360-Degree Kids

October 2007

Harry and Francine are pretty typical kids. Nine-year-old Harry begrudgingly goes to school. Rather than do homework, he would prefer to watch TV or play video games. He doesn’t watch shows only on TV, or play his games exclusively on his Nintendo DS. He knows exactly where to find his favorite shows on the various broadband players offered by the many dedicated children’s channels.

And on those same websites he can find tons of games.

Five-year-old Francine loves going to preschool. She also loves anything that will make her look smarter than her older brother. She, too, gets really angry when Harry hogs the computer for all those stupid games. She’s learning the sounds all the letters in the alphabet make, and she likes to go to the website of her favorite channel to find pre-reading activities and number games. She can count to 100, while Harry got a C on his math test. She also prints out drawings she can color in. And while Harry is hogging the TV, mommy allows Francine to use the portable DVD player to watch her favorite shows. Francine brags that she’s seen her best-loved episode 17 times!

These days, our multitasking children grow up very fast. From a very young age they become adept with a remote control, a computer mouse and keyboard, a DVD player and often even iPods. They have multiple sources of entertainment and expect a great deal from them. Sure, television is their first choice, but young viewers ask for a lot from dedicated children’s channels. Kids want great storytelling and compelling characters they can relate to. They want games and activities. They want to laugh and some even enjoy learning and feeling smart.

“We can’t forget how discerning the audience is,” says Cyma Zarghami, the president of Nickelodeon/MTV Networks Kids and Family Group. “There are a lot of choices, but I think they know where the good stuff is. They weed the good from the bad.”

And because they are smart, even though they might not know the word brand, they sure know how to recognize one and understand what it offers.

More than ever before in the very crowded and competitive children’s television environment, channel schedulers have to be very savvy in the way they capture youngsters’ attention. Once kids tune in, they’ve got to be enticed to come back. The channel must offer more than just good programming, it must become a destination, and nothing defines a channel better than its brand.

With channels in 58 countries, reaching over 46.8 million homes in 18 languages, Jetix Europe has positioned itself as the place for action-packed fun. “Jetix offers compelling kids’ entertainment,” says Marc Buhaj, the channel’s senior VP of programming. “It transports children to worlds beyond their own, where exciting characters, heroes and great adventures inspire their imagination and make them laugh, every day. Jetix is home to their heroes and favorite characters.”

Excitement is a constant theme for Family Channel in Canada, which targets mainly 8- to 14-year-olds. “Our main brand message is ‘never a dull moment’,” says Kevin Wright, the senior VP of programming at Astral Television Networks, which operates the channel.

Cartoon Network is currently seen in more than 91 million U.S. homes and 160 countries around the world. It has built its reputation as the home for the best in original, acquired and classic animated entertainment, for kids and families. It is known for comedy and adventure, often with a good dose of irreverence.

Super RTL has established itself as the leading destination for children and their caregivers in Germany. “If you ask children, they’ll say our brand, known as TOGGO, is funny and cool,” says Carsten Göttel, the director of programming at Super RTL. “And the major principles of TOGGO are the ‘Three Magic I’s’: integration, imagination and interaction.”

Co-viewing is a driving principle behind KI.KA, the German children’s channel owned by the public broadcasters ARD and ZDF. “It is helpful that our philosophy is related to kids and their parents,” says Frank Beckmann, KI.KA’s programming and managing director. “We convey social and moral values to children and we don’t broadcast any unnecessary violence. This is our choice and it strengthens our image.”

Even the very youngest children have their own viewing destinations these days. The BBC’s CBeebies is the top-rated children’s channel in the U.K., a market that has more than 20 kids’ services. CBeebies has been so successful that the BBC is now launching it internationally. It targets preschoolers and its offering is very clear. “We’ve done focus groups and people have reacted incredibly positively to it,” says David Weiland, the head of programming for Global Channels at BBC Worldwide. Parents of very young ones are increasingly concerned about the amount of violence on many of the children’s channels that offer a lot of animation, explains Weiland. “Parents say little kids are getting nightmares. And they seem to grow up more quickly these days, and television is influencing that,” he continues. “CBeebies takes them back to that real age of innocence, but also a real age of learning, and people really appreciate that educational angle.”

