Nick’s Layla Lewis on Acquisition Strategy

NEW YORK: Layla Lewis, VP of content acquisitions at Nickelodeon, shares with TV Kids her strategy for sourcing shows from the international market.

Nick has always had a strong origination pipeline that is mainly driven by the U.S. But this is supported by a well-resourced international department that looks at opportunities in the shape of co-productions, format deals and acquisitions.

Explaining how it works, Layla Lewis, VP of content acquisitions, says, “I am responsible for content acquisitions for Nickelodeon channels globally, including the U.S., as well as all international acquisitions across Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Nicktoons, TeenNick and [the SVOD service] Noggin. We take pitches at the earliest stage of development right up to fully produced series.”

An interesting model for Nick is Talia in the Kitchen, a fantasy sitcom about a 14-year-old girl who revives her family’s restaurant business with “magical” spices. It’s part of a trend within the Nick family that involves adapting local shows for the global market. Talia was a Nick Latin America telenovela remade as a 40-episode English-language series. This model had been previously adopted on House of Anubis and Every Witch Way.

“We’re continuously on the lookout for content that can work across all of our channels around the world, including the U.S.,” says Lewis. “To achieve this, it’s important that we take time to explore different ways, as well as different locations, to source, make, co-produce or acquire that content. For example, we just finished shooting a set of three movies in Spain called Lost in the West and also announced new live-action series.”

Echoing the Talia example, one of these new series is a U.S. adaptation of the Nick Latin America hit Yo Soy Franky. Another sees Nick returning to the Netherlands for inspiration: The Ludwigs will be made as both an English-language global series and a Dutch-language local series at the same time, using the same sets.

In terms of co-productions, Lewis points to the preschool hit Paw Patrol as well as “more and more” collaborations in live action (such as Max & Shred with Breakthrough Entertainment and Make It Pop with DHX Media).

On the acquisitions front, strong performers recently have included Alvinnn!!! and the Chipmunks and Peppa Pig.