Teletoon

World Screen Weekly, March 15,
2007

COUNTRY: Canada

LAUNCH DATE: The French-language service launched on September 8, 1997.
The English-language service launched on October 17, 1997.

DISTRIBUTION: Available in more that 7 million homes in Canada and
reaches over 3 million Canadian kids aged 2-11

OWNERSHIP: Teletoon is jointly owned by Canada’s Astral Media (50%)
and Corus Entertainment (50%).

DESCRIPTION: Teletoon is Canada’s first and only 24-hour animation specialty
network that offers programming in both French and English. The programs are
targeted at kids, teens, young adults and families.

PRESIDENT: Len Cochrane

VP, MARKETING: Leslie Krueger

VP, PROGRAMMING: Carole Bonneau

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: The newly re-branded Teletoon launched on February 5,
2007, at 6 a.m. with a new corporate logo and identity, as well as a revamped
website and programming schedule. “With our 10th anniversary coming up, we
thought it’d be time to take a close look at our brand marks and our current
brand positioning,” explained Leslie Kreuger, the VP of marketing.

Eighteen months ago, the network
collaborated with four key partners that included Youthography, JWT Enterprise,
Brand New World and 4stroke. Throughout the entire creative process, the
network consulted strategic partners and a Teletoon Online Youth Advisory
Panel. Through Youthography, Krueger found that while the youth audience is
“really associated with [the channel’s] youth programming,” this was not the case
with the network’s branding.

The rebranding included an
overhaul of its schedule for daytime and The Detour programming block, which is aimed at late teens and adult
viewers. According to Krueger, viewers have responded well to the rebranding.
“Through our audience relations so far, there’s been a lot of positive comments
and people are pleased to see it,” she says.

Among kids aged 2-11, the audience
share averages about 12 percent, among teens aged 12-17, it averages 6 percent,
and among adults 18-49, it averages about 1.8 percent.

While acquired programs from
Warner Bros. like the animated series Ben 10, about a ten-year-old boy who unearths a supernatural watch
that gives him incredible powers, and Loonatics Unleashed, do well among kids during the daytime schedule, programming
VP Carole Bonneau is “very proud” of the original programming on the air, which
comprises 60 percent of Teletoon’s slate. They include programs such as 6TEEN
and Johnny Test, which also air in daytime. 6TEEN chronicles the lives of six teens as they experience their
first crushes, first jobs, and first bank accounts, with no embarrassing
moments left unturned. The action-comedy series Johnny Test chronicles the adventures of a fearless 11-year-old boy, his
genetically engineered super dog, Dukey, and his 13-year-old super-genius
scientist sisters, Susan and Mary, who use Johnny as their guinea pig for their
outrageous scientific experiments. “We’re continuing to bring them bold,
spontaneous and smart programming,” said Bonneau. “Our mission is to be the
first terrific quality animated entertainment for everyone and everywhere.”

WHAT’S NEW: March is a big month for the network, which will feature
sneak previews of four new original series during one of the network’s most
popular programming blocks, Spin Cycle, on
March 16, and air all of the new series in their regular timeslots during the
weekend of March 17. The new shows include Wayside, which is based on the popular book series by Louis Sachar,
and features the comically absurd tales from the top floor of the 30-story-high
Wayside grammar school; Aardman Animations’ first all-CGI animated series Chop
Socky Chooks, which was co-produced with
DECODE Entertainment and follows the adventures of a team of Kung Fu chickens
who work undercover to combat their arch-enemy Dr. Wasabi; My Gym Partner’s
a Monkey, in which 12-year-old Adam Lyon
is accidentally enrolled at the all-animal Charles Darwin Middle School; and Chaotic,
the multiplatform interactive card game
series from 4Kids Entertainment. Ben 10 will also have brand new episodes throughout April. George
of the Jungle, which was co-produced with
Cartoon Network in the U.S., will launch in July on Teletoon.

WEBSITE: www.teletoon.com

— By Irene Lew