TV Kids NATPE 2013

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NATPE & INTERNATIONAL EMMY KIDS AWARDS EDITION

Top Programmers Reveal Their Strategies for 2013 www.tvkids.ws

THE MAGAZINE OF CHILDREN’S PROGRAMMING JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013

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Portfolio Entertainment www.portfolioentertainment.com • Doki • The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!

• The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About Christmas!

IN THIS ISSUE Race to the Top Executives from Disney, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, CBeebies and KidsCo discuss their strategies for success 8

Interview Cyber Group’s Pierre Sissmann

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Ricardo Seguin Guise

Publisher

Anna Carugati

Editor

Mansha Daswani

Executive Editor Kristin Brzoznowski

Managing Editor Joanna Padovano

Associate Editor

While the 26x30-minute preschool series Doki is brand-new to the market, its central character has been around for some time. Doki was first introduced to Latin American audiences as the official animated host of Discovery Kids and has developed a devoted following from appearing in interstitials on the preschool channel. Doki already has an extensive licensing program built around him, including categories such as toys, games, apparel, publishing and stationery. Portfolio Entertainment is now ready to launch the series to the global marketplace.

Portfolio is also keen to showcase The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! and The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About Christmas! “The Cat in the Hat is a classic property and our new seasonal special rated fantastically well over the 2012 holiday period in North America, which will add to its enduring appeal,” says Joy Rosen, Portfolio’s co-founder and president. “Each of these properties has been produced inhouse and are projects that we have developed and nurtured through the development and production process.”

“ Already a popular

mascot in Latin America, we believe Doki ’s fresh style will make it a global hit.

”

—Joy Rosen

Doki

Simon Weaver

Online Director Phyllis Q. Busell

Art Director Cesar Suero

Sales & Marketing Director Vanessa Brand

Sales & Marketing Manager

Toon Goggles www.toongoggles.com

Terry Acunzo

Business Affairs Manager

Ricardo Seguin Guise

President

Anna Carugati

Executive VP & Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani

Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development TV Kids © 2013 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website:

www.tvkids.ws

An online destination for children’s entertainment,Toon Goggles launched its subscriber-based service early last September. It continues, however, to provide an option to view up to three episodes from the platform’s library of diverse content for free along with providing access to all educational programming at no cost. Last year, the company expanded the availability of its unique children’s entertainment platform by signing with blue-chip partners that included Sony, through which it launched a new exclusive app for all of Sony’s Xperia smartphones.This is the second time that Toon Goggles has partnered with Sony. Earlier in the year, the two companies had launched a new exclusive app for Sony Xperia S and Sony Tablet P. The Toon Goggles iOS app is available for download in the iTunes App Store and for Android in the Google Play Store. And,Toon Goggles became available to download for free in the KIDO’Z App Store.The app includes hundreds of videos that have been divided into six categories: girl, boy, comedy, action, preschool and educational.

News from the kids’ business, in your inbox every day For a free subscription, visit tvkids.ws/pages/newsletter

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DreamWorks Classics’ Dragons: Riders of Berk on Cartoon Network.

Race to the

Top

The leading children’s channels are using a mix of originals and acquisitions in the fierce battle to be number one among kids.

By Bill Dunlap

T

he battle for the hearts and minds of kids in the U.S. and around the world has been dominated for years by three major players (no spoiler alert needed): Cartoon Network, Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. All three can claim to be number one in one way or another, but in the last year the race for a (probably unattainable) absolute number one is closer than ever.

In the U.S., Nickelodeon lost its longtime ratings lead in total day viewers 2 and older in the fourth quarter of 2011, and that slippage was a factor in lower revenues last year for its parent company,Viacom. Nick’s slide has been, primarily, Disney’s gain. “We’ve had an unbelievable year on Disney Channel,” says Paul DeBenedittis, the senior VP of programming strategy at Disney Channels Worldwide. “Early on [in 2011] we started to catch up with and beat Nickelodeon, which we have continued to do throughout the year. Now we’ve become number one in the marketplace.”

