Taking Flight

SVOD and the need for stand-out brands are among the trends reshaping the kids’ content distribution business in Asia.

Asia proved to be a hub of activity for kids’ content distributors at MIPCOM, generating a wealth of deal news out of the market. Of note, m4e brokered a deal for Mia and me in mainland China. ITV Studios Global Entertainment sold the first season of Thunderbirds Are Go to CCTV, marking the first time the property will air in the country. Mondo TV clinched an agreement with China’s Henan York Animation for the production of three new animated series to be completed by November 2020. FremantleMedia Kids & Family signed new agreements for its hit properties Danger Mouse, Kate & Mim-Mim and Tree Fu Tom across the region, and Turner Asia Pacific acquired two additional seasons of Xilam Animation’s slapstick comedy series Oggy and the Cockroaches.

All that activity sets the stage for what should be a vibrant and busy week for children’s programming producers and distributors this Asia TV Forum (ATF). This segment of the media business is a key focus at the market, with a Junior@ATF conference strand exploring international co-productions, 360-degree experiences, funding and more.

DEMANDING TIMES
One area that is transforming the kids’ business, in Asia and across the globe, is SVOD. For many distributors attending ATF this year, the tremendous growth in the on-demand space has been the biggest shift they’ve seen in the sector over the last 12 months.

“While the home-entertainment business is fading out, we have finally seen SVOD businesses beginning to pick up, especially in Australia and Southeast Asia,” reports Grace Chan, the commercial director for content and experiences in the Asia Pacific at Mattel Creations. “YouTube is significantly growing its subscriber base and viewership in the region. Although the traditional broadcasting business is keeping its vast penetration to households, digital platforms have garnered constant viewing patterns among the younger generations.”

Emmanuel Dereau, international sales executive at Cyber Group Studios, says that the French company has boosted its Asian business via pacts with OTT platforms, aligning with pan-regional players like iflix and HOOQ and local players such as Amazon in India, tonton in Malaysia and DOONEE in Thailand.

SECOND WINDOWS
“The OTT platforms have a double benefit,” Dereau reports. “On one hand, they are a great opportunity to give a second life to our catalog titles after their airing on traditional broadcasters. This is possible because we have developed strong partnerships with local partners in the region over the past ten years. On the other hand, digital platforms are now ready to invest more in order to get the first run on our new productions in their country. For instance, Amazon India picked up the first run on three Cyber Group productions, including Zorro the Chronicles, to be part of its launch in the region.”

Rainbow, too, has secured placement of its shows on digital platforms in the region, including iflix and Netflix. “We are monitoring them very closely as we strongly believe that they are the future of entertainment,” says Cristiana Buzzelli, senior VP of licensing and acquisitions.

Federico Vargas, the director of distribution at 9 Story Media Group, notes that “in addition to major global services like Netflix, the recent proliferation of regional players has presented a terrific opportunity for both our tent-pole titles and our evergreen library titles, with new services emerging every day.”

The digital platforms have also been a boon to MarVista Entertainment’s regional business, with the company housing a large slate of TV movies that include many targeted at kids and families.

“The OTT platforms, generally speaking, are non-exclusive and everywhere,” says Robby Amar, the executive director of distribution at MarVista. “They are looking for volume. They have a set of driver titles, and then they have the titles that are secondary within the same genre. When it comes to MarVista titles, a few are actually used as drivers, [such as] our Disney and Nickelodeon co-productions. They have been acquired left and right, whether it’s pan-Asian platforms or per territory platforms.”

While Martin Krieger, the head of global distribution at Studio 100 Media, agrees that deals with nonlinear platforms are on the up, “TV remains our main focus for the first window. It continues to be the most important medium for establishing high awareness for a property and is thus still crucial, especially for our merchandising and licensing partners.”

In order to drive successful licensing and merchandising campaigns, kids’ content owners are finding that broadcasters are much more concerned about a property’s built-in awareness among audiences.

BRAND AWARE
“The striking fact is that traditional kids’ buyers need more and more brands and properties that already have notoriety in the region,” says Cyber Group’s Dereau. “Zorro is a brand of worldwide heritage on which our partners in the region are happy to capitalize.”

He adds, “In China, we have been observing that more and more [players] choose to specialize in the kids’ business to combine media distribution with a merchandising strategy in order to bring big properties such as Zorro or Zou to the Chinese market.”

Mattel Creations is arriving at ATF with content based on a very well-known brand: Barbie. “Mattel Creations is expanding the content format for Barbie from focusing on two to three movies a year to movies plus series, including Barbie Dreamhouse for older girls and Dreamtopia for younger girls,” Chan explains. “We will be managing the distribution of these series for a bigger market impact for the brand.”

Rainbow’s ATF checklist includes consolidating the presence of kids’ megabrand Winx Club region-wide, “as it proved to be a great evergreen show,” Buzzelli says. Another mandate is lining up deals for Regal Academy, “as we already have a master toy deal in place in Asia, and we are also focusing on building a strong consumer-products program.” The company is also exploring live-action opportunities on the heels of its launch of Maggie & Bianca Fashion Friends.

