Growing Pains

In the face of stiff
competition, producers of tween programming are still looking for news ways of
appealing to a broad, and fickle, demographic.

By Mansha Daswani

October 2006

At the end of August,
Disney Channel in the U.S. broadcast The Cheetah Girls 2, a sequel to its original movie about a teen girl
band. Drawing an average of 7.8 million viewers on a Friday night, the most
ever for an original movie premiere in the history of the channel, the film was
the most-watched program—broadcast or basic cable—for the entire
day, beating its closest competition by 30 percent. It delivered 3.3 million 6-
to 11-year-olds and 3.2 million 9- to 14-year-olds, with a whopping 59-percent
share of the tween girl audience.

For anyone questioning the
validity of programming for a demographic that is increasingly spending its
time online, on mobile phones, on its iPods and watching general prime-time
fare like American Idol, the
success of The Cheetah Girls 2
is proof that with the right property, savvy (and fickle) tween audiences will
pay attention—and the rewards can be huge.

Indeed, there isn’t a
tween programmer around the world who hasn’t yet heard of High School
Musical, the Disney original movie
that has become a kids’ programming phenomenon, spawning a slate of
merchandising as well as an upcoming sequel. It’s not just American tweens who
have been taken with the film, which began its international rollout in June in
the Asia Pacific, generating record ratings on Disney Channels in Australia,
Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. And in its terrestrial debut, on Seven
Network, it was the number-one movie in 2006 for tweens 10 to 15, and the
number-two movie this year for the under-55 set.

Last month, High School
Musical debuted in Europe, where
it aired not only on Disney channels, but was also sold to a number of terrestrial
broadcasters, including the BBC in the U.K. and RAI in Italy.

Meanwhile, this fall,
there is a new player in the terrestrial kids’ space in the U.S.—KOL
Secret Slumber Party on CBS, a
Saturday-morning broadcasting block that is being programmed by DIC
Entertainment, with AOL’s kids’ portal KOL as a promotional partner. The block
is placing a particular emphasis on tween viewers. “There are plenty of
preschool channels, there are a lot of providers for that demographic, as well
as for the 6 to 8, 6- to 9-year-olds, and then for the most part the older kids
have been abandoned,” says Kaaren Lee Brown, the senior VP of creative affairs
at DIC. “Certainly there are other people doing tween programming, but we
really didn’t see a lot of focused attention on them.”

A TWEEN FRAME OF MIND

Outside of the U.S., the
tween market is just as healthy, according to many kids’ distributors,
particularly in the area of live-action series. “Broadcasters have realized
that the tween market has been very much overlooked in recent years, the main
focus having been on preschool, animation and young-adult programming,” says
Saralo MacGregor, the executive VP of worldwide distribution at Fireworks
International, which has done particularly well with properties such as Black
Hole High. “It is currently
licensed in over 80 territories throughout the world,” MacGregor says. “Recent
deals have been concluded with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Jetix
Europe and Disney, for its channels in Latin America, Asia, Australia and New
Zealand.” Fireworks has also found that its library titles Even Stevens, about the rivalry between two siblings, and 100
Deeds for Eddie McDowd, the tale
of a bully consigned to life as a dog until he can perform 100 good deeds,
“continue to rack up new deals and renewals after five years in the
marketplace,” MacGregor says.

“If you’ve got a good
twist on a good tween concept, it’s a very strong market,” notes Cathy Payne,
the chief executive of Southern Star International. “We can’t believe how well
we’ve sold Blue Water High and The
Sleepover Club. Those series are
very successful.”

While MarVista
Entertainment has been billing Beyond the Break, the surfer-themed production from Brookwell
McNamara Entertainment for The N in the U.S., as a teen series, the show has
been making its way into tween slots. “We’re finding that because [it is only] 20 half hours, or 10 hours, in some territories it’s not a high enough volume
to commit broadcasters to a prime-time slot,” says Fernando Szew, the CEO of MarVista.
“So what they’ve done is program it in the daytime as a summer stunt. Those
summer stunts are primarily targeted at tweens or the lower echelon of teenage
audiences. Tweens do aspire and watch programming that’s not intended for
them.”