MAKING THE BRAND

Once a channel has clearly communicated its brand to children, then it needs to make sure all the shows it airs fit the brand, and this is when the schedulers’ skills have to shift into high gear. They must keep up with new trends among children, learn how much time they spend watching TV and how many hours they spend online. Then they must choose shows that can live on both platforms, because that’s where kids are.

“Our viewers expect to be connected to great entertainment and great characters wherever and whenever they want—whether it is by watching our shows on the linear networks, playing Jetix games on the website, purchasing the latest Jetix DVDs and apparel or enjoying Jetix content on their mobile,” says Buhaj. “Our viewers don’t hope for these things, they demand them.”

One show that fits perfectly into the Jetix high-octane brand of fun is Yin Yang Yo! “It conveys all the key components of the flagship content that is being developed for the Jetix brand,” explains Buhaj. “It is a mix of action, adventure and cheeky humor. It easily appeals to kids as they can relate to the sibling rivalry theme.” Pucca, Power Rangers, Totally Spies! and Galactik Football also fit the brand and perform well on Jetix services across Europe.

Cartoon Network puts a premium on making kids laugh but with high-quality animation. Maintaining strong on-air content is the focus of the channel’s programming strategy, explains Stuart Snyder, Turner Broadcasting’s executive VP and COO of animation, young adults and kids’ media. “We received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations recently, for Good Wilt Hunting, Where’s Lazlo? and Robot Chicken from Adult Swim,” he says. “We [have] new shows Ben 10 and Out of Jimmy’s Head, which is the first live-action and animated series from Cartoon Network. This is a great, fun show. It’s tough being a 12-year-old anyway, but imagine being a 12-year-old with animated characters interfering with your life. We’re very excited about Out of Jimmy’s Head and we’re very excited about Chowder, which is a new comedy series premiering later on in the fall.”

Super RTL takes a bit more of a traditional approach to entertaining kids and their families. While kids are the main focus during the daytime hours, providing programming that encourages co-viewing between young ones and their parents is Super RTL’s objective for the evening. “For children, animals and magic are some of the program genres that fit our strategy for 2008,” says Göttel. “We will have a lot of premieres in the next few months, especially during our morning daytime schedule with Rupert Bear, Pinky Dinky Doo, My Friends Tigger & Pooh, Ruby Gloom and Skunk Fu! In the evening, for adults, we will focus more on music and docu-tainment and in access prime time we will premiere the Disney series The Replacements at the beginning of November.”

CBeebies targets kids up to the age of 6, but that is really quite an age spread. A 2-year-old is a completely different child from a 5-year-old. While CBeebies offers a wide range of programming, all shows have one thing in common: they all have to have an educational element, explains Weiland.

“For the very young viewers—18 months to about 3 years old—it’s all about those early developmental needs: language, counting, exploring the outside world,” continues Weiland. “We like all the programs for that age group to have one of those elements. Teletubbies has exploration. Tweenies is all about dance and making things and storytelling. The Roly Mo Show is about exploring the world through reading and we’ve got a new show called Numberjacks, which is all about numbers.”

Outside the U.K., BBC Worldwide has already launched CBeebies in India, Singapore and is looking to roll out the channel pan-regionally across Asia. In researching various territories, Weiland and his team have noticed that most channels that cater to children are heavily skewed toward animation. “Some of them are absolutely fantastic, but [several channels] have tended to steer away from puppets and live action and we think that’s a gap that can work well for us,” says Weiland. “We try to have a balance between live action, puppets and animation.”