Cartoon Network claimed a ratings lead in a number of boys’ demographics in the third quarter last year and said the quarter was the best in six years for total day viewing in key kids’ and boys’ demos.

But Nick isn’t standing pat.Viacom’s president and CEO, Philippe Dauman, told the 21st Annual Goldman Sachs 74

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Communacopia Conference in September that an increase in program development and production was part of the company’s effort to get the kids’ channel back on track and turn domestic ad-sales growth positive.

And Jules Borkent, the senior VP of global acquisitions and international programming for Nickelodeon, says it’s important to differentiate between Nick’s U.S. and international performance. “Nick’s ratings in the U.S. are improving, with some strong numbers to date,” he says. “Outside the U.S., ratings across the international portfolio are currently up 5 percent, year to year.”

Whichever network emerges with bragging rights to the position of U.S. or world number one, the big three clearly dominate the children’s television business with programming strategies that are more similar than different.They operate multiple channels for different segments of the audience, rely heavily on original programming from their home offices and international channels, mix animation and live action, acquire and coproduce shows to fill out their schedules and use digital platforms to reach kids wherever they may be.

As the name suggests, Cartoon Network was built on animation, and at age 20 it continues to rely heavily on cartoons, 1/13

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with more animation and more characters—it says 2,000plus—than anyone else, a cartoon library of more than 14,000 Warner Bros., MGM, Hanna-Barbera and Cartoon Network original series and shorts.

IRREVERENT FUN

Put out the call: Through a deal with rights-holder DHX Media, Rastamouse airs on CBeebies feeds around the world.

“It all starts with our brand vision and content strategy,” says Stuart Snyder, the president and COO of Turner Broadcasting’s animation, young adults’ and kids’ media division. “We want to entertain our audience with funny and unique content that can only be seen on our network. We lead with great animation, but we also provide a complete platform in terms of a broad content slate that includes live action and special events. Animation or live action, our audience target is boys, but we do it in a way that also invites girls in.”

Two recent live-action series are Level Up, an ensemble comedy that mixes high schoolers and video-game characters, and the sketch comedy Incredible Crew, created by Nick Cannon.

“Those series build on the live-action successes we’ve already had with Destroy Build Destroy; Dude,What Would Hap-

pen; and Hole in the Wall,” Snyder says. “The foundation is comedy for today’s generation of kids.

“Animation has always been our core strength. Now, we’ve found the new creative talent for this generation.They’re creating new, funny animation in shows like Adventure Time, from Pen Ward, [and] Regular Show, from J. G. Quintel, that just build on the foundation of what we’ve done in the past.”

Coming up in February is the network’s third annual Hall of Game Awards, a sports awards show done from a kids’ perspective, hosted by Shaquille O’Neal and Nick Cannon.

“We’re all about finding that next generation of great creative talent, giving them the environment to do their best, and then using the Cartoon Network platform to make hits,” Snyder says.

“This is a common thread around the world. Adventure Time and Regular Show are shows that work globally. Ben 10 is our largest global franchise. We are currently in 194 countries, 375 million homes in 26 languages. Ben 10 has done more than $3 billion in consumer products. The Amazing World of Gumball is a major global franchise, created by our Cartoon Network Europe Studios. It is not only a hit in all our territories, but on November 25, Gumball won its second straight BAFTA for best animated series for kids.”

While much of Cartoon’s schedule is developed and produced at Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank and Europe, the network also acquires and co-produces series.

“We have a simple philosophy: best show wins,” Snyder says. “We invite pitches from everyone. We’ve done more with Warner Bros. Animation in the last few years than in recent history. We have The Looney Tunes Show; Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated; the new MAD show; and we launched DC Nation, a group of shows and shorts based on DC Comics, last March.”

Acquisitions include Johnny Test from Cookie Jar and Total Drama Island from CAKE. Partners include LEGO for Ninjago, George Lucas for Star Wars:The Clone Wars and DreamWorks Animation for Dragons: Riders of Berk.