Canada’s DECODE
Entertainment has already fared well with Radio Free Roscoe and, more recently, with Naturally Sadie. According to Beth Stevenson, the executive VP of
production and development at DECODE, the key to the continued success of
live-action sitcoms and dramas for kids is the “aspirational” element. The lead
character of Naturally Sadie,
Stevenson notes, “is a typical 13-year-old girl in that she has fears and
problems, she knows she wants to be a zoologist when she grows up and she’s
very relatable as a normal tween kid.”

Granada International has
secured a firm foothold in the live-action tween-programming marketplace with Heartbreak
High and, most recently, Darcy’s
Wild Life. The company hopes to
build on that success with Bel’s Boys, a CITV commission that is being produced by the Endemol U.K.
subsidiary Initial Kids. The show is about a 9-year-old girl who decides to
become the manager of a rock group that was rejected by her father, who runs a
record label. “It’s a comedy and the group will be quite funky, quite trendy,”
says Emmanuelle Namiech, the controller of programming at Granada
International. The lead character, Namiech says, “has bags of energy and
attitude. It is quite aspirational with a strong theme of music and fashion.”

MTV Networks International,
which has the combined re­sources of MTV, Nickelodeon and the teen-targeted
The N to draw from, has several tween properties for MIPCOM, including Just
for Kicks and Miracle’s Boys. “Kids are media savvy, they’re brand focused and
aspirational,” says Nicolas Bonard, the VP of sales and co-productions at
MTVNI. “They’re looking for these characteristics in shows,” he continues,
citing as examples the successful Nickelodeon series Unfabulous and Drake & Josh.

TEEN ANGST

Arguably the most
successful tween show on the marketplace is Degrassi: The Next Generation, distributed by Alliance Atlantis. Now in its
sixth season, with more than 100 episodes available, the show has been a
mainstay for networks targeting 9- to 14-year-olds. “It’s done very well in whatever
market we’ve sold it into,” says Alan Gregg, the VP of production and
distribution for children’s television at Alliance Atlantis.

The series, which has
become The N’s flagship offering in the U.S., does, however, get into some of
those difficult teen issues that many broadcasters may not want to tackle. “Degrassi
is an issue-driven show rather
than a plot-driven show,” Gregg says of the series, which has featured story
lines on alcoholism, teen pregnancy, gun violence, abortion and date rape.
“It’s got some racy material and controversial subject matter. We’ll be talking
to kids’ broadcasters and they’ll be very keen on it and then they’ll have a
look at the material and say, ‘Oh my God, I’m not sure if I can put that on.’
We say, give it a chance, see what it does for your ratings. These subjects
just aren’t dealt with for this age group anymore, even though the issues are
clearly affecting them in their real lives. [Kids] don’t want to have the big
issues glossed over or be patronized,” he says.

“There do appear to be
fewer and fewer boundaries now since children are maturing at a much faster
rate than ever before,” says Fireworks’ MacGregor. “One still has to strike a
careful balance. Kids today are incredibly savvy and don’t like to be preached
to but it is still possible to inject a positive message along with a very
healthy dose of entertainment value.”

ALL GROWN UP

The issue, then, becomes:
where do you cross the line? DIC’s Brown asks, “How far can you go? Or how far
do I want to go? Kids who are 11 and 12 are dealing with some pretty big
issues. But on Saturday morning do I want my audience to be asked to deal with
stuff they’re dealing with in other parts of their lives? No. I think they want
escapism and fun. They are still kids. You want to give them a chance to just
relax and have fun. I don’t want to force hard things down their throats and I
don’t want them to feel like they’re in school, either.”

For Granada’s Namiech, if
angst-worthy subjects are going to be tackled, they need to be done with an
element of comedy. “Important issues can be addressed in a light but meaningful
way. Girls in Love, for
example, was both tongue-in-cheek and at the same time it was reflecting what
girls are thinking of when they’re at that age.”

At DECODE, the strategy
has been to stick with “universal” story lines, Stevenson says, “Even though
kids are getting older faster, comedy and basic relatable things like going to
the school dance and those first-year high-school relationships, they’re really
quite universal. It probably hasn’t changed much since we went to school.”

