Tom Ascheim Offers Perspectives on Engagement, Brand Clutter

An industry veteran who has led some of media’s most iconic kids’ brands, including Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, Tom Ascheim shared his expertise on engaging with youth audiences at the TV Kids Festival.

Ascheim today runs Pith & Pixie Dust, a consulting company dedicated to applying his wisdom gleaned from decades in the media and entertainment industry, and the production company TEA Lane Media. You can watch his keynote interview with TV Kids’ Kristin Brzoznowski here.

“So many of us have been struggling either to get content made or to keep platforms alive. It reminds me of a long time ago. In the ’70s, all of kids’ television was pretty much confined to Saturday morning. It was not our most robust moment in the kids’ media landscape. A lot of programming had to sell toys in order to survive. It was not a great moment of innovation, and it was not a great moment for kids. We similarly have some very large platforms right now that seem to have put kids a little bit in the corner. You need a moment like this to create a renaissance. I think we are poised for a breakthrough in how we re-reach children. It’s been a long time since we’ve done something remarkable, and we’re due, so I remain optimistic.”

Brzoznowski asked Ascheim how a new piece of IP can cut through in a market where known IP is the mantra. “The two most popular shows of the last few years on television are Bluey and CoComelon, neither of which come from existing IP,” Ascheim said. “Clearly, there’s a path for new and original work to break through. It would be misleading to say that’s the norm. It’s not the norm, right? Those are two really good pieces of content that have found novel ways to reach their audience. It helps to have stuff that’s known for a lot of reasons, partly because when we’re marketing to kids, which has gotten ever more complicated, we also want to market to parents. When we market to parents, things with known and familiar IP go a long way toward making something sampled. In either case, it has to feel novel, and that’s something we all have to keep working on.”

The conversation then moved to the discoverability challenge. “We’ve underplayed the value of marketing and PR in the streaming-driven generation. It really matters. Our best marketing is our content. It has to be distinctive. Too much content that looks too much like everything else is very hard to get discovered because it doesn’t stand out.”

Ascheim continued: “Almost every show we know that’s successful for kids does well across multiple platforms. People usually pick their platform, and they pick the show they want to watch on that platform, even if it’s available in multiple places. I’ve seen that research repeated over many, many shows for children, for teens, for adults. One would think that the best and ideal strategy is to get it as many places as possible. It also used to be easier to make money as a content creator than it is today. A place like YouTube, while wonderful for exposure, is not a great place to make money unless you’re a very successful influencer. So, using a place like YouTube for exposure but finding a more traditional or a more well-paying platform for how you monetize your content also seems key to keeping the ecosystem viable.”

As the keynote wrapped, Ascheim offered up some words of wisdom for IP owners making sense of the market disruption. “Buckle up; it’s going to be a minute,” he said. “This is not going to be an easy time for any of us. We always go through tumultuous times. Being great is your best strategy. Trying to find ways to make sure you’re digging deep to find the creative that inspires you and will inspire the audience is always your best strategy. It is less clear how we’re going to bring that forward. Therefore, the other thing to remember is that whatever got us here is probably not going to get us there. So, be great, and be forward-looking. That’s back to: Look at the audience, understand what they’re caring about, and make sure you’re anticipating, not just chasing.”