciting new things and Pettson uses these adventures to test some of his newest inventions. Unfortunately, these not always work the way they should.

Pitch Perfect: “Pettson and Findus tells captivating stories of the inven tive farmer Pettson and his loyal but impudent cat, Findus. We bring a brand-new season of the hugely popular series, with more creative, heart warming and enjoyable stories, together with a modern look.” —Arne Lohmann, VP Junior

Sales Contacts: Katharina Pietzsch , Director Junior; Jan-Frederik Maul, Director Junior; Marei Bruckmann, Director Junior; Oliver Grundel , Director Junior.

School of Roars

Commissioner: CBeebies

Producers: Dot To Dot Productions, Monster Paw Productions

Distributor: ZDF Studios with worldwide rights.

Description: (3-6 friendship/comedy/adventure, 104x7 min.) Going to school for the first time is one of the biggest things a child will do in their lives. It’s exciting but a massive change! School of Roars helps children prepare for school life by exploring a child’s first year through the relation ships and experiences of our mini monsters. Because they’re monsters, our little heroes go to school at night, led by teacher Miss Grizzlesniff. Our monsters experience life-lessons through their adventures such as caring, sharing, friendship and fun.

Pitch Perfect: “School of Roars continues with even more adventures for our class of lovable monster friends. Our series is full of monster laughs and teaches the core values of life.”

—Arne Lohmann, VP Junior Sales Contacts: Katharina Pietzsch, Director Junior; Jan-Frederik Maul, Director Junior; Marei Bruckmann , Director Junior; Oliver Grundel , Director Junior.

In-Demand: Preschool

SeaBelievers

Producers: Brien Arone, Baboon Animation, Telegael, Cosmos-Maya

Distributor: Studio 100 Media with all rights.

Description: (4-7 eco-tainment, 52x11 min.) Each episode leads kids on an eco-adventure. Whether in the sea or on shore, the positive SeaBelievers characters, with their seashell nose and sea-colored eyes, problem-solve and take action around key environmental issues.

Pitch Perfect: “ SeaBelievers is targeted at preschoolers and is an outstanding TV series—the first ever to represent a whole new genre of eco-tainment. This genre, created by Brien Arone, founder and SeaEO of SeaBelievers, combines the benefit of edutainment for chil dren being informative and realistic about real-life issues affecting our ocean and encouraging kids to make a difference—because they can! And all of this in a fun and entertaining way as the show emanates as a stunning and engaging musical eco-adventure with original tunes to sing and dance along to.” —Dorian Bühr, Head, Global Distribution Sales

Contact: Dorian Bühr.

Ziggy and the Zootram

Commissioner: VRT/Ketnet

Producer: Grid VFX

Distributor: ZDF Studios with worldwide rights.

Description: (3-6 friendship/adventure, 52x11 min.) Every afternoon when the zoo closes, Ziggy, the Australian freshwater crocodile, and his friends put on their clothes and get on the tram. It carries them across land and sea to their village on a remote island. The following morning, they gather at the tram station, greet each other and board the tram. But on every trip, something unexpected happens to turn the journey into a hilari ous adventure.

Pitch Perfect: “Ziggy and the Zootram, a 3D animated series for upper preschoolers, continues with a second season about a group of animals who live in a zoo and who have a special secret—they go home at night!” — Arne Lohmann, VP Junior

Sales Contacts: Katharina Pietzsch, Director Junior; Jan-Frederik Maul, Director Junior; Marei Bruckmann , Director Junior; Oliver Grundel , Director Junior.

In-Demand: Comedy

The Unstoppable Yellow Yeti

Commissioners: Disney Channel EMEA, Yle

Producers: Zodiak Kids & Family France, Gigglebug

Distributor: Zodiak Kids & Family Distribution

Description: (6+, 50x11 min & 11x2 min.)

Small-town life above the Arctic Circle snowballs out of control when an enormous, outrageous and unstoppable Yellow Yeti arrives in town and befriends two 12-yearold kids.

Pitch Perfect: “A visually strong, laugh-out-loud comedy for kids 6plus, tackling universal themes of friendship and kindness. Broadcasting on Disney Channel and Disney+ across EMEA now, audiences will fall in love with the wacky yeti Gustav, as he embarks on a series of absurd adventures with two local 12-year-olds, Rita and Osmo.” —Delphine Dumont, Chief Commercial Officer, Banijay Kids & Family Sales Contacts: Delphine Dumont; Cecile Cau, SVP, Sales, CoProductions & Acquisitions, Zodiak Kids & Family Distribution; Julia Rowlands, SVP, Sales, Co-Productions & Acquisitions, Zodiak Kids & Family Distribution.