Age appropriateness is not
the only factor that can inhibit the international success of a tween property.
There is also the issue of volume, as most live-action sitcoms featuring kids
rely on lead characters—such as Lizzie McGuire’s Hilary Duff—who are eventually going to grow up and move on to
other things. “The window of opportunity is very short,” says MTVNI’s Bonard.
“You have to generate variety and bring in new talent all the time.”

One way to get around that
problem, some producers say, is finding the right talent: “If you’re casting
mid-teens that play as 13-year-olds, they’ve gone through their big changes
already,” says DECODE’s Stevenson. “If you’re casting real 10-year-olds, they
can change immensely” over the course of a show.

In the case of Degrassi, Alliance Atlantis and producers Epitome Pictures
are currently developing ideas for the future of the series. “It follows [a
group of kids] from the start of junior high school right [through] graduation.
We are talking about what we do now that these kids are graduating. There was
some debate about seeding in younger children to perpetuate [the show.] We
could spin off [the graduates] into another series and then rebuild another Degrassi with a new cast. There’s no doubt there will be
some incarnation of Degrassi
for years to come, but we’re not sure what it is.”

The limitations of
scripted programming for kids has led to several reality and factual programs
for tweens on the market, an area that MarVista Entertainment has been focusing
on. The producer and distributor has been working with Canada’s Apartment 11
Productions on properties such as Mystery Hunters; Surprise! It’s Edible! Incredible!; and Prank Patrol. The last has proven to be particularly
successful, according to Szew, who notes that the BBC has recently acquired the
format rights to the show. “That becomes a new way to look at tween reality
programming,” he says. “It’s one of the first tween shows being reformatted. It
really lends itself to it. It [works well when you can] cater to local
audiences, with local pranks and local hosts that kids can relate to.”

TOON BOOM

Meanwhile, distributors
are also finding an increased interest in tween-targeted animation. MGA
Entertainment is having a successful run with the Bratz TV series, inspired by the hit toy line of the same
name; DECODE has been rolling out GirlStuff/BoyStuff and Delilah & Julius; while CinéGroupe has What’s with Andy?, about a tween-aged boy who is angling to be the
greatest prankster in the world. According to Marie-Christine Dufour, the
executive VP of presales, distribution and marketing at CinéGroupe, the series
has performed particularly well for Super RTL in Germany and TELETOON in
Canada. “It’s not pretentious, it’s traditional 2-D animation, there’s no
gadgets, and it’s funny,” she says.

Jetix Europe is
anticipating a boost in its tween viewers with two new shows that launched this
year: Galactik Football and Pucca. While not specifically developed for this demo,
“we’re fairly confident that both of those series will work particularly well
at the upper end of our spectrum, the 9- to 12-year-olds,” says Michael Lekes,
the senior VP of programming at the pan-European kids’ broadcaster. “Galactik
Football was developed with a
really complex story line and very complex animation using motion capture,
which naturally selects an older audience,” Lekes says. Pucca, meanwhile, which originated as a
licensing-and-merchandising brand in Korea for tweens, teens and young adults,
“is an out-and-out comedy,” he says. “It has a certain sassiness, a certain
older appeal to it already, and a very cheeky sensibility. It was so much fun
seeing how you could really push the limits, get away with using humor on
different levels, and although on the surface the design style and the age of
the characters looks like it’s a young show, as soon as you watch a couple of
episodes you realize it isn’t!”

Another new show rolling
out on Jetix that Lekes expects will attract older viewers is Oban Star
Racers. “It has a very
sophisticated story line with a lot of emotion and drama rather than pure
action, and it’s a 26-part serial, so it’s a demanding view. We’ve done some
focus-group research on it and we found it definitely appeals most to 10- to
12-year-olds. That fusion of adventure and emotional characterization is
something where you can hit both boys and girls with animation in that elusive
10-to-12 category, where girls don’t generally watch animation.”

Another advantage that
animation provides is licensing and merchandising potential. MGA, for example,
has used the added exposure of the TV show to launch a new line of Bratz
products. “This fall, we have the Bratz Forever Diamondz that comes with real
diamond jewelry for the doll and the girl,” says Isaac Larian, the CEO of MGA
and creator of the Bratz dolls. In July, Bratz Kidz, a new line of dolls, “were
launched, and the sales have been terrific, and there will be a Bratz Kidz DVD movie coming out in the spring of 2007.”

