Mondo TV Sets Growth Path

In 1964, Orlando Corradi began his career in animation by acquiring Japanese cartoons and selling them in Italy and Europe. In 1985 he founded Mondo TV, which remained active in distribution but also began producing animated series of its own. Corradi is now in his 70s but remains the soul of the company, while his son Matteo is in charge of international distribution. Mondo has grown significantly from a company that operatedonly in the Italian market to one that has subsidiaries in various countries—Mondo Igel Media in Germany, Mondo TV France, Mondo TV Spain, which also deals with Latin America, as well as offices in Athens, Seoul, Mumbai and Sydney. Today, Mondo TV co-produces with major broadcasters in Europe and is active in the areas of production, distribution, merchandising and licensing.

Matteo Corradi grew up in the television business and started attending MIPTV and MIPCOM at age six. He followed Mondo TV’s IPO in 2000, which opened new financing opportunities and marked the beginning of the company’s expansion. He speaks to TV Kids Weekly about what’s ahead for Mondo TV.

TV KIDS: What has been your strategy for growth?
CORRADI: I say that Mondo TV is a “pocket-sized” multinational that is growing very fast but must be very cautious and humble in its growth. As we know, while some of our competitors today are [struggling with] bad economic times, and while Mondo TV is gaining market share due to this fact, we do not celebrate their difficulties and still must be very careful in this difficult economic climate.

Mondo TV’s strategy has had three main areas. The first, which today is the most important, is the one of developing high-quality product that also has high licensing potential.

Currently we have three properties, each targeted to a specific group: girls, boys and preschool. Angel’s Friends, based on an idea by Simona Ferri, is a top property for girls. It has already sold in 50 countries and has an important licensing program in Italy and Spain, which are the first two countries where toys and licensing have rolled out. Our co-production partner is Play Entertainment and Giochi Preziosi is the European master toy licensee. We have made deals for Angel’s Friends in all major territories: Italia 1, Telecinco, Teletoon in France, RTL in Belgium, Turkey, Greece, all of the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and we are starting to sell it in Latin America where licensing is handled by Exim. In Italy, the licensing agency is Starbright, headed by Giada Paterlini.

Virus Attack is a boy-targeted series that we are co-producing with Suk Entertainment. We have closed a deal with Turner Entertainment Networks for Italy, and starting in January 2011, the series will air on Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Boing in Italy, and we are in discussions with Turner to have Virus Attack air on Cartoon Network outside of Italy. Turner CN Enterprises Italia will handle licensing in Italy.

The third series is a very important one for us and is part of a significant deal we have signed with the U.S. toy company MEG and Giochi Preziosi for the co-production of an animated series based on the famous toy property Puppy in My Pocket, which is currently distributed in 54 countries around the world. The TV series will air in Italy and Spain in the fall of 2010 and in the rest of the world between spring and back to school 2011. Our cooperation with Giochi Preziosi and MEG is very important for us.

At MIPTV we are preparing an extraordinary launch for these three properties. The two outside stairways, the entrance to the main auditorium, will be dedicated to Angel’s Friends and Virus Attack and the panel at the entrance of the Palais will be entirely dedicated to Puppy in My Pocket.

We do a considerable amount of research before developing properties, which start as mere ideas or sketches and some then become major productions. This is another role we play today, that of a product scout on the market.

So production is the first area of our strategy.

TV KIDS: And what are the other areas?
CORRADI: The second is to increase our co-productions with national broadcasters in Italy, France and Germany.

Today we co-produce several important productions with Rai, such as the second season of Farhat (26 26-minute episodes) and we are starting on another important series called Ants (52 3-minute episodes) and soon we will be launching Treasure Island, which is another major production with RAI.

In Germany we are producing Laura Stern (Laura Star) with Mondo Igel Media, based on a strong preschool property in Germany.

In France, Mondo TV France is headed brilliantly by Eve Baron. In a move to develop Mondo TV France, we had high growth in the last years that bought two important productions, which are Lulu Vroumette with France 3 and for which TSL is handling worldwide licensing and the other is Sherlock Yack with TF1 and ZDF Enterprises is handling licensing. Both shows will premiere 2010-2011 in France and both are high-quality series financed by the CNC.

The third area of our strategy is our library sales. When I say we are a pocket-sized multinational company I say it because in many territories we have offices that consist of one or two salespeople, therefore micro-offices with sales reps who are motivated and whose earnings are based on the revenues they generate.

Mondo TV Spain, headed by Maria-Bonaria Fois, distributes in Spain and Latin America, however, the rest of the worldwide sales is headed by Micheline Azoury based in our head office in Rome.

This has allowed us to break into many important markets in the world, in particular in the Middle East and in Africa we sell to country by country. We have also acquired third-part libraries. We have made important distribution deals with Rai Trade, CAKE Entertainment, with Australian Children’s Television Foundation, Your Family Entertainment and we will make more deals, so we are also buyers on the market.

Ours is a very simple strategy, one that in 2009 brought us to double our revenues and post a profit, and by end of 2010 and we’ll make another significant increase.

We have grown but we always have to be mindful of the realities of the market. Even if there are some great opportunities on the market nowadays, we are not happy that our competitors are having problems, because as we say in Italy, “You swim better in a lot of water.” The problem is that today the water is very shallow, but for sure, the quality of our product, the segmentation of our sales efforts and the possibility of co-producing with major broadcasters in Europe, allows us to face this economic crisis well and to be much stronger than were when the crisis began.

TV KIDS: Do you feel the worst of the economic downturn is over?
CORRADI: I think the economic situation will continue to be difficult for another two years and in our sector, in addition to the general economic downturn, there is also on-going phenomenon that free-TV stations are losing market share to cable and satellite channels, so it is always more difficult for producers to achieve the license fees that were available a few years ago.

It’s clear that the key to overcoming this crisis is to have product that has ancillary businesses such as licensing that can create revenue streams beyond TV license fees—revenues that come directly from the end users—the boy or girl who want a toy or doll or trading cards or books connected to a show. There is not doubt that this is the key to success.

Our motto is, “parlare poco e fare molto” (“talk little and do much”), keep our feet on the ground and be very humble, which is quite rare in this business where everyone thinks he’s Steven Spielberg! But I think ours has been a winning strategy.

We work very hard, we are liked in the broadcast world, we are liked in the licensing world and we have made important deals in the toy world. We are on the right path, but we always have to be careful because it’s always possible to veer off course.