GONG

World Screen Weekly, July 5, 2007

COUNTRY: 36 countries across Europe and North America

LAUNCH DATE: December 2006

OWNERSHIP: Privately funded and managed by Benoit Runel, André de Semlyen and Simon Huntley

DISTRIBUTION: Broadband VOD in France on Club Internet and TF1 Vision; download-to-own on the BT Vision Download Store in the U.K.; mobile on Orange TV in the U.K. and Poland, and IPTV streaming on the platforms Joost and Babelgum

DESCRIPTION: The U.K.-based channel is the first international on-demand and online anime platform in Europe and North America. The channel aims to bring new cutting-edge Japanese animation to its target demographic of 15- to 30-year-olds.

CEO: Benoit Runel

COO: André de Semlyen

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: According to GONG COO André de Semlyen and CEO Benoit Runel, the distribution of the Japanese anime channel via broadband Internet and mobile platforms was the most effective way of reaching their target demographic of 15- to 30-year-olds. “It’s a fact now that teenagers or young adults are spending more time online and on their mobile phones than watching TV,” says Runel.

Both executives also felt there was a gap in the marketplace; Runel notes, “there were no players [for anime] at the time over new media, Internet broadband and mobile phones.”

Both are seasoned executives that have years of experience in the children’s television animation business under their belt. Runel spent several years at TF1, where he served as the head of acquisitions, and later went on to become the executive VP of programming, acquisitions and co-productions at Fox Kids/Jetix Europe. Meanwhile, de Semlyen was a VP at Turner Broadcasting System and channel manager for Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Turner Classic Movies in France.

According to Runel, GONG sets itself apart from other anime networks because it targets such a specific age group—skewing slightly older than other platforms that air anime. “We really want to be extreme and radical,” says Runel. “We’re not shy of showing violence, we’re not shy of showing a little bit of sexiness—nothing erotic, but its really comparable to any other TV drama that you’d see on HBO.”

The packaging and marketing of the channel is another point of distinction, says de Semlyen, adding that “the trendiness of the channel” was important, as was creating “the right on-air promotion, the right feel, and the right logo.”

The channel’s scheduling strategy, meanwhile, is in line with its new-media distribution ethos. “We have to program across the platform to create different experiences for the customers and the viewers,” says de Semlyen. “What they’re going to watch on the mobile phone is not what they’re going to watch on the PC. This way, we are creating a virtual circle of consumption where we won’t duplicate the same thing everywhere.”

GONG will feature manga and anime series and movies such as The Slayers, centered on a young but powerful sorceress named Lina, Cosmo Warrior Zero, Saiyuki and Gun Frontier.

WHAT’S NEW: Runel and de Semlyen hope to continue expanding the distribution of the channel this year. In addition to previously announced partnerships, GONG has reached a distribution agreement with Google’s YouTube video-sharing platform, with other agreements in the pipeline. De Semlyen also hopes to have a second round of investment this year in order to enrich the program offerings and titles available on GONG.

WEBSITE: gonganime.com

—By Irene Lew