Nature Cat

Producers: Spiffy Entertainment, Yowza! Animation

Distributor: PBS International

Description: (3-7, 20x30 min. & 2x55 min. specials) Fred is a house cat who dreams of exploring the outdoors. When his family leaves for the day, he transforms into Nature Cat, “backyard explorer extraordinaire!” There’s just one problem: he’s still a house cat with no instincts for nature! With help from his animal friends, Nature Cat investigates and explores nature while encouraging children ages 3 to 7 to get outside and understand the need for environmental conservation. It makes engaging, age-appropriate nature education a sustaining and enriching part of their daily lives.

Viewers will learn that to start, they just need to open the door, step out side and prime their senses.

Pitch Perfect: Nature Cat blends humor-filled adventures with timely themes such as climate and recycling. With a focus on natural sciences, the series is designed to encourage kids to explore and develop connec tions with the natural world.

Sales Contact: Jamie Shata , PBS International.

FOR KIDS!

Studios arrives in Cannes with a broad selection of shows to meet the needs of every buyer in the kids’ segment. Arne Lohmann, VP Junior, spotlights the company’s strong preschool slate, led by Grisù, about a plucky dragon who wants to be a fire fighter.

remake of the classic property

Lohmann says, also

revival

offer

a new generation of

from the company, Pettson and Findus . ZDF Studios has also strengthened its successful liveaction lineup for older kids. There’s Theodosia, targeting kids 10-plus, and a new season of #LikeMe , which will make its tween and teen viewers “laugh, cringe, smile, cry and sing along to catchy tunes at the same time,” Lohmann says.

As virtually every major kids’ content buyer chases that elu sive perfect 6 to 11 comedy, Odin’s Eye Animation is offering up The Beachbuds , about a group of exotic birds working at the Zoobak Resort. “We are confident that streamers, broadcasters and audiences alike will love The Beachbuds , a very funny, warmhearted, action-packed series from J-Toon Productions,” says Michael Favelle, CEO and founder.

CAKE, meanwhile, is showcasing its Angry Birds slate, encompassing such titles as Angry Birds Toons, Angry Birds Stella, Angry Birds MakerSpace and more. “We are excited to be offering Angry Birds short-form nondia logue content now in a compilation format of 11-minute or 22-minute episodes,” says CEO Ed Galton. “Fun for all ages, our latest compilations introduce a second season of Angry Birds MakerSpace (now in 3D) as well as the newest series, Angry Birds Slingshot Stories.”

Epic Story Media is also looking for laughs with its new preschool offer ing, Luna, Chip & Inkie: Adventure Rangers Go, a music-filled series for the

Odin’s Eye’s The Beachbuds

Animasia’s Dragon Force 3—Monsters Rise

CAKE’s Angry Birds

4-to-6 set. “Each episode con tains an original song written by award-winning composer Daniel Ingram,” says Jessica Labi, head of distribution and brand strategy. “It’s such a fun way to encourage kids to respect nature and explore the great outdoors!”

Animasia Studio has four highlights in the TV Kids Screenings Festival, including its hit non-dialogue slapstick comedy Harry & Bunnie and an action series for kids aged 6 to 11, Dragon Force 3—Monsters Rise . “Kids love dinosaurs and giant robots such as [those in] Transformers and Power Rangers ,” says Raye Lee, exec utive director. “ Dragon Force is a perfect blend: all these kidfavored epic elements with stories that also highlight universal values of friendship, self-reliance, sacrifice and true heroism.” Animasia is also highlighting the edutainment adventure Team Curios, which has been a hit in China, Lee says, and a series of educational music videos created by Adam Williams-Walters, English Tree TV , which has logged over 2.5 billion views and 2 million subscribers on YouTube alone.

WildBrain’s Summer Memories

Epic Story’s Luna, Chip & Inkie: Adventure Rangers Go

Education is also the focus at Bimi Boo Kids with its 52x5- minute preschool series, The Incredible Stories of Bimi Boo and Friends . “The series inspires one to believe in one self, to be unafraid of ventur ing out of one’s comfort zone to learn—what Bimi constantly does, pushing his friends into new adventures,” says Ani Poghosyan, COO and producer. “They learn by having constant fun. The series teaches about collaboration and compromise, and embracing differences. Good cartoons make you want to stay home; great cartoons inspire you to roam. We strive to create exactly that: a kind of series that would inspire kids to roam, play and learn.”

New from WildBrain is the ani mated comedy series Summer Memories , based on creator Adam Yaniv’s experiences growing up in Israel with his friends and family. “ Summer Memories is an amazing, creator-driven comedy series for 6- to 12-year-olds,” says Caroline Tyre, VP of global sales and rights strategy. “The 2D-animated show offers heart, authentic ity and laughs.”

