Sony’s Animax Broadens Focus

CULVER CITY: Sony Pictures Television (SPT) has reworked its Animax channel to focus more broadly on youth culture, along with extending its programming to alternate platforms.

Starting in April, the new Animax will begin rolling out worldwide to a target audience of 14- to 29-year-olds. The network will blend local event coverage with popular global entertainment content. The voice of the new Animax will be both global and local, with each territory airing programs tailored to their market. Every territory will also cast local talent as on-air personalities. The local voice will also extend to the online Animax environment with global competitions spotlighting the best user-generated content, as well as blog competitions and interactive features, including lists, polls, and mash-up tools.

Furthering its multiplatform efforts, the new Animax will have a significant mobile and online presence featuring significant community tools at ANIMAXtv.com. Micro-blogging, fan wiki elements, instant messaging features and digital collectibles, gifts and collages will facilitate cross-platform audience interaction.

Changes in the Animax lineup will begin in Portugal in April and will continue throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America in the following months. As part of the reimagining of the network, the on-air look and feel of Animax will be substantially reinvented, with the fresh look tying together all Animax platforms.

“The new focus of Animax is to capture the global youth audience of 14- to 29-year-olds where they are most passionate,” said Marie Jacobson, the executive VP of programming and production for international networks for SPT. “Animax will enable its key audience of young people around the world to create, share, and play together regardless of their geography or nationality.”