Stuart Snyder

October 2007

Recent estimates project that the online gaming market will be worth some $13 billion by 2011. Cartoon Network is making sure it can secure a foothold in this lucrative industry with its first MMOG (massively multiplayer online game) next year, while its parent company, Turner Broadcasting System, is continuing to expand GameTap, a broadband service that delivers games and gaming video content. Leading this charge is Stuart Snyder, Turner’s president and COO of animation, young adults and kids’ media. In this newly created post, Snyder is responsible for the cable-tele?vision networks Cartoon Network and Boomerang in the U.S.; digital businesses like Cartoonnetwork.com, AdultSwim.com, Toonami Jetstream, Cartoon Network Video, GameTap and Super Deluxe; and the production assets Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank and Williams Street Studios in Atlanta. He is tapping into his wide range of experience, which includes running GameTap and serving as the president of CINAR (now Cookie Jar Entertainment), in his new role.

TV KIDS: How are you determining your strategy for this newly combined kids’ and young-adult division?

SNYDER: I’m a big believer in walking around and talking to everyone. I’m asking employees for their candid opinions on what we do right and the areas that we can improve upon. I’m also asking them for the great big idea that they have shoved in a drawer somewhere.

These are great wonderful brands and we want them to [maintain their identities, but at the same time] we want to find those opportunities where they can cross-pollinate each other, where it makes sense. And last but not least, I’ve already started a research project to determine from our audiences what they are embracing and how they are living their lives and how we work with our audiences and how we can do a better job. That will help us down the line in regards to our businesses and how we communicate with our customers and our viewers.

TV KIDS: What are the advantages of having all these businesses under one collective unit?

SNYDER: First of all, it provides us with the opportunity to work together rather than being in individual hubs. We get to open the windows and share ideas on a more structured basis. It also provides a lot of different portals for creative ideas. We have animation on GameTap TV that certainly opens up the opportunity to talk about the animation that takes place at Cartoon Network and also at Adult Swim and vice versa. Super Deluxe [a broadband service for comedy content] is creating programming for its business. Does it make sense for GameTap to be looking at that as well? We are in the games business in most of the brands that are under my domain, and clearly that’s a space that we want to continue to grow in. [The new structure] gives us the opportunity to talk to each other and figure that out.

TV KIDS: What are your plans for Cartoon Network?

SNYDER: We are maintaining strong on-air content. We received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations recently, for Good Wilt Hunting, Where’s Lazlo? and Robot Chicken from Adult Swim. We’re emphasizing our new shows Ben 10 and Out of Jimmy’s Head, which is the first live-action and animated series from Cartoon Network. This is a great, fun show. It’s tough being a 12-year-old anyway, but imagine being a 12-year-old with animated characters interfering with your life. We’re very excited about Out of Jimmy’s Head and we’re very excited about Chowder, which is a new comedy series premiering later on in the fall.

The key is really to listen to our audience. We’re doing more research than ever before, and we want to continue to acquire and foster new and unusual programming that fits our demo, which is boys 6 to 11. We also want to embrace the creative community. I’m spending a lot of time making sure that the creative community knows who we are and the direction that I want us to go in.

TV KIDS: How do you plan to build on the success of Cartoon Network Studios?

SNYDER: It really comes down to securing wonderful relationships with our creative partners. We aspire to hire the best [talent for our] development team. We’ve signed some key veteran animation power in Sam Register; Craig McCracken is on board with us; Andre Benjamin works with us on Class of 3000. It is about having great talent working on our shows and making sure we have healthy, positive relationships with our talent. We are already involved in producing a new batch of shorts, because we want to discover the next new talent.

TV KIDS: Original productions have been key to Cartoon Network’s success—what role do acquisitions play?

SNYDER: They are very important. Pokémon and Naruto were both acquired titles and they had great success on the network. I look for the best programming anywhere in the world for our audience. Acquisitions are going to remain an important product mix for the network. We look for properties that just fit the brand.

TV KIDS: How closely do you work with your international colleagues?

SNYDER: The network has a long history of strong relationships with our overseas partners. While I’m new in the job I’m not new to Turner, and Louise Sams [the president of Turner Broadcasting System International] and I have worked closely with each other in the past. We are already working closely in my new role. This is going to continue, where the international and the U.S. operations are going to share programming ideas, we’re going to share content ideas and we’ll even look at sharing marketing ideas. Frankly, the world is getting smaller and smaller and kids are the same whether they’re in the U.S., in Europe or in Latin America.

TV KIDS: How is Boomerang, your station for classic animation, doing?