ZDF Studios’ #LikeMe

Animasia’s Team Curios

Bimi Boo Kids’ The Incredible Stories of Bimi Boo and Friends

Bruce W. Smith

The comedy The Proud Family broke barriers when it debuted on Disney Channel back in 2001 as an animated sitcom that allowed Black families to see themselves authentically reflected on TV. Two decades later, Penny Proud and her beloved family are back in The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder , this time streaming on Disney+. The show continues to set precedents for how to present nuanced portrayals of Black family life and tackle pressing social issues in a way that is accessible to a broad audience. Bruce W. Smith, creator and executive producer of T he Proud Family and The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, tells TV Kids about infusing even more cultural relevance into the series.

TV KIDS: Why was now the right time to bring The Proud Family back?

SMITH: A good amount of time had passed [since the show had gone off-air]. In that period, a lot of things transpired. All of a sudden, there’s social media and a whole different attitude in terms of our culture. It felt like the right time. There was really nothing that followed [the show in a similar vein] in the wake of that time, so for us, it made sense to have our AfricanAmerican culture on display and in a celebrated way. It made sense for us to jump back into the zeitgeist.

TV KIDS: What are some of the evolutions to the series and modern updates in terms of storylines, with even more cultural relevance and social issues?

SMITH: That was the thing that I thought we did best the first time around. We had laughs, and we had some really great characters to have those laughs with, but we always centered it around cultural content. We were telling stories that mattered to us, and when it mattered to us as a people, the outreach went right into the mainstream. We knew that was the formula that worked best. This time, we talk about a lot of topical subject matter in the African-American community. We visit Suga Mama’s history. We do a deep dive into some of our characters that really had lots of dimensions that we didn’t get a chance to dive into the first time. With Michael, for example, we hinted the first time around that he was part of the LGBTQ community, and this time, we really leaned into it and brought other characters of that community into the show as well. Our show was laid out to include everyone fundamentally. That sense of inclusion is what we’re proud of most in this version of the show. We don’t necessarily have to skirt around and hide matters. We didn’t want one character to represent the fullest rainbow of the

By Kristin Brzoznowski

community. We brought in a few characters under that umbrella. We brought in a same-sex couple. You’ve got this nice diaspora of characters. We think that is one of the reasons why our show works so well. There’s no burden on one character to represent an entire community of people. There’s more than one voice that matters on our show. That’s one of the things we really wanted to update, to give you the truest sense of who our characters are.

TV KIDS: Tell us about the updated look and how it was achieved. SMITH: The first time around, we were really scrambling once we got the green light. We’d never seen a show like this, so we scrambled with not a lot of money to put something together that we thought at least set the table. We had something to go by when we reinvented the show this time. I’m an animator; that’s my natural artistic gift. I’m a real design freak as well. For a lot of the characterdesign aspects, I have a specific style and look that I want to go after. Then, I brought in an amazing art director, Eastwood Wong, who built the world around these characters. It has a really rich dimensional look, but it still is very 2D in its approach. It doesn’t look like a 3D Disney film, intentionally—2.5D is what we like to call it.

We played with a lot of things cinematically that we didn’t do the first time around. We added a nuanced approach to some of the acting, the timing and the comedy. There are a lot of ingredients that really make the show shine brightest. We have fun with a lot of characters, like Michael, for example, who’s played by EJ Johnson. There’s not one single episode where you see Michael wearing the same outfit. In most animated cartoons, all the characters wear the same thing. We made a joke about that with Penny, where she opens up her closet and sees all the same blouses and skirts. Michael’s

Created by Bruce W. Smith and Ralph Farquhar, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder has been renewed at Disney+.

fabulous, so we gave him the proper outfits every episode so Michael can be Michael. And we love that. My producers probably didn’t love it as much because we were busting the budget every time we went into the wardrobe closet on Michael, but we think it was worth it. Michael was a character that we thought really garnered and earned that attention and that approach.

TV KIDS: What was the journey of originally getting the show to air?

SMITH: If you’re thinking about the atmosphere in, let’s say, 1998, ’99, you had shows like The Simpsons, Family Guy, King of the Hill. I was just answering simple math: Well, we’re missing from this equation. It was like, let me create this family and all the ancillary parts around the family; that assembly of characters, specifically African American. Pitching it around town, I remember having the parts, and people liked the designs and liked the approach, but just weren’t ready. One specific executive who will go unnamed told me, “I love this art, I love the idea, I love the concept, but you might want to take it to BET or UPN. We don’t do that type of thing here.” And I thought, That’s weird. But that’s the answer I would expect going around town where, at the time, there weren’t a lot of artists of color represented in this business anyway.