REACHING MIDDLE AGE

Family Channel caters to 8- to 14-year-olds and refers to them as, “middle-aged kids,” otherwise known as tweens. “We see them as very distinct viewers—they’re part of their families and still like to be with their parents,” explains Wright. “They’re not teens yet and their focus isn’t exclusively or primarily on their friends, but they are old enough to understand pop culture. Their views on the world and their tastes are much more refined than younger kids. They can appreciate different levels of humor. They are just starting to look at high school and social challenges. They’re watching a lot of TV; they’re very Internet savvy—we program with all those things in mind.”

Wright uses two main sources of programming in scheduling Family Channel. “We have an output deal with Disney Channel and get shows like The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and Hannah Montana,” Wright explains. “We also commission original programs from Canadian producers, shows like Life with Derek. And we also acquire third-party series like Zoey 101.”

DAY AFTER DAY

In order to increase exposure to a show, schedulers will often strip it across the week so that it airs at the same time everyday, most often Mondays through Fridays. The added advantage to this programming technique is that the increased exposure builds awareness of the show and its characters. The more familiar children are with certain shows, the more they will want to buy products associated with them.

But stripping is not the solution for every program. When asked if stripping is necessary to guarantee a show’s success in today’s very crowded children’s TV landscape, Jetix’s Buhaj emphatically answers, “Not at all! The programmers of our various feeds successfully employ a variety of scheduling strategies. They may schedule shows once a week or simply on weekends rather than strip. Also, in some cases, we provide a sneak peek of new shows. The local programming teams are also involved in the creation of original stunts and programming franchises. These can be locally specific, or global Jetix initiatives.”

Super RTL’s Göttel agrees that stripping isn’t always the way to go. “It’s not unconditionally necessary for success,” he explains. “For example, our live-action series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody is successful with one run per week. But if you want to be successful overall, it’s important to have enough stripped shows with long-run potential.”

Young children love to hear the same story over and over again, or watch the same video many, many times. Stripping serves the preschool audience for more than one reason.

“Stripping is very important for this age group partly because [very young children] don’t approach television as appointment [viewing],” says CBeebies’ Weiland. “They don’t say, ‘Oh, it’s three o’clock, I’ve got to watch this show.’ The television is turned on for them by a parent or caregiver.”

Weiland finds that stripping is important because so many families with young children establish a set pattern to their everyday lives. Children will often do the same activity at the same time each day: little ones take afternoon naps and seeing a familiar show is a welcome way to gear up after they wake up. When the older ones come home from preschool they like to chill out with their favorite characters.

“Kids at that age also love repetition,” explains Weiland. “They are probably the only TV audience that actively welcomes seeing a show again! All our analysis regarding the educational value of our shows [points to] repetitive viewing, particularly when you get into the 4- to 6-year-old bracket, because there isn’t a straightforward developmental line among that age group. All children are slightly different. Research shows that some kids get it straightaway or maybe after seeing it once, twice, three times. Some need to see the show more times to get it. We also build that into our schedule.”

SURFING THE WEB

Extending shows and their characters online is a great way to catch our multitasking kids while they are on their computers. “Our website is a phenomenal place to provide tweens with a bit of hands-on interaction with the brand,” says Family Channel’s Wright. “Our games area, which provides dozens and dozens of original games, is very popular. It’s a great place to sample programs; we recently launched a broadband player where kids can sample short- and long-form programming. We did a tease of the new season of Life with Derek, which we played first online and it did very well for us. Online is an area of focus and development for us. Kids are very platform agnostic and they are quite comfortable moving between the different media. So are we.”

Cartoon Network has quite an advanced online offering, with Cartoonnetwork.com; AdultSwim.com; the broadband player Toonami Jetstream; and the game destinations Cartoon Network Video and GameTap.

