MIPTV: The Week in Kids

Sandwiched between two prominent events for the kids’ business in the U.S. and Europe in the first half of the year, MIPTV’s role in the calendar for the children’s content community is not as crucial as it once was. But as Lucy Smith, director of MIPTV and MIPCOM Cannes, told reporters as the event came to a close, sustaining the market’s importance to those in the business of buying and selling kids’ IP is among her key priorities.

“We just met with the MIP Kids Buyers Advisory Board,” Smith noted. “They felt it was a very profitable market for them, and they had their diaries booked out. We had multiple exhibitors here selling their kids’ content. We had the Future of Kids TV Summit with a packed-out audience.”

Smith said she is working with the board—which includes France Télévisions’ Tiphaine de Raguenel, Rai’s Luca Milano, Paramount Global’s Jules Borkent, Warner Bros. Discovery’s Adina Pitt, Netflix’s Janine Weigold and the BBC’s Sarah Muller—on strengthening the Future of Kids TV Summit held at the market. “We’re making sure we involve the public-service broadcasters in Europe, where there’s a lot of need to discuss more about the financing of kids’ content.”

European animated content was undoubtedly in the spotlight last week. CAKE revealed it had partnered with the Polish-based producers Animoon and Letko for the new preschool series Toru Superfox. Sales were secured across multiple territories for the Toon2Tango and Mondo TV kids’ series Agent 203.

Elsewhere, Superights landed a raft of deals for the preschool series Go! Go! Cory Carson after the show’s first window on Netflix. The animated series Transformers: EarthSpark was licensed to, among other broadcasters, Gulli in France, Clan in Spain and Super! in Italy. TVOkids ordered the new unscripted, live-action eco series Green Squad from Apartment 11 Productions. And reflecting the opportunities for companies with significant catalogs, the Amazon Prime Video channel Pash, operated by Studio 100 Media and ZDF Studios, expanded its reach to Poland and France.

Catch up on these stories and more on TVKids.com and watch clips of new shows on TVKidsScreenings.com.