“We pair our originals with acquired product,” Snyder says. “We look for shows that fit our brand and our audience. Clone Wars and Dragons are both based on big global franchises with boy appeal, great animation, multigenerational appeal.”

Cartoon Network is aimed at kids 6 to 14, with boys 6 to 11 as the “sweet spot,” according to Snyder.

DISNEY’S DNA

DeBenedittis, whose duties include overseeing the Disney Channels Worldwide programming strategy team, describes that role: “From a programming strategy point of view, we have a U.S. strategy, but we also have a global strategy, and my job is to connect with all the programmers around the globe to fully understand how our content is being distributed, how we’re connecting to our audiences, how we’re building our portfolio, how we’re sharing best practices, because at the end of the day our goal is all the same. Our job is to grow and make our Disney Channels profitable.”

A key factor in reaching that goal is the Disney brand, probably the best known in family entertainment. “Everything we do comes with Disney’s core values,” DeBenedittis says, “and it’s all about relevancy to kids, great storytelling, content that feels especially made for them that they can find nowhere else. It’s about a celebration of kids, about 76

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The cool kids: Following the European success of Studio 100’s House of Anubis, an English-language version was produced for Nickelodeon in the U.S.

them believing in themselves. It’s about their family. We make sure that that’s always what we focus on.”

DeBenedittis says the three Disney networks—Disney Channel, Disney XD (primarily for boys) and Disney Junior—rely more on original, wholly owned programming than Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network do, and that a large percentage of the content that airs internationally is from the U.S. “Other territories have to rely on some level of localization; they need to be locally relevant in their markets,” he continues. “Whether it’s the content or the strategy they’re utilizing, it’s all the same. It’s about sharing that.”

LEARNING TO SHARE

The channels under Disney Channels Worldwide management are in 167 countries in 35 languages. In addition to its formidable U.S. production capability, Disney reaches out to its overseas channels. “A great example is on XD, an animated series called Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja, that is now a global property.”

Randy Cunningham is a Disney Europe commission from the Dublin-based Boulder Media (co-producer of The Amazing World of Gumball) and Titmouse in the U.S. It premiered in September.

“Latin America developed a tween telenovela called Violetta. That is a great example of a local market developing a property to service the Latin American region that ultimately is being utilized in many markets across Europe, in Russia, and that we will explore at some point for the U.S.” Violetta, a co-production of Disney Channels in Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Pol-ka Producciones in Buenos Aires, premiered in May. Going the other way is the Disney original Good Luck Charlie, which in 2011 spun off a format on Disney Channel India called Best of Luck Nikki.“We used the scripts, the shared knowledge of how it works in the U.S. from a production standpoint, the marketing and scheduling points of view and applied all of that shared learning and best practices,” DeBenedittis says.

“Each of our platforms is different.We don’t rely on any one series.We have something like eight hit series that are all deliv78

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ering and connecting with our audience, with characters they love and talent they [can relate to]. We just launched Sofia the First, first as a movie,” with a series that followed this year.

The November U.S. launch of Sofia, an animated fairy tale about a little girl who becomes a princess, delivered 5.2 million total viewers on Disney Channel, making it the number one cable telecast of 2012 among kids 2 to 5 and girls 2 to 5, the company reported. The movie and series will roll out internationally this year on Disney Channels and Disney Junior channels.

An important new addition on Disney XD last year was the Marvel Universe block, which comes out of Disney’s 2009 acquisition of Marvel. The block features Ultimate SpiderMan and The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Marvel’s Avengers Assemble and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. launch this summer. “Marvel Universe is an example of putting the assets together in one place and giving it the presence, the priority, offering the viewer a little more if you’re a Marvel fan, or an animation fan, or superheroes fan,” DeBenedittis says. “It’s a good fit on XD.” In the works for this summer is a crossover special that combines the popular characters of Phineas and Ferb and Marvel Universe characters, including Spider-Man and the Avengers.

There isn’t a set formula that DeBenedittis can point to in the development process, other than adhering to the Disney brand.

