TV Kids Festival to Host Panel on Licensing & Merchandising Strategies

The TV Kids Festival, running from February 17 to 20, will feature a panel on licensing and merchandising strategies, with insights from 9 Story Media Group/Scholastic Entertainment’s Kristin Lecour, Boat Rocker Studios’ Mellany Welsh and Spin Master Entertainment’s Maryellen Zarakas. You can register to attend the festival for free here.

Together, Lecour, VP of consumer products for 9 Story and Scholastic Entertainment; Welsh, senior VP and head of distribution and brands at Boat Rocker Studios; and Zarakas, senior VP of global consumer products and franchise development at Spin Master, will discuss the latest L&M trends and what they foresee as the biggest opportunities in 2026.

They join the previously announced participants: Evan Shapiro; Super RTL’s Oliver Schablitzki; Sky Kids’ Ian France; WildBrain’s Josh Scherba; BBC Studios Kids & Family’s Cecilia Persson; CAKE’s Ed Galton; Hidden Pigeon Company’s Karen K. Miller; Guru Studio’s Frank Falcone; Banijay Kids & Family’s Delphine Dumont; Madgic Distribution’s Lionel Marty; SAMAX Entertainment’s Raphaëlle Mathieu; Sesame Workshop’s Kay Wilson Stallings; PBS KIDS’ Adriano Schmid; CBC Kids’ Marie McCann; ZDF Studios’ Oliver Grundel; Magic Light Pictures’ Muriel Thomas; Kidoodle.TV’s Brenda Bisner; HappyKids’ David Di Lorenzo; Ampere Analysis’s Olivia Deane; Dubit’s David Kleeman, Matt Picton and Benjamin Sumner; Craig Gerber; and Elmo. Look out for more announcements in the coming days. Stay tuned for a full schedule next week.

You can register for the TV Kids Festival here, free of charge.