Dubit’s David Kleeman moderated the closing conversation of day two of the TV Kids Festival, discussing the importance of gaming extensions with Wind Sun Sky Entertainment’s Catherine Winder and DeAPlaneta Entertainment’s Jimena Tormo.
Kleeman, senior VP of trends at Dubit, a company that researches kids’ media trends and develops games, experiences and apps, spoke with Winder and Tormo in the Game Time panel, which you can view here.
“Gaming is massive for kids right now,” Kleeman said. “Per Dubit’s most recent trends survey, only sleep and watching videos get a bigger share of young people’s time. The difference between videos and games is almost inconsequential. Time spent on digital activities only grows with age. And it’s not just a U.S. phenomenon. We survey seven countries, and in virtually all of them, between a fifth and a quarter of kids’ time is spent on digital activities—gaming, video and so forth. Once, linear led the way and games were an ancillary way to engage. Now, a lot of IPs launch game-first, and there are a lot of models for show to game and game to show. Most children’s media companies see themselves as multiplatform franchise builders. They’re all working to ensure that their content is aligned with young people and how they watch, engage and play.”
Games provide a slew of advantages, Kleeman explained. “They can be constantly updated or expanded in response to data you get from your audience, almost instantaneously. Games allow fans to interact with their favorite stories, characters and brands. Especially on platforms like Roblox and Fortnite, games offer the opportunity to let players ‘wear’ your brand in virtual space.”
On why gaming seems to be having such a moment among kids, Winder, CEO, executive producer and founder of Wind Sun Sky, noted: “Kids want to hang out with their friends, and that’s where their friends are. They have communities on the gaming platforms they love.”
Tormo, head of gaming and interactive IPs at DeAPlaneta Entertainment, agreed, adding, “Gaming spaces have become social spaces. Kids are not only playing but also hanging out, going to concerts and having more social experiences than ever. They can be whoever they want to be. They can decide to be their favorite characters. And the level of customization of those places has become more interesting for them.”
Further, Tormo said, “Parents are now more familiar with the gaming world. This is also having an important influence on their kids.”
Kleeman asked Tormo to talk through how DeAPlaneta approaches bridging the worlds of content and gaming. She highlighted WonderPals, which began as an NFT collection.
“We had to create a brand from scratch—we only had an NFT set of images that were cute, but they didn’t have any storytelling. We could see their potential because the designs were amazing, and the characters were so expressive. We had to define our audience. From that, you have to create engaging storytelling. Once you have the story, the lore, the universe, you can start thinking about the potential formats or platforms in which you will leverage that storytelling potential.”
It’s a similar approach at Wind Sun Sky, Winder explained. “We start with character first. When you have characters that are compelling and relatable and that your audience cares about, that’s all that matters. [Kids] want to engage with those characters on multiple touchpoints. We start by creating a universe bible with an ensemble of characters. From there, we strategize: Do we start with a game, shorts, a series or socials? It depends on the property, where it’s at in its evolution, what the business strategy is and what the market is looking for.”
Exploring the intersections of content and gaming further, Kleeman asked Winder about Twilight Daycare: The Show!, a linear series produced in Roblox. “Gamefam, the IP owner for Twilight Daycare, was looking for a series that would work for their fans who were looking for a deeper connection to the characters. The conceit is very simple; it’s a role-playing game, and you can either be a caretaker or a baby or a toddler. We created a story using the assets from the game itself. We worked with the Gamefam programming team, used the assets, developed original ones for the series and animated it in the platform. We took it to another level where we distributed the series itself within the game. For the pilot, we created an interactive opportunity where you could watch the show and then there was a scavenger hunt with one of the main characters within the game that you played right after watching the show.”
The success of that endeavor validated to Winder the importance of creating immersive experiences. “The gamification of content is something that fans, players and IP lovers are looking for. I think more games are going to become story worlds and more story worlds are going to become gamified. The merging of these gaming platforms and narrative storytelling is going to continue to deepen.”
“Hybridization is the future,” Tormo agreed. “We are thinking in this way when we start developing new IP.”
Developing connections across gaming and content also provides an avenue for deepening audience engagement, Tormo said. “They feel they’re connected to the story on a deeper level. Younger generations are not passive audiences. They want to have the opportunity to manipulate things, change things and create things. You have to give them a playground so they can play and explore.”
Kleeman asked Winder and Tormo to share some closing words of wisdom for producers watching about how to best deploy resources when mapping out a 360-degree strategy for an IP.
“It depends on the property and where it’s at in its evolution,” Winder said. “We’ve taken the analytics and the feedback from the audience, and that is driving where we are putting our time and resources and making key decisions as we go. This past year has been ‘beta’ mode, where we’ve been figuring out what is working, what we need to pivot and adjust.”
Tormo expressed a similar view on the value of using analytics and being smart about how and where you invest. “We start with simple activations to measure and test before making the decision to get bigger.”