“We’re always being true to what our voice is, and the Disney relevance,” he says. “We’re always looking to reflect our audience with a level of diversity of look, talent, background and style.

We’re always looking to evolve and do something new that will inspire our audience.”

Disney upgraded its online presence last year with the launch of Watch apps for all three networks. The three apps make full episodes of popular shows available on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch and online.“Digital is an integrated component in what we do,” he says.“It’s not an afterthought. It’s very much front and center, part of our über-strategy in the U.S. and globally.”

NICK’S PICKS

Nickelodeon’s longtime success was built on using comedy to appeal to both boys and girls with series like SpongeBob SquarePants and iCarly.

“Nick is, and has always been, one of the most gender-neutral networks out there,” says Borkent, who acquires content for the Nickelodeon brands around the world—Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. and Nicktoons. “Our goal is to create a balance across our offerings, appealing to both boys and girls.We relaunched the Winx franchise and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the U.S. and internationally in 2012. We are always true to the fact that we want to be there for everybody, which has always given us competitive differentiation globally.”

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Royal treatment: Disney introduced its newest princess with a TV movie and followed it up with a full series, Sofia the First.

Following a successful launch last fall, Nick ordered 26 additional episodes of Turtles, which will air this year. “Turtles is our biggest new IP launch in years and a game-changer for our international business,” Borkent says. Reacting to its slippage in U.S. ratings last year, Nickelodeon put greater effort into development, creating what Viacom’s Dauman called an “avalanche” of new programming.

Borkent says Nickelodeon is debuting 650 new episodes of original programming for the current broadcast season, as well as launching a programming slate of 14 new series, TV movies and pilots, including both live action and animation.

“We have a very strong U.S. content pipeline, which is then complemented by our regional networks that are doing local productions,” he continues.“For example, in northern Europe, we launched a brand-new show called Hotel 13. We’re looking at what has been done in our regions and seeing if some of that content can translate. We’ve had great success with House of Anubis, which originated in the Netherlands, came to Germany, and then we created an English version of it in the U.K. which is airing widely, including on Nickelodeon U.S.” Hotel 13

is co-produced with the Belgium-based Studio 100, Nick’s partner in House of Anubis.

“We have a truly global organization where our content can come from anywhere,” Borkent continues. “We’re opening the net really wide with pilots from different creators, people we haven’t necessarily worked with in the past.”

MOVING TO THE BEAT

The balance between live action and animation is pretty much even, except in the preschool market, Borkent says. Several of the live-action shows, like Victorious and Big Time Rush, are music-oriented, a trend that Borkent sees broadening. “A lot of those shows have something else as well.They’re not just music shows.They’re very much grounded in comedy.There’s a lot of different content out there in the market right now, slightly more adventure-driven, live-action shows, drama. The amount and variety of content out there now has definitely grown.”

When Borkent acquires programming, especially if it seems to have multi-territory appeal, he likes to come into the development process early on.

“What we often do...is come in early, work with them on the show while it’s still in development. It is an acquisition, but it’s also a partnership.

You can work with a creator on getting a show that really fits your network. We take a market-by-market approach at times as well. We do a number of global acquisitions each year, but there is still a place for specific acquisitions for individual markets.”

INDEPENDENT SPIRIT

Besides the big three, there are two niche players in the international kids’ business who believe there is room for them, too.

The BBC’s CBeebies channel for preschoolers takes a somewhat different tack from most broadcasters, appealing to the very young. While most preschool channels rely almost totally on animation, Henrietta Hurford-Jones, the director for investment for CBeebies at BBC Worldwide, says younger children also have a great love for live action.

“They love to see their peers on screen,” says Hurford-Jones. “In preschool we’re relatively unusual in doing that. We have a balance of live action and animation. We felt there was room for that.”

CBeebies relies on the BBC’s public-service brand in the U.K. and the mix of programming to appeal to parents.

