Buyer Profile: TF1’s Dominique Poussier

The head of youth programs at TF1, talks about her acquisitions strategy.

France’s TF1 has around 800 hours of programming for its children’s block, TFOU, per year. “Every day, early in the morning, before school, we schedule preschool educational programs,” says Dominique Poussier, the head of youth programs at TF1. “Later, after 8:30 a.m., twice a week on Wednesday and Sunday, we aim at children 6 to 10.”

TF1 attracts both boys and girls with its mix of programming, 40 percent of which is acquisitions. The French service recently picked up Chuggington from Ludorum and Chorion’s Olivia and The Octonauts because of the high production quality of the series and the strength of the characters, Poussier explains. TF1 also went for the Nickelodeon/DreamWorks Animation comedy The Penguins of Madagascar. This type of comedic series suits the channel’s programming target perfectly, Poussier notes: “Humor is our main line.” Dora the Explorer and SpongeBob SquarePants have also been top performing acquired shows.

Looking mainly to the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Korea and, more recently, India for acquisitions, Poussier says animated series for the 6-to-10 set are in demand, along with comedies.

The channel also finances at least six children’s series per year, either pre-purchasing or co-producing. In 2009, the investment in animated programs was 9 million euros for French series and 11 million euros for acquisitions from other countries. Though TF1 reduced its budget last year because of the economy, Poussier says the programming spend will remain the same for 2010.