It was a long shot to get this off the ground, and I knew that, so I was just having fun. I was working at [Walt Disney Animation Studios] at the time, so I was playing with house money, figuring out that I love the television medium and thought it was something I really wanted to be in. We had a 6-minute test that we made up. I got a call from an executive saying, Hey, what’s going on with that little Proud Family that you’re working on? And I said, We’re testing in different spots. And they said, If no one wants to do that project, bring it here. That’s how we got it off the ground.

TV KIDS: Do you think since that time that television, and in particular children’s television, has evolved in its portrayal of Black characters?

SMITH: We still haven’t seen much! The atmosphere is ready and ripe for any renditions of us to come on the screen. It’s certainly been my goal in this business for a long time to drop us into as many missing genres as possible. One of the reasons why we did the Western episode with Suga Mama is because you don’t see Black cowboys, and you certainly don’t see them on TV. But it’s a fact in history that there were absolutely Black cowboys. We can exist in lots of different genres in this medium. We position The Proud Family as not being a children’s show—it’s a family-viewing show. Therefore, we get to tell more honest and truthful stories and deal with content that matters to us as a people. In season two, we’re talking about a lot of things among these teen girls that you don’t see many live-action Black shows talk about. The first time they’re going to experience racism within their own crew. We’re going to talk about reparations. We’re going to get into Juneteenth. All these episodes are really important, and the subject is really important to us as a people. It’s the first time you’ll see an animated show handle such heavy content in a way that’s very believable.

TV KIDS: What does the show being on Disney+ versus Disney Channel offer in terms of freedom and flexibility?

SMITH: Disney+ allows us a wider format. When we were a Disney Channel show, we were more of a tween model. But we’ve aged the crew up two years. We’re now dealing with the truest form of teen issues. Penny is 14. We take you through those formidable years. There’s so much to chew on that we felt like that was the perfect age to take our kids to. The Disney+ platform allows us to really lean into those aspects of growing up that we think are important. We see our show of the 8 to 80 variety. And we have fun in that world. All the actors that come in, we ask them to remember and lean into those years of growing up, so you get authentic performances. Disney+ has been amazing in allowing us to do that and take the show through the lens of our culture.

The only video portal for the kids’ media industry.

Playground is Getting Bigger

Ricardo Seguin Guise

Publisher

Anna Carugati

Group Editorial Director

Mansha Daswani Editor

Kristin Brzoznowski Executive Editor

Jamie Stalcup Associate Editor

David Diehl

Production & Design Director

Simon Weaver Online Director

Dana Mattison Sales & Marketing Director

Genovick Acevedo Sales & Marketing Coordinator

Andrea Moreno Business Affairs Manager

Rights Exposure

CONTENTS

READY TO PLAY

Leading executives in the licensing and merchandising space discuss encouraging toy sales, the return of location-based experiences and the rise of the metaverse.

Ricardo Seguin Guise President

Anna Carugati Executive VP

Mansha Daswani

Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development

TV Kids

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www.tvkids.com

“The streamers are fantastic,” Caroline Tyre, VP of global sales and rights strategy at WildBrain, told delegates at the TV Kids Summer Festival this year. But, she cautioned, “you can’t necessarily launch toys off them.”

Indeed, the viewing model on SVOD—binge and repeat and then on to the next thing—makes building a brand a challenge. So does the dearth of available metrics from the SVOD services. “They don’t need to give us ratings because they aren’t presenting to advertisers like linear programmers are,” reports Jonathan Abraham, VP of sales and business development at Guru Studio. “When you go to retailers or even licensees, they want to know: what’s your stats, what’s your engagement, who’s watching, what is your rank?”

That dynamic is opening up new conversations among buyers and IP owners, according to Francesca Newington, director of POP Channels at Narrative Entertainment in the U.K. “We are aware that cross-pollination is really important when it comes to the brand getting as many eyeballs as it possibly can. If you’re going to launch a com mercial franchise, you want to be across as many plat forms as you can. It seems that it isn’t that detrimental to each platform that it is on—it seems to be successful for each one. So I think there’s quite a large conversation to be had around this.”

PEANUTS WORLDWIDE’S TIM ERICKSON

The executive VP of Peanuts Worldwide at WildBrain discusses what’s in store for the lead-up to the landmark 75th anniversary in 2025, taking a multigenerational approach to managing the brand and being a lifelong fan of Charles M. Schulz’s best-known creations.

—Mansha Daswani

While broadcasters, AVOD and SVOD platforms and rights owners hammer out the optimal ways to deliver broad exposure to shows, the good news is that the licensing and merchandising industry is in rather good health given the challenges of the pandemic and macroeconomic concerns. And new opportunities are emerging constantly, including in the metaverse. Mattel and Nickelodeon are among those betting big on vir tual experiences and NFTs—expect others to do the same, as we spotlight in our trend report in this edi tion. We also hear from Tim Erickson, who is oversee ing the beloved Peanuts brand at WildBrain, about how that classic Charles M. Schulz creation is being positioned in the marketplace today ahead of its land mark 75th anniversary in 2025.