“We know the 3-to-6 age group is a big spread in the sense of how quickly children develop during those years,” Hurford-Jones says. “We do cater to the older and 80

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around. Disney Junior is tending to move to the 5- to 7-yearolds, now that it is focusing on storytelling. We don’t have aspirations to suddenly top a 30-year-old brand like Disney Channel. We’re not in it to fight with those people who do what they do very well. We want to bring this particular proposition out into the world where we think there is a place for us.”

IN THE COMPANY OF KIDS

Kids at play: KidsCo, which unveiled a new look this year, scored the global rights for My Place from the Australian Children’s Television Foundation.

younger sides of it.We have different segments and all of them encourage activity outside of television and digital on screen.

We have shows like Andy’s Wild Adventures, which uses a liveaction host [Andy Day], who is very popular in the U.K., exploring the world of animals and natural history using greenscreen technology and footage from the natural-history unit.”

CBeebies was launched in the U.K. in 2002 and internationally in 2007. It is broadcast in seven languages and uses local presenters for its live-action shows in Africa, Poland, the Americas, Asia and Australia.

“Local presenters make it feel very local for the kids,” HurfordJones says. “Historically, live-action children’s shows don’t travel well, but I think in the preschool genre they do.”

CBeebies also has a slate of animation coming out this year.

The channel began with acquisitions and currently commissions or co-produces about 30 percent of its schedule.

Hurford-Jones emphasizes that the channel is still a new player internationally. “We’re very aware that we need to grow our audience and our distribution, but in those territories where we do get ratings and we have been around for a few years, we’re beginning to get some amazing feedback, particularly for the parental approval and loyalty to the channel,” she says. “Once people discover it, they tend to stick 82

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The London-based KidsCo, which launched in 2007, also sees an underserved segment of the international kids’ market that it can reach. “There are niches out there that can be addressed,” says Hendrik McDermott, managing director. “We have a couple of things we do specifically to target niches. The first is that we’re in that 6-to-10 age range, which I think is underserved internationally. People tend to focus more on preschool or a little older. The second, something that resonates with all our affiliates, is that we try to be very safe and nonviolent. That means parents and affiliates can trust us. That underpins everything we do.

In those niches we can compete and challenge.”

McDermott sees KidsCo as still in startup mode. “We’ve had success over the last four years signing up distribution.

We have quite a lot of small and midsize platforms. We’ve done a better job with those platforms than our competitors. As we grow with those key clients, that’s how we start being able to challenge the larger channels. We’ll only be accepted on those affiliates when we’ve managed to entrench ourselves in the market and slowly acquire programming. It’s not something you can do on day one unless you have a massive investment.”

The channel reaches 15 million subscribers in 18 languages across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Middle East. It is currently a noncommercial, subscription ser vice, though McDermott says KidsCo may eventually transform into sponsorship support or commercial status, based on individual market circumstances. In May 2012, NBCUniversal International acquired a controlling 51-percent stake in KidsCo. The other shareholder is Canada’s Corus Entertainment.

“Most of our programming is acquired from a diverse group of studios around the world,” McDermott says. “We have a variety of animation formats and live action. We do commission original programming. It’s something we’re moving into more. We signed a deal with Matchbox Pictures in Australia for original programs.”

In the future, KidsCo will look increasingly to its equity partners NBCUniversal and Nelvana for development, according to McDermott. It is also looking to expand its reach. “We do the best in Eastern Europe and Asia, in terms of penetration,” he says. “We do very well in countries where others haven’t.This is where our strategy of going with smaller affiliates and eventually clinching some of the bigger ones has paid off. Turkey is a good example, where we have near perfect penetration. We also do well in Romania and Hungary.

Asia is one of those markets where there has not been enough consolidation of platforms yet, so there are plenty of platforms if you have the bandwidth to get to them, so we continue to grow naturally and relatively quickly in Asia.”

Most important for all these children’s channels is fun, engaging programming that will entertain young viewers and keep them coming back for more.

