Programmer Profile: Sprout’s Andrew Beecham

April 26, 2011 World Screen
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PREMIUM: Andrew Beecham, the senior VP of programming at Sprout, discusses his strategy for scheduling the U.S. channel, which is constructed around blocks that mirror a preschooler’s day, and how best to pitch ideas accordingly.

WS: Tell us about the success and rollout of Noodle and Doodle.
BEECHAM: Noodle and Doodle is our first-ever original show for Sprout and it focuses on preschool cookery and preschool crafts. It’s going really well. We launched it in September on Sprout and also we’ve taken it out to the international marketplace. We’ve got some really interesting interest in the show. It’s the first time that we’ve put crafts and cookery together in one show. To me, it sort of makes sense because when preschoolers are crafting, they’re doing the same sort of thing with cookery, but they’re just doing it with stuff that they can actually eat. To be able to put these two things together in one really nice package is a great thing and entertaining for kids to watch. But it’s also really useful and provides a great tool for parents to be able to get information on how to make these crafts and how to cook the food as well.
 
WS: Is Sprout planning to produce more original long-form content?
BEECHAM: We’ve only really started dipping our little toe into this whole adventure of creating content. Ever since we started, we’ve made some originals in terms of our interstitials and our branding pieces, but Noodle and Doodle is the first original long-form show. We definitely have aspirations to make more.
 
We’ve really created a niche in the marketplace for this whole feeling of "doing together," which is something that we love to do. Our service is entertaining for kids, but it’s also really there for parents as well. Creating content that also is useful for parents to use and for kids to really enjoy is something that’s very important to us. So, it’s fair to say that Noodle and Doodle won’t be the only original show that we’ve ever made. It’s too soon to announce what our next show is, but we’re already working on it and we hope to be in production pretty soon and the idea is to launch that next original show at the end of this year, 2011.
 
WS: How is the schedule programmed throughout the day?
BEECHAM: Sprout is constructed on the linear side around the day in the life of a preschooler. In the morning, when we have kids with boundless energy, we have the Wiggly Waffle block, which is hosted by the Wiggles. That’s all about exercise and nutrition and making them jump up and down and dance and sing. Then we move to The Sunny Side Up Show, which is the world’s only live preschool block. So, between 9 a.m. and midday, we have hosts and we have Chica the Chicken, who’s our puppet, and we do an awful lot of interactive liveelements that you can really only do when you’re live. It’s simple things like having the day of the week and having a clock in the set as well, it’s something that really you can only do when you’re live. We encourage preschoolers all the time to watch The Sunny Side Up Show, go online, send us their comments, talk to Chica, and literally within minutes those comments and games can be reflected on the linear service. Everything that we’re doing on Sprout is all about interactivity, all about engaging the audience.
 
In the afternoon, we have a block of programming called The Sprout Sharing Show and that’s a bit like a junior YouTube. It’s where we encourage kids and parents to send us their videos of simple things that kids can do, like the first time they tie their shoelaces, the first time they go swimming, when they go on holiday. We package up those really cute videos amongst our other gold-standard programming and together that makes a really nice block all about sharing and doing things together.
 
That leads up into our prime-time block, which is The Good Night Show. Thathas really been set up as a tool to wind kids down. By the time it gets to 6 o’clock, kids are still leaping around the place and parents are at that moment where they want them to wind down. They need a little bit of quiet time and The Good Night Show is really encouraged to do that. We’ve got a lot of narrative-based programming and we intersperse that with these interstitials and packaging, which stars Nina, who’s our host, and we have Star, who’s our little star-shaped puppet. Between the two of them, Nina encourages Star to go to bed. But, of course, like any 4-year-old, it takes three hours to actually get him to go to bed.
 
The interesting thing about The Good Night Show is that we’ve made a nice half-hour asset on our complementary VOD service. That’s literally a half an hour of all our characters just sleeping and one after another they’re just on there. There’s no narrative, there’s some gentle music and the characters are just sleeping. On the linear service, in the middle of The Good Night Show, every ten minutes or so, we put a pop-up on screen saying, "Is your sprout ready to go to bed? If so, go on demand." What we’re finding is when their kids are ready to go to bed, parents will go to the VOD, they’ll pop up this "Nina Sleeps" asset and they’ll say, "Oh look, Nina’s asleep! There’s Big Bird, he’s asleep." And it’s a great way that you can use TV as a tool to help get your kids ready for bed.
 
WS: In what other ways does VOD complement the linear service?
BEECHAM: It’s a real three-way experience. If you look at the way we program our VOD, it’s unlike anything else. If you look at what’s offered elsewhere, pretty much what you can get on linear is exactly what you can get on VOD. With us, linear is all about a short experience and about a destination. For those kids who are Barney fanatics or love Bob the Builder or Thomas the Train, they can go on VOD, they can watch full, long half-hour episodes. Whereas, with linear, it’s all about these short, little moments. Bob the Builder, for example, on linear is an 11-minute piece; on VOD, you can watch the full 22-minute asset. On linear we’re very keen to split up the hour, to program off the clock, and to give a lot of different variety in any one hour.
 
WS: Are there any gaps in the schedule you’re looking to fill?
BEECHAM: Sprout is owned by four huge content companies, so if you look at our schedule, around about 90 percent of the programming comes from our partners. For the last five years, we’ve really been focused on creating these neighborhoods that our program sits within. We’ve been really working hard getting our blocks looking beautiful. The trick for people who are looking to talk to us about placing content on Sprout is to look at our programming strategy, look at our blocks, and see really where the gaps are. The Good Night Show is our prime block and if you’ve got a show which is all about getting kids ready for bed, or it’s more restful or a narrative-based show, that’s more likely to fit into that block. So, when you come talk to us, talk to us about your great show idea, but really have a feeling in the back of your mind where this might sit in the schedule.