SNYDER: We’re in 20 million households. We do very well where we are. We have a very strong video-on-demand business that continues to grow. Our April ’07 orders were up 72 percent compared to a year ago. I am actually very optimistic and I believe there are strong opportunities and potential for growth for Boomerang. It’s content that young kids and parents feel really good about. They are evergreen brands. Kids and parents can watch together. We’re going to take a hard look to see how we can grow Boomerang here in the U.S.

TV KIDS: How’s the VOD business for Cartoon Network?

SNYDER: I’m very happy with that business. We are also looking to grow it, but I feel good about where it is right now.

TV KIDS: What are the other key nonlinear initiatives for Cartoon Network?

SNYDER: I’m really excited about our digital properties. First of all there’s Cartoonetwork.com, [which had] 2 billion game plays in 2006. We’re on target to surpass that in 2007. Cartoonnetwork.com has really become synonymous with gaming for young kids. We broke a record on unique [visitors in July]. Time spent on our site is at a record high. We are really engaged with kids on the gaming side. And then of course they come and watch episodes of the shows and get information.

We’re very excited for next year when we are launching FusionFall, which is our new MMOG. This has been in the works for some time now. It is set in a reimagined 3-D Cartoon Network universe. It has a unique tone, with fantasies, superheroes, science fiction, imagination games, all in the Cartoon Network style, which is great adventure, fantasy and humor. It’s going to be a safe environment for kids. It’s being developed in partnership with Grigon Entertainment, which is a Korean company.

TV KIDS: What’s the relationship between the shows and the games? How do they affect each other?

SNYDER: We have a large group of games that are not even connected to television. It’s about keeping the kids entertained in the world of Cartoon Network, playing games, watching videos, keeping them immersed. When the MMOG kicks in, then we have another planet for them to go to.

TV KIDS: How important are off-screen, live events?

SNYDER: We look at them as ways to establish a stronger relationship with our audiences. And many events we are doing are part of our pro-social activities. We have our Get Animated mobile tour that we did in conjunction with local cable affiliates. It was a summer-long, nationwide tour where we staged events encouraging kids to get active and healthy. We’ve done Toonami Klik, which we launched in June. It is a branded street skateboard tour for kids 9 to 14. We did Props, a one-hour special where we spotlighted six kids across the country and had them interact with athletes to learn and to grow in their own individual endeavors. We are always looking for ways that we can connect in the live setting with our audiences.

TV KIDS: And what about the merchandising business, with Cartoon Network Enterprises?

SNYDER: It certainly is an important part of our business. [When you’re looking for] the best shows that connect in the merchandising arena, you think of action shows first. It’s that playability factor for a kid, with the toys or action figures and so forth. We’re having good success with Ben 10, for example, in our licensed merchandise category. It’s really just about connecting with kids and them wanting to engage on that next level with the property. But the first thing we look for is a show that works very well for television. The next tier would be to look for great shows that also have that merchandise opportunity.

TV KIDS: How much content are you developing that is purely for new-media platforms?

SNYDER: All of our GameTap and Super Deluxe content is for online. For GameTap, since our launch we’ve had over 25 million game plays to date. We have over 900 versions of the greatest video games of all time. We showcase over 600 videos in our GameTap TV section. The target demo is 18 to 49, skewing male.

SuperDeluxe is our newest business out of all of the digital brands. It launched this year and offers top-quality, original, exclusive short-form comedic videos. So the content covers everything from sketch comedy to topical sitcoms to animation, you name it. It has some of the best in established names and also rising stars. The demo is 18- to 34-year-olds.

And we are doing a lot of content for our linear networks that is presented in the digital world. And then we are setting up in our digital businesses the opportunity to do original content that complements the linear content.

TV KIDS: What about mobile content?

SNYDER: Mobile content is important to us, in this day and age. Kids are living on cell phones. It’s an important category for us to know and be involved in.

TV KIDS: How was the transition for you, from being on the production and distribution end of the business to being on the broadcasting side?

SNYDER: My entire career, it’s always been about content. It’s an old trite saying, but content is king. We have to continue to make great content. We have to look at how we maximize distribution outlets. I’ve had the luxury of being on both sides. I do bring an understanding of both sides, which has helped me to a large degree in my new role.

TV KIDS: What do you love most about your new job?

SNYDER: How long do you have? [Laughs] First of all, I get a chance to work with a lot of great talented people in our different businesses who have amazing ideas. Now that we are aggregated in the way that we are, focused on kids and young adults, it gives us the freedom to think across all of these businesses. I love the idea of talking to our great teams and figuring out what we can do together. And I love the challenge of building upon the success that Cartoon Network has already had and going even higher with the business.