SVOD is emerging as kids’ preferred destination for content in the U.S., according to a recent study from The NPD Group; of note, Netflix orig inals gained 7 share points in 2021 despite overall kids’ viewership slipping by 17 percent.

L A Y

Leading executives in the licensing and merchandising space discuss encouraging toy sales, the return of location-based experiences and the rise of the metaverse. By Chelsea Regan

A s attendees descend upon London for the 2022 edition of Brand Licensing Europe (BLE), they will do so amid an L&M market whose health is far better than the dual hurdles of a global pandemic and inflation would seem to allow.

“The L&M business is in a good place,” says Anna Knight, senior VP of licensing at Informa Markets, the organizer of BLE. “Licensing International’s global survey showed it is now valued at over £300 billion ($350 billion) for the very first time—and that’s following Covid-19 and hard times at retail.”

In the U.S., the toy industry has been proving its resilience despite an economic climate that seems poised to shake consumer confidence and spending patterns, with a 2 percent increase in sales to $11.4 billion for the first half of the year, according to The NPD Group. The encouraging spending growth in 2022 comes on the heels of record-breaking sales in 2021 and 2020, when U.S. toy industry sales were up by 20 percent and 18 percent, respectively.

“While the toy industry has pulled back to growth of 2 percent, this is remarkable as only 6 of the 14 industries that NPD tracks posted growth at all in the first half of 2022 following two years of extraordinary consumer spending,” said Juli Lennett, VP and industry advisor for NPD’s U.S. toy practice. “This speaks to the resiliency of the U.S. toy industry during these uncertain economic times.”

For ADK Emotions NY, Beyblade Burst has been a topperforming IP in the L&M business since it launched in the U.S. in 2016—and its toy sales have been consistently good. “Toys have always been our top-selling category,” says Alexis Wilcock, licensing manager at ADK. “Overall, we’ve launched over 80 SKUs for the brand and are continuing to expand our list of licensing partners worldwide.”

SHELF SPACE

Beyblade Burst, as an interactive toy brand, still benefits mightily from being a presence on the physical shelves of brick-and-mortar retailers. “The opportunity to be in-store with product has always been top of mind,” says Wilcock. “There is nothing quite like a kid pulling on their parent’s arm in the toy aisle, asking to expand their growing collection of Beys and showing up in person to battle in a tournament with their friends.”

Wilcock also notes the parallel need to have an e-commerce presence, mainly as Covid-19 accelerated shifts in buying patterns worldwide, as well as the value of having robust online spaces for fans to interact with each other and the Beyblade brand. “Our social media channels have become hubs for fans to geek out about their favorite Beys and replicate the same kind of word-of-mouth buzz we used to only see on the playground. We are focusing on executing more physical events now that the current climate has

Grisù, a new CGI series from Mondo TV Group, is bringing the beloved character back for a new generation of fans.

allowed us to, in addition to maintaining and expanding our digital presence so that fans can have multiple touch points with the brand,” adds Wilcock.

Jennifer Coleman, VP of licensing and marketing at Konami Cross Media NY, says that the L&M business for anime brands is “going gang-busters” and lists the company’s two strongest categories at the moment as collectibles and apparel. “We will continue to focus on those categories while we look for other avenues of growth in our category mix,” says Coleman, who notes

“Limited pop-up shops and fan conventions are retail options that have been very successful for us in the recent past, and we will continue to explore opportunities for sales growth there.”

For Konami’s Yu-Gi-Oh! business, brick-and-mortar remains key. “That is where the trading card game is sold and where our fans and players can interact and play with each other at Official Tournament Stores,” explains Coleman, noting the sense of community this fosters for its fans.

Mediatoon Licensing, which specializes in European comics and Japanese anime, manages the licensing and

“We will look for new ways to engage in an authentic way with fans.”

—Konami’s Jennifer Coleman

Konami’s commitment to growing its overall social media marketing strategy across its brands.

“We will look for new ways to engage in an authentic way with fans to keep them abreast of the latest products, events and happenings for our IPs,” she explains.

Not only is Konami expanding its e-commerce presence in its efforts to offer more inventory, styles and products to fans of its brands, but it’s also rolling out pop-up shops and other avenues for in-person buying. E-commerce “is crucial for the merchandising success of all of our IPs,” says Coleman.

merchandising rights of the Naruto franchise for Europe, Hunter x Hunter for EMEA, Lucky Luke for the world and an assortment of other Média-Participations Group brands. Jerome Leclercq, CEO of Mediatoon Licensing, also sees the benefits of dividing brand-building resources between instore and event retailing and online sales.