“Kids are going to Cartoonnetwork.com just to be entertained,” says Turner’s Snyder. “We have a blend of games, [some] connected to our shows and a large group of games that are brand new and original. It’s about keeping the kids entertained in the world of Cartoon Network, playing games, watching videos, [going] back and forth, keeping them immersed. When the MMOG [massively multi-player online game] kicks in next year, then all of a sudden we have another planet for them to go to.”

Snyder is very excited about FusionFall, the new MMOG that will be launching in 2008. “This has been in the works for some time now,” he explains. “It is set in a re-imagined 3-D Cartoon Network universe. It has a unique tone, with fantasies, superheroes, science fiction, imagination games, all in the Cartoon Network style, which is great adventure, fantasy and humor. It’s going to be a safe environment for kids. It’s being developed in partnership with Grigon Entertainment, which is a Korean company.”

While Germany’s KI.KA also wants to offer children fun experiences online, as a public broadcaster, its Internet activities are regulated and limited by the government. “It is important for any broadcaster to reach children on any platform that makes sense,” says KI.KA’s Beckmann. “Not every platform makes sense for a public broadcaster, because some platforms serve only to generate money. For example, ring tones for mobile is a business model we don’t have. But if children could download them for free, it becomes a marketing instrument for us. There is a line we won’t cross.”

“The Internet is the future for us as well,” continues Beckmann. “We have a preschool program called Mit-Mach-Mühle. It’s a do-it-yourself show that we broadcast at 10 a.m., but preschoolers may want to do the activities at other times of the day.” So KI.KA’s website provides all the activities featured on the show, instructions and materials needed to do them and children can even watch the show online.

Websites are a valuable tool even for the youngest viewers. “I think it’s really important for this age group,” says CBeebies’ Weiland. “It’s true that independent computer and mouse control happens with slightly older children—5-, 6-, and 7-year olds. But even for the very early years, it’s not so much that the program has to have its own microsite. We’re taking characters from the shows that children are familiar with and using the online space to create other things. Just to give you an example, Teletubbies [doesn’t have] a huge website [featuring] stories or the characters, but there are a lot of pages in black and white that can be printed. So that’s not necessarily always material that you [access] with a keyboard and a mouse, but it’s a resource for things to be printed out and then worked with in a more traditional way. Kids like drawing and painting and other activities. And this is becoming increasingly more and more important.

“Internationally,” continues Weiland, “we are in the process of looking at our online strategy. We’re working very closely with the BBC in the U.K. and the CBeebies website and hope to have something launching in the near future.”

360-DEGREE APPROACH

All schedulers know that in today’s very crowded children’s television market, new shows cannot only be premiered on TV. In order to cut through the clutter, a show needs to be launched on a variety of platforms.

For the U.K. premiere of the Cartoon Network property Ben 10, the channel used a microsite; electronic games; a free online computer game; new mobile content; a direct mailout; a special Ben 10 edition of Cartoon Network magazine; and an on-air competition with the chance to win a trolley dash at Toys R Us, which (no surprises!) received a record number of entries.

This 360-degree approach is used by other channels as well. “Even though it is not essential, it certainly helps when a brand lives beyond the linear screen,” says Jetix’s Buhaj. “This simply offers the consumer more opportunities to connect with the property. If we manage to interact with kids on a number of different platforms, we allow them to immerse themselves in a property and we create a real connection. Our famous property Pucca clearly illustrates that idea. It reached all platforms: licensing, TV, online (VOD, websites, competitions), Jetix Magazine and more.”

Super RTL’s Göttel is a staunch supporter of the multi-platform approach. “Our maxim is: One content, many screens and channels of distribution,” he says. “Bob the Builder is our most famous example of a 360-degree approach. The latest variable of this approach is the “Bob der Baumeister Die Live-Show” stage show beginning in November.”

Now that kids have gotten used to finding entertainment on so many platforms, they will continue to be increasingly demanding of the type of content that dedicated children’s channels offer. Schedulers will have to stay on their toes to keep after the likes of Harry and Francine.