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SISSMANN: We look for shows that, like our own, have uni-

versal appeal. We don’t want to take on shows that are good for just a couple of markets. That happens; producers make great shows that can sell in just two or three countries but not more. It doesn’t mean that you only take on big brands, because you certainly can take on a totally new concept and suddenly, boom, it explodes all over the world.

We also look at complementarity. For example, we already have the penguin show Ozie Boo! That means that we’re not going to pick up another show with a penguin, or one that has the same message of learning to live together.When we picked up Cloud Bread, we felt that the paper-cut style of 2D animation was fantastic; it was a totally different style of animation from what we were doing.When we chose Animalia two and a half years ago, we had no CGI shows for the kids’ demographic on our roster. Animalia was based on a great book property, so we picked it up and we’re still selling and reselling it all over the world.

TV KIDS: How have you been extending your brands in the

digital arena?

SISSMANN: A few years ago, we started with Ozie Boo! web-

Cyber Group Studios’

Pierre Sissmann

By Kristin Brzoznowski

Delivering shows with a unique visual style has long been a hallmark of Cyber Group Studios, and it has done so successfully for more than five years. Always on the cutting edge of technology, the French producer-distributor has built a catalogue that covers all animation styles and runs the gamut of target demographics. The company is now focusing on making these properties available across numerous platforms and devices. Pierre Sissmann, the chairman and CEO of Cyber Group, talks to TV Kids about the passion for technology and content creation that is driving the company’s growth.

TV KIDS: What is the signature of a Cyber Group production?

SISSMANN: A global appeal. Eighty-five percent of our rev-

enues are international—they come from outside of France.

That’s a unique characteristic for a company.This means that our shows, by their very essence, have a universal appeal.

Also, our preschool and upper-preschool shows offer strong emotional [connections] and core values.We spend a lot of time developing characters that children form an instant bond with; there is an emotional tie between them and the audience. All of our preschool and upper-preschool shows have stories that focus on a set of values. It is entertainment, but there’s always a message to it. Ozie Boo! teaches children how to live together. Tales of Tatonka is about discovering the world around you. Zou is about living in a family and interpersonal relationships. Mademoiselle Zazie is about the modern family, diversity and ethnicity.

TV KIDS: What qualities do you look for when acquiring a third-party property?

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sites.There was no market, though, so we retreated completely.We took a step back for a couple of years, because we were busy growing the company with our productions as well as our studio, and we wanted to really look at the market. It was not, and still is not, very mature.The U.S. is more advanced, but in Europe a lot of people are still wondering how to make money with apps [and other digital extensions].

We decided early last year to take another look at the market and really be serious about it.We [researched] what had already been done. Then, in partnership with the French company 3DDUO, a prime producer of apps, we moved forward. Just before Christmas we released an e-book for Zou.We now plan to release a number of e-books, games and apps for Zou, Tatonka and Ozie Boo! We did not want to just do a French e-book or an English e-book, we wanted to be able to do them in Italian, Spanish, to have the apps everywhere, and so on.We worked on a plan and decided to release apps in batches of five languages.We are working on the first five languages, and by this time next year I hope we will be in 10 or 15 languages.

TV KIDS: What are the plans for bringing the Zorro brand to the market?

SISSMANN: We acquired the rights from Zorro Productions, Inc. (ZPI), to do a television series called The Chronicles of Zorro.

The plan is to bring Zorro back as a franchise for the 8- to 12year-old and family targets.The series will be an action comedy, done in CGI, and eventually in 3D, with a touch of ethnicity and a lot of diversity.We’re going back to the origins, back to the original books of Johnston McCulley.We are introducing new characters, with the approval of ZPI. It will be a young Zorro; in the show he is 19 years old and has a twin sister.

Zorro is such an iconic [character] that we cannot afford to get it wrong or have bad animation or bad scripts. So, we are bringing in top animators and top writers to work on it.We have invested a lot in the technology, because we want the CGI series to look like it is actually a live-action feature film.

France Télévisions has signed on and hopefully the first episodes will be on the air by December 2014.We have already received a lot of interest from many major broadcasters.

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