Jetix’s Pucca has about 3,000 licensed products at retail, Lekes
says, while Jetix Consumer Products is currently developing merchandise based
on Galactik Football. “It opens
up a whole new area for us, which is sports merchandising,” Lekes says. “Mostly
we’re in the field of toys, action figures, apparel, and suddenly now we have
an opportunity to get into sporting goods, which is so consistent with our
brand.”

In the case of live-action
properties, merchandising can be more problematic. “Something like Degrassi, which does extraordinarily well as a television
property, has some merchandising attached to it, but we’re not laughing all the
way to the bank,” Alliance Atlantis’s Gregg says. “It’s tough.”

DECODE’s Stevenson echoes
that sentiment: “Even live action in the adult world—I don’t see a lot of
people walking around with CSI
T-shirts. In the tween area you can be very cast-dependent—Hilary Duff,
Raven—so the licensing tends to be tied to the actual cast itself. It is
tricky.”

Emma Roberts, the star of
Nickelodeon’s Unfabulous,
features in the merchandising rollout for that series. The campaign includes a
tween fashion line and music CDs. “Next year it will be expanded into books,
accessories, home decoration and cosmetics,” MTVNI’s Bonard says.

MarVista, meanwhile, has
fared well in the retail arena with its reality shows. “We have done video
deals for Mystery Hunters and
there’s also a publishing deal in the works,” Szew says. “And for Prank
Patrol there is a plan in place.”

PLATFORM AGNOSTIC

Whether they’re developing
scripted comedies, animated series or reality shows for tweens, producers know
that a multi­-platform strategy is critical for any new launch.
“We want to be everywhere kids are,” says Nicky Parkinson, the senior VP and
managing director of Walt Disney Television International (Asia Pacific), which
is rolling out new tween properties like Hannah Montana and The Cheetah Girls 2.

“The older kids, the more
savvy they are [with new media], the more time they’re spending” online, on
mobile phones and on other platforms, notes Jetix’s Lekes. “We have to be in
all those places. We launched online VOD services in the Netherlands and the
U.K. We stream the channel in France on two mobile networks. In Israel we have
a successful cable VOD service.”

MarVista has found online
communities to be particularly effective on its tween properties, Szew says.
“Chat rooms have been phenomenal,” he says. “Kids talk about shows and it
almost becomes like a virtual watercooler, so [the show] becomes more of an
event.”

On the mobile-phone front,
Alliance Atlantis will be selling mobisodes based on Degrassi at MIPCOM. Further, Degrassi has a significant online presence. “It’s a unique
interactive experience,” Gregg says. “It’s set up as the website [of the school
the series is set in], and the kids can communicate with those characters. The
actors actually do respond, and it’s part of their contractual obligations that
every so often they do personal replies. Kids can chat, they can express ideas,
learn about the issues in more depth. It’s more than a complementary
service—it’s its own incarnation on the net. That’s what you need to be.
You can’t just be a website with pictures.”

DIC enlisted AOL’s kids’
portal KOL as a promotional partner on its CBS morning block, granting the
service a significant online presence and a built-in base to market to.
Furthermore, DIC is working with Geffen Records to promote the Slumber Party
Girls, a teen girl band that will host the KOL Secret Slumber Party on CBS, perform during Dance Revolution!, one of the block’s signature shows, and release
its own album. The group also serves to embody the “healthy eating, active
lifestyle” that underpins the block, Brown says.

That multi-platform ethic
also applied to another show on DIC’s CBS schedule, CAKE. The show within a show is a sitcom about a girl
and her best friends who run a cable-access TV program about arts and crafts.
Information on the crafts created in the show will be provided on the online
destination built for the series.

“We created a hybrid” with
CAKE, Brown says. “It’s not
enough to do a craft show for half an hour, it’s not enough to do a sitcom for
half an hour. Tweens are fickle because they’re used to having a lot of things
going on at once. They’re used to getting a lot of different pieces of
information. They multitask without even knowing they’re multitasking. You have
to meet them on multiple levels if you’re going to keep them interested.”