Marie McCann on the CBC Kids Mission

Marie McCann, senior director of children’s content at CBC, discussed how the pubcaster is using YouTube and the crucial role of co-pros in her programming strategy at the TV Kids Summer Festival today.

McCann took part in a keynote conversation with Jamie Stalcup, managing editor of TV Kids, that you can watch here.

CBC is catering to young audiences via the CBC Kids morning block, mainly for preschoolers, on the streaming service CBC Gem and on YouTube, which McCann referred to as the “third prong of our distribution strategy for video content.”

With a footprint that extends to TikTok via the financial literacy series Street Cents and a slate of online activities, “We try to go where the audiences are with content that’s appropriate to their age and content use needs,” McCann said.

CBC Kids has long had a YouTube presence, McCann said. “Our digital teams recognized the power of YouTube to reach audiences. We were able to work with our partners and start not just rolling out promotional clips and short-form video, but our longer-form shows. We see it as one of the principal distribution arms of our content. That’s important as a public broadcaster. We have the ability to go where the audiences are. We’re getting content to them where they need it, when they need it.”

CBC uses a variety of models to get its originals off the ground, McCann explained. “We’re here for Canadian kids and families, so we want to elevate and amplify Canadian voices in our content. It doesn’t mean it’s the only content we’re bringing them. We want to bring them some of the finest content from around the world. Acquisitions are very popular with our audiences. There’s a whole asset mix for our content to make sure that our kids have what they love.”

On the themes that are guiding her programming approach at present, McCann noted, “We’re always looking for content that is going to make a kid laugh, learn and feel. At the core, we want to inspire curiosity and critical thinking. We want kids to know about themselves and about the world around them.”

Drilling down further on her wish list, McCann said CBC Kids already delivers more than 500 hours of preschool content, with another 200 hours for tweens on CBC Gem. “What don’t we have? We’d really like to see some interesting windows into content that speaks more specifically to boys without excluding girls and non-binary kids. We would like to see very authentic stories from kids’ experiences. We’d like to see things that reflect kids’ passions and what they’re into and what their journey is to achieve those goals.”

McCann is waiting to see which recent greenlights get financed. With a clearer picture of what she has coming down the pipeline, “We’re going to be able to rejig our strategy for the next few years and it’ll be a lot easier for us to give a clear list of things that we might want to touch on.”

Co-productions are essential to the originals strategy, McCann said. “We know, especially in animation, if we want to deliver a high-quality product, we have to get together as public broadcasters, streamers, traditional linear broadcasters, everybody who’s looking for kids’ content. When we find shows that resonate globally, we know they’ll also resonate at home. It’s important to reaching those budgets that you need for the higher-end productions. At the same time, we’re seeing distributors in the Canadian system understand that they can step in, make a difference and help get a show across the line. We’re very grateful to those partnerships.”

Acquisitions serve several needs at CBC Kids. On broadcast, acquisitions like PAW Patrol “bring eyeballs to our broadcast, and they’re programmed with originals and that helps bring audiences to our originals. Similarly, on CBC Gem, acquisitions are extremely important. We need volume. We love libraries. They help with engagement on the platform and similarly bring in audiences. We can then introduce them to originals.”

Acquisitions are mainly focused on CBC Gem. “There are cases where we get rights for both television and Gem, but the strategy now has leaned more towards Gem and YouTube when we can get the rights as well,” McCann said.

McCann went on to discuss how exclusivity needs have changed. There was a time when if exclusive rights were not available for both linear and streaming, “you couldn’t pick up the show. Very quickly, this changed. It was obvious that exclusivity minimizes opportunity for discoverability. We share in a lot of cases in a lot of different ways. We do it strategically, we do it intentionally. Windowing is always something that we think about when we’re acquiring rights. It’s tied to our contribution. All that has to be negotiated at the contract [stage], but we’re certainly flexible and we want our shows to be discovered.”

Asked for what she sees as gaps in the market, McCann noted, “We have to be innovative with our modes of storytelling. I’d like to see more digital-first approaches to content. I’d like to see more vertical content. How are the kids who’ve grown up in short-form vertical consuming linear storytelling? I’d like to see more of that, particularly in the youth space.”

On navigating the business of serving young audiences today, McCann noted, “At the end of the day, it starts with the audience. It starts with kids. It’s the people we’re serving. This is who we work for. Our content has to reflect who they are, what their family life is like, what their experiences are, what their preferences are. We always have to make ourselves new. We have to stay engaged. We do direct audience engagement. We don’t just study clicks. We study kids and families. Our country is, like many countries, becoming increasingly diverse. We have to create content that authentically tells the stories of the classrooms today. If we don’t, we are Tyrannosaurus rex. We’re done. So, it is a business imperative to understand who kids are today and what they want.”