“Although e-commerce is growing, the majority of our merchandise sales are still in shops,” says Leclercq, noting IP-specific plans for pop-up stores in China and Europe.

“Moreover, we’re managing two e-shops: one entirely

dedicated to consumer products from French and Belgian comics in limited series and the other dedicated to both comics and merchandising.”

Leclercq adds, “We are fortunate to be part of a large publishing and entertainment group, which allows us to work in 360 degrees and activate all the leverages that brands need since our group includes a video game publisher, a streaming platform and a theme park. This year, we have a lot of events around the 20th anniversary of Naruto , notably a musical show that will tour in ten cities in France—and I hope in the rest of Europe next year.”

In terms of digital extensions, Mediatoon is trying to further grow its brands through its streaming and webtoon platforms, as well as via NFT projects, e-shops and its video game sister company, Microids. In the coming years, Leclercq believes that “metaverses and webtoons will bring out new brands very quickly.”

As David Kleeman, senior VP of global trends at research and strategy consultancy and digital studio Dubit, sees it, we are still in the very early stages of metaverses—so early that it almost eludes a clear definition. “You may have heard the expression that the future is here; it’s just not equally distributed,” says Kleeman. “Well, the metaverse is here, but it’s in pieces, and we need to put it together. The great thing about that is that we can envision the metaverse we want, not just take the one handed by the big companies or anyone like that. We can build a metaverse that is great for kids, building on the brand equity we as television executives have built over the years.”

DIGITAL WORLDS

“It lowers frustration barriers to people doing the things they want to do,” adds Kleeman. “You can be a gamer—you can play a game or make a game. You can tell stories. You can be part of somebody else’s stories. You can learn. You can teach.

shirt! Where’d you get that?’—digital collectibles will take on the same social clout.”

The company’s digital extensions include the mobile app games Beyblade Burst and Beyblade Burst Rivals , which have both seen significant engagement around the world.

“We think about these apps as creating another space for

“We are focusing on executing more physical events now that the current

ADK Emotions NY continues to expand the Beyblade franchise, which includes the series Beyblade Burst Rise

We mostly find people are using it right now for socializing, communicating and gameplay, and they’re becoming creators. Shopping is emerging in it. It’s more about brand awareness and affinity than about actual shopping.”

ADK’s Wilcock also sees the future potential of metaverses, particularly regarding the social aspect. “As we enter the age of the metaverse, the merchandise we bring into our digital lives becomes increasingly important,” she says. “Just as physical products allow fans of an IP to bond and connect in person—e.g.: ‘Hey, I love your Beyblade

fans to battle with one another, and they’ve allowed us to expand our reach to all corners of the globe,” says Wilcock.

W ilcock notes that despite the expansion in the digital dimension for brands, slowly emerging out of the worst of a global pandemic has meant that people are more eager than ever to connect in person once again. “Location-based experiences can feel like a balm to the years of isolation we’ve all experienced,” says Wilcock. “There’s nothing like a Beyblade fan being able to find and battle with other Beyblade fans at a con or tournament. Brands have an opportunity to

Brand-building initiatives for Sinking Ship’s Alma ’s Way have included a digital game that was launched with a live event in New York this past summer.

create spaces for connection and to attract new potential fans who don’t want to miss out on the fun via in-person and physical events. We are focusing on executing more physical events now that the current climate has allowed us to, in addition to maintaining and expanding our digital presence so that fans can have multiple touch points with the brand.”

Alma’s Way , a preschool series made by Fred Rogers Productions for PBS KIDS and sold by Sinking Ship Entertainment, held an event to celebrate the launch of its new digital game, The Alma Train , at New York City’s Grand Central Station last month. The Alma Train Party

In the global content industry, there remains an ongoing debate about the value and demand of known IP versus original ideas—and the same goes for the licensing and merchandising industry. A new property that aims to break through in the L&M space is Zoonicorn , for which Toonz Media Group has signed licensing agreements with E Graphic Design and SRM Entertainment. E Graphic Design will produce custom-designed wallpaper, wall decals, acrylic frames and PVC for the preschool brand that will be available on the company’s website this fall. A division of Jupiter Wellness, SRM Entertainment will use Zoonicorn

Licensing’s

at Grand Central Station featured activities and stations from renowned institutes from the Bronx, Alma’s hometown, including The Bronx Children’s Museum, The Bronx Zoo and The Bronx River Alliance, and the New York Public Library.

The interactive event enabled the brand’s young fans to take photos with the Alma costume character, play the new The Alma Train digital game, meet real female MTA subway conductors, learn traditional Puerto Rican Bomba dancing and more.

