TV Kids Summer Festival Preview

Co-viewing opportunities and the difficulties of cracking new IP in this landscape are key themes of the agenda for this year’s TV Kids Summer Festival, with almost 30 speakers weighing in on surviving and thriving in a market amid a significant transition. While concerns remain—about competing with gaming, brand safety and monetization in the creator economy, strategy shifts at the streamers and on—kids’ media executives are relying on ingenuity, creativity and some tried-and-true models to navigate this great reset in the business.

Haven’t registered yet for next week’s virtual event? There’s still time to do so here. Only those registered will receive access to our Exclusive White Paper recapping key intel from the festival in a compact, easy-to-digest format.

On Tuesday, June 4, our trademark opening session on buyers is back to deliver the insights you need on what programmers are looking for today. Tune in beginning at 9 a.m. EDT to hear from KiKA’s Sebastian Debertin, M6 Group’s Coralie Boitrelle-Laigle, RTÉ’s Suzanne Kelly and Sandbox Group’s Ellen Solberg. Next up, David W. Kleeman is set for a conversation with kids’ media expert Emily Horgan as he showcases new Dubit research on what kids are watching and how they are discovering content. The opening day schedule also features top-level keynotes with Paramount’s Ramsey Naito and Hasbro Entertainment’s Olivier Dumont, plus a panel discussion on the keys to successful co-productions with Serious Kids’ Genevieve Dexter, Dandelooo’s Emmanuèle Pétry, DeAPlaneta Entertainment’s Carlos Biern and The Co-Production Company’s Doug Schwalbe.

The festival continues on Wednesday, June 5, with a session on windowing strategies featuring HARI’s Sophie “Kido” Prigent, PBS Distribution’s Joe Barrett and Thunderbird Entertainment’s Richard Goldsmith. Beginning at 10:30 a.m. EDT, viewers can tune in to see Albie Hecht, chief content officer of pocket.watch, offer up his views on the keys to success in the creator economy. Next up on the keynote roster is Disney Branded Television’s Alyssa Sapire, who will share what’s driving the success of The Walt Disney Company’s preschool service, Disney Jr. As broadcasters and platforms seek out properties with market awareness, we’ve convened a panel with Sesame Workshop’s Kay Wilson Stallings, Tiger Aspect Kids & Family’s Tom Beattie and ZDF Studios’ Oliver Grundel to discuss maintaining long-running franchises and rebooting beloved classics. The day wraps with a creative keynote from PAW Patrol and Bob the Builder creator Keith Chapman.

On Thursday, June 6, we kick off the activities by honoring Warner Bros. Discovery’s Adina Pitt with the TV Kids Pioneer Award. Tune in beginning at 9 a.m. EDT to hear Pitt discuss her strategy for acquiring and co-producing kids’ and family fare for Warner Bros. Discovery’s U.S. services. Next, we’ll deliver an inside look at Cyber Group Studios’ approach to animation innovation with Dominique Bourse, chairman and CEO; Raphaëlle Mathieu, COO; and Pierre Belaïsch, chief creative officer. Available beginning at noon EDT, our session with industry veteran Nina Hahn will see her share thoughts on where the kids’ media business is headed. We close the fourth edition of the TV Kids Summer Festival by hearing from Marc Brown, creator of Arthur and Hop.

You can see the TV Kids Summer Festival agenda digital edition, with the full daily program and speaker biographies, here.