MIPJunior & MIPCOM: The Week in Kids

TV Kids takes a look at the activities in the children’s programming sector from the recent MIPJunior and MIPCOM.

The weekend before the official MIPCOM kickoff, MIPJunior welcomed 590 buyers among its 1,400 delegates. The first day of the event saw a packed keynote address from Stephen Davis, the chief content officer and executive VP of Hasbro and president of Hasbro Studios, who was in conversation with World Screen’s Anna Carugati.

The Saturday lineup also included the MIPJunior International Pitch, which was won by The Boy Who Switched Off the Sun from the U.K.’s Fourth Wall Creative. Attendees were later treated to a World Premiere TV Screening of Cyber Group Studios’ Zorro the Chronicles. The company signed up a slew of broadcasters for the show, which was produced by Cyber Group in collaboration with Zorro Productions International and Blue Spirit Studios for France Télévisions and Italy’s RAI.

Saturday night’s massive downpour in Cannes left MIPJunior’s Martinez venue flooded, but nonetheless the conference program went on as scheduled on Sunday. Having relocated to the Palais, the morning began with the View from the Top: What Do Kids’ Buyers Want? session, which featured Nickelodeon’s Jules Borkent, Lagardère Active’s Caroline Cochaux, Disney’s Karen K. Miller, Cartoon Network’s Adina Pitt and KiKA’s Sebastian Debertin. Carugati moderated the panel, which was capped off with the presentation of the first-ever World Screen Kids’ Content Trendsetter Awards.

The Sunday sessions also featured a keynote with Russell Hicks, the president of content development and production at the Nickelodeon Group, and Dan Schneider, creator and executive producer of such hits as Sam & CatiCarlyDrake & Josh and the new series Game Shakers, which I had the pleasure of moderating.

SVOD, apps and the like were talking points during the MIPJunior and MIPCOM markets among the kids’ programming community. Cartoon Network EMEA announced the rollout of a new digital service, Cartoon Network Anything, which is a micro network that offers bite-sized content tailored exclusively to mobile devices. Hopster launched a localized French-language app, with new additions to the content lineup that included shows from Entertainment One. The digital startup also signed a multi-territory content deal with DHX Media to release eight new titles on its English-version app. Entertainment One revealed a comprehensive digital strategy for its new preschool property PJ Masks that includes a series of music videos, a free app and a variety of online content that will begin rolling out next month.

The trend toward reboots and an appetite for properties with built-in brand awareness were again present at the market. A long-term pact announced during MIPCOM between Mattel, its preschool subsidiary HIT Entertainment and 9 Story Media Group will see the return of the classic kids’ brands Barney & Friends and Angelina Ballerina. Studio 100 licensed Nils Holgersson and The Wild Adventures of Blinky Bill, two CGI series based on existing global brands, to Finland’s Nelonen Media. The company also scored a deal with Al Jazeera Media Network for the new CGI and classic versions of Vic the Viking and Heidi. DHX Media clinched a deal with Turner Broadcasting for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: The Series, which is based on the Sony Pictures Animation film franchise.

There were some new original properties making noise during the market as well. Zodiak Kids landed a number of agreements for the Amazon Studios original series Tumble LeafCreative Galaxy and Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street. Portfolio Entertainment sold its new animated series Freaktown to several kids’ broadcasters, including Cartoon Network in Asia Pacific. Channel 5’s Milkshake! commissioned the CGI series Dave’s Dinosaurs from Absolutely Cuckoo, the studio behind Waybuloo and Wissper. Rainbow unveiled that filming is now under way on its brand-new live-action series My American Friend.

Rainbow also used MIPCOM as a venue to announce its acquisition of the animation outfit Bardel, which is one of Canada’s largest studios. “New productions, new forms of entertainment and new media all mean you can’t stand still in this industry,” said Iginio Straffi, the president and CEO of Rainbow Group. “At Rainbow we know this, which is why we are dedicated to innovation, creativity and a commitment to international growth.”

Other big news in Cannes included the announcement of the nominees for the International Emmy Kids Awards, with the event, in which TV Kids is a partner, set to move from New York to MIPTV in Cannes.

Follow along with all the latest developments within the business of children’s programming and merchandising with TV Kids Daily and on TVKids.ws.