Leclercq

with its proprietary Sip With Me children’s cup line of products and dinnerware that is slated to launch at retailers next spring.

The CGI series, which follows zebra and unicorn hybrids that enter the dreams of young animals to take them on adventures to learn social-emotional skills, has premiered on NBCUniversal’s Peacock in the U.S. and is debuting around the world on additional platforms such as Kidoodle.TV (U.S.), Astro (Malaysia), Truecorp (Thailand), La Teletuya (Venezuela) and Viu (Hong Kong).

“Although e-commerce is growing, the majority of our merchandise sales are still in shops. ”

Among the properties in Mondo TV’s portfolio with significant brand potential are MeteoHeroes and Grisù. The former, which follows six super-powered kids on environmentally minded adventures, already has inspired its own video game in MeteoHeroes—Saving Planet Earth! A co-production between Sony Interactive Entertainment España (SIE España), development partner Gammera Nest and Mondo TV Studios, it invites children of all ages to help save the Earth in an action platform game that sees players find hidden items on the screen as they try to protect the world from pollution and decay.

Grisù, set to debut in the fall of 2023, centers on a young dragon aspiring to become a firefighter. It’s a property for which Mondo sees great potential in the L&M space. In Italy, the licensing program already has partners in the publishing category that will deliver books, activity books, coloring books and sticker albums to the market.

CHASING BUZZ

Konami’s Coleman believes categories can set a property apart, whether a known IP or a newcomer. “In my experience, I don’t believe that [the market] is skewed to known brands as much as I think it is skewed to categories,” she says. “What category your IP falls into is critical for success when under consideration by a licensee or a retailer. There needs to be buzz for the brand happening on social media to help an IP cut through and [find] the right demographic appeal. Everyone is about Gen Z now and how to be seen by that demo.”

The ability of a new IP to cut through in the kids’ space comes down to the quality of its storylines, visuals, play patterns, world-building and fandom, according to ADK’s Wilcock. “To push past the point of just watching a show to

Leclercq expresses optimism about the potential in lessestablished IP while noting that the path to profitability can be more challenging. “There are opportunities for niche IPs, even if the market is tilted in favor of well-known and evergreen brands,” he says. “To launch a new IP, you need qualitative

Toonz Media Group has inked a range of licensing agreements for the brand-new property Zoonicorn

wanting to buy merchandise for it, you need to have a specific hook,” she says. “Brands that are inherently collectible also have a huge advantage because they create a reason for buyers to keep coming back.”

She adds, “In our case, kids want to replicate what they’re seeing in the content they’re consuming—whether that be battling as they see in Beyblade Burst QuadDrive, connecting to the characters in the show by wearing them on their apparel or back-to-school gear or building their collections of Beys, stadiums and launchers.”

content, time, maximum visibility on networks, media in several territories at the same time, a lot of work and luck.”

There will be challenges ahead in the L&M market, notably disruption to the supply chain, increasing energy costs and sustainability, according to Informa Market’s Knight, but there’s every reason to believe the industry will find a way to solve for them. “We have already seen the industry step up and make a difference when it comes to sustainability and have witnessed innovation—particularly within the apparel and toy sectors—in relation to product design and manufacturing.”

“We have already seen the industry step up and make a difference when it comes to sustainability .”

TV KIDS: What most attracted you to taking on oversight of this beloved brand at WildBrain?

ERICKSON: It was a big decision. I see it as an incredible responsibility to the fans and the legacy of Charles M. Schulz. There’s a lot to live up to. I’m a passionate fan. The business has been thriving for years. We’re in our 73rd year. It was really about what’s next for Peanuts. How do we continue to engage fans as we have in a world that’s changing? The origins are from the news paper. While we still are in syndication around the world, having the comics reprinted, how do we show up on some of these new platforms? Short-form content? YouTube? How do we leverage all the great Apple TV+ content across all these other platforms? How do we bring new fans around the world into the fold? How do we bring new kids into the fold? It’s been interesting to understand how fans worldwide have come to know and love Peanuts. The journey is different depending on where you are in the world. In the U.S., it came to me through a series of different formats—every Sunday, reading the comic strip, and the seasonal specials were a family ritual for us. It was also through products. I still have a grudge—my cousin had the Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine, and I was not getting one. It’s a deep connec tion, as you can see! We look to markets that are signifi cant in size for us from a fandom perspective but still