PLAY TIME
MarVista’s Amar says that he’s been hearing more and more requests for “branded content, particularly with animation [series]. You need to have a toy attached to it in order to be given all the attention you need from the broadcasters. Particularly when it’s time to program the shows, they need that ad revenue to help them promote the series.”

Regarding movies, meanwhile, Amar says that broadcasters have responded well to MarVista’s Nickelodeon and Disney originals, as well as titles like Jessica’s Darling’s It List, Mark & Russell’s Wild Ride, Raising the Bar and Annabelle Hooper and the Ghosts of Nantucket. “There’s a continued hunger for this kind of content in Asia because it is safe and it is for [mass] audiences. [They are] really good for co-viewing.”

The driver for Studio 100’s Asian business has been animation, Krieger notes. “This genre travels easily internationally. Live-action shows are often subject to trends like fashion, music and stars—they always answer strongly to the zeitgeist, which might not be a global one but a local one. For preschoolers, on the other hand, there has been and still is a high international demand for curriculum-based content in combination with fun and comedy elements. Buyers are looking for shows that have a central character and friends, portray positive role models and are filled with humor. For preschool and preteens alike it is also always good to offer elements such as enchantment, adventure and action, which appeal to both girls and boys at the same time. In addition and most definitely, any story has to contain positive values such as friendship, loyalty and honesty.”

9 Story’s Vargas says he’s seen a range of kids’ genres resonating across the region. “Our PBS KIDS-branded shows like Peg + Cat, Daniel Tiger’s Neighbourhood, Wild Kratts and Nature Cat are experiencing a lot of traction—series with an educational curriculum tend to perform well within the territory. Live-action educational series are also performing well. Animated comedies with an element of slapstick humor have also been working well across the territory.”

Regardless of the target demo, buyers are looking for “entertaining kids’ productions that also transmit good values to children,” Cyber Group’s Dereau says, highlighting new shows from the company like Mirette Investigates and Leo the Wildlife Ranger. “All our productions have in common the transmission to future citizens of important values such as solidarity, respect for wildlife or curiosity about other cultures.”

Mattel’s Chan agrees that “all kids’ genres remain strong,” but adds that educational fare, in particular, is a sweet spot. “Education values like life lessons from Thomas & Friends are most wanted in China,” Chan says.

MARKET SAVVY
China is one of Mattel’s leading AsiaPac markets, Chan says, alongside Australia and Japan. “We continue to expand aggressively on content development and distribution in China, and we would like to do more in the longer run in Southeast Asia and India,” she adds.

China and Australia, plus Southeast Asia, have been the biggest drivers for 9 Story. Vargas says that for additional growth, “we are looking to work with emerging territories and partner with the growing base of new OTT players.”

Cyber Group has built “strong and diversified partnerships” in China and India, Dereau notes, and has seen its business grow in markets such as Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.

“South Korea and Japan are two major countries where we would like to develop more in the coming years,” Dereau continues. “Since they have strong local animation production [businesses], there is little space for foreign acquisitions.” Nevertheless, Dereau says that the Cyber Group titles Mirette Investigates and Menino and the Children of the World “have received excellent feedback among these two markets.”

“We still want Japan to be what it needs to be in terms of a major player on OTT,” says MarVista’s Amar on where he’d like to be doing more business in 2017. “It’s getting there, but I don’t think it’s quite there yet. Vietnam has emerged as a would-be small market becoming an important one. Also Taiwan and the Philippines, particularly for OTT platforms.”

Studio 100’s Krieger says he is particularly focused on China, as well as building on already strong relationships in India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore.

ASIAN TOONS
In addition to driving geographic expansion, a number of distributors are exploring co-production opportunities across the region, or aligning with producers from Asia to take their shows globally.

“In addition to our own productions, we distribute third-party productions, and Asia Pacific is our main source region,” Cyber Group’s Dereau says. “Indeed, we are distributing eight series that were originally produced in very different Asian countries, such as South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and India. We are eager to go further in terms of partnerships and we are exploring co-pro opportunities within the region. We have met several producers from the region over the last year to this end.”

“Our two own animation studios, Flying Bark Productions, based in Sydney, and Studio 100 Animation, based in Paris, have been active and co-producing in the region for years,” Krieger says. “A large portion of our hit shows are born out of co-productions with partners across the Asia Pacific.”

Chan is excited about the slate Mattel will be rolling out next year, including “the number one boys’ animation brand from Korea, Turning Mecard. We are bringing this boys’ action animation not just to AsiaPac, but worldwide too.”

Looking ahead to 2017, Krieger is focused on growing the company’s existing business, keeping a close eye on how digital is reshaping the sector.

“We are trying out different ways of placing our content with nonlinear platforms and are always taking specific market needs into consideration. Of course when selling a new show we are more careful, especially with regards to free VOD content. However, depending on the territory, even AVOD can co-exist with TV at the beginning of the life cycle without jeopardizing each other at all.”

Rainbow is boosting its regional efforts now that it has a subsidiary in Kuala Lumpur alongside a base in Hong Kong, “and plans for China,” Buzzelli says. “We have a local team in place and we would like to make the most of the potential of the market, which is now much more open to Western content.”

Pictured: Studio 100’s Nils Holgersson.