Tim Erickson

Peanuts Worldwide

By Mansha Daswani

n 1950, a small number of U.S. newspapers introduced a new comic strip from Charles M. Schulz about a circle of young kids, led by the self-deprecating Charlie Brown, and their trusted beagle friend Snoopy. Over the years, through thousands of syndicated comic strips and a raft of beloved seasonal specials, the Peanuts gang has earned the loyalty of millions of fans across the globe. And new ones are being added every day thanks to a range of initiatives from Peanuts Worldwide, the venture owned by WildBrain, Sony Music Entertainment and Schulz’s family. As the executive VP of the Peanuts Worldwide brand at WildBrain, Tim Erickson is tasked with overseeing this enduring property, including the new shows on Apple TV+, the Take Care with Peanuts initiative and retail partnerships across the globe. Erickson speaks to TV Kids about the lead-up to Peanuts’ 75th anniversary in 2025, taking a multigenerational approach to managing the brand and being a lifelong fan of Schulz’s best-known creations.

have a lot of room for growth and opportunity—places like China, where people are coming to know Peanuts in a completely different way.

TV KIDS: Tell us about working with the Schulz family and WildBrain’s L&M and content-development teams to ensure you’re all on the same page about how Peanuts is positioned.

ERICKSON: Everybody wants to deliver the best experi ence for our fans and to live up to the legacy. We all have the same goal. Then it becomes about the approach. It’s having conversations about the businesses we should be in and the types of stories we’re telling. Much of that has already been figured out, so it’s ampli fying key stories Charles Schulz told through the strips. There are almost 18,000 strips. The timeless stories told over all those decades amaze me. So many can be retold

The Snoopy Show is part of WildBrain’s deal with Apple TV+ for new Peanuts content.

in a different format. Snoopy in Space is such an authentic relationship that dates back to the early ’60s with the Apollo program. It’s just as relevant today as it was then. Everybody involved with Peanuts is focused on quality first. If it’s not going to live up to an appropri ate quality, we don’t want to do it. There are construc tive conversations around the approach. Through the lens of Snoopy’s imagination, would he have thought this versus that? What would Charles Schulz do? You have to try to do your best to interpret. We’re fortunate that both Jean [Schulz’s widow] and Craig [his son] are involved with our business. And then there’s a lot of training that goes on. Every day I learn many new things. The teams are hungry to learn, whether it be at Peanuts Worldwide, the WildBrain team working on content, or Creative Associates [Schulz’s studio] in Santa Rosa. Everybody’s eager to learn and say, what is the most authentic way to tell this story?

TV KIDS: What’s been the L&M approach for all the great new content on Apple TV+?

ERICKSON: Some elements celebrate the content you see on Apple TV+, like The Snoopy Show . There’s a look and feel to that. There’s been an evolution of our character design over the years. Whether it’s through consumer products or experiences or content, it needs to be consistent. The Snoopy Show looks different than the original comic strip. So if we’re doing some thing that celebrates the original comic strip, it will be all about that. Signage and marketing will be consis tent. Then if we’re doing something around The Snoopy Show, and let’s say it’s very kid-targeted, it will look to that with a level of consistency. We have spe cific style guides and guidelines to ensure that we get that level of consistency.

TV KIDS: How are you maintaining that multigenera tional appeal the brand is known for?

ERICKSON: First, we answer a few questions: Should we be in a specific business, and who should we target? Who is making the purchasing decision? What is the

aesthetic? What is the storytelling we want to make sure that we’re driving? It’s different for preschool- or kid-targeted programs. As you get into the kids’ space, you start to see psychographics have a huge impact on the direction. For example, if you’re a gamer, there are some similarities within that community. How do we apply our approach to specific interests and ensure we have opportunities inclusive of all of our fans? In many cases, we’ll do things that appeal to an entire family. We spend a lot of time creating those strategies. Hear ing back from our fans is critical. And seeing what sells and what doesn’t sell. You learn quickly what your fans like and don’t like.

TV KIDS: The 75th anniversary is coming up in 2025. Can you tease any of the plans for that milestone?

ERICKSON: It will be a celebration of the rich heritage and legacy. We’re still pulling together those plans, but it will go across every aspect of how fans engage with us. So everything from experiences to products to con tent, marketing, you name it. It’s an opportunity for fans to celebrate what they love about Peanuts. We want to ensure that our approach encompasses all those reasons to engage. It’s still early days.

TV KIDS: What are you hearing from the parents and caregivers of the new fans whose first exposure to Peanuts has been through the Apple TV+ content? What are they responding to?

ERICKSON: Number one, quality storytelling. There are a lot of timeless themes that have always been in Peanuts’ storytelling. We provide inclusive content for everybody to celebrate and enjoy. Space explo ration resonates with people. And providing family time. We’ve seen that from the beginning with our holiday specials. We’re still seeing that. We have shows primarily targeted toward kids, though fans of all ages are watching. Then we have other specials that we regularly drop on Apple TV+ that are created for fans of all ages and a great opportunity for fami lies to come together.