{"id":15549,"date":"2019-01-04T09:00:47","date_gmt":"2019-01-04T14:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2019-01-08T09:28:17","modified_gmt":"2019-01-08T14:28:17","slug":"2018-the-year-in-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/2018-the-year-in-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"2018: The Year in Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"

World Screen recaps the biggest stories in kids’ content in 2018.<\/em><\/p>\n

The kids\u2019 industry braced for the worst early last year as Toys”R”Us revealed it would be shuttering its U.S. stores. It was a move that certainly impacted the financials of toy giants Hasbro and Mattel, and coincided with report after report about kids spending more time on their devices and less in front of TV screens. And yet, as the year wore on, we saw data that toy sales and character licensing revenues were actually up and plenty of deals proving the value of good IP.<\/p>\n

Of note, Hasbro bought Saban Brands’ Power Rangers<\/em> and a number of other entertainment properties; 9 Story Media Group acquired Out of the Blue Enterprises; Emerald Media, a pan-Asian company backed by global investment firm KKR, took a controlling stake in Cosmos-Maya; Boat Rocker Media acquired Fremantle\u2019s Kids & Family division; and m4e, part of the Studio 100 Group, landed sole control of the rights to the international hit Mia and me<\/em>. DHX Media, which had announced a strategic review in 2017, executed a number of moves to get it back on track last year, including selling its Halifax animation studio and a stake in its interest in the Peanuts brand. Other investment and M&A activity in 2018 included BRON Ventures picking up a stake in Ken Faier\u2019s Epic Story Media, Viacom investing in pocket.watch, Hopster completing a new growth capital round led by Sony Pictures Television Networks and Xilam Animation raising $25.9 million in capital to expand. Cyber Group Studios launched a brand-new animation studio in Roubaix, France, while Studio 100 set up a new facility in Munich and Entertainment One revealed significant growth in its Family & Brands division.<\/p>\n

The year was also marked by a wave of leadership changes, including long-time Nickelodeon veteran Cyma Zarghami exiting her post (she was later succeeded by Brian Robbins). John Lasseter left Disney following harassment claims. Margo Georgiadis stepped down from the top spot at Mattel, with Ynon Kreiz now in that post. Dana Landry and Steven DeNure both left DHX Media.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, digital continued to exert significant influence on the business. Netflix made a slew of investments throughout the year, including inking a deal with The Roald Dahl Story Company and aligning with key creators like Chris Nee (Doc McStuffins<\/em>) and Alex Hirsch (Gravity Falls<\/em>). Amazon Studios, too, made several key commissions, among them Gaumont\u2019s Do, Re & Mi<\/em>, featuring Frozen<\/em>‘s Kristen Bell. Apple gave a multi-series order to Sesame Workshop for a slate of children’s programming and committed a significant sum for new Peanuts content from DHX Media. Hopster continued its expansion and OTT services like iQiyi and iflix upped their kids\u2019 investments. And the major kids\u2019 broadcasters stepped up their digital activities, including new apps, SVOD services and more.<\/p>\n

With children spending more time on nonlinear platforms, episode durations are in flux, with increasing activity in the short-form content space. Warner Bros. Animation revealed Looney Tunes Cartoons<\/em>, a series of new short-form cartoons starring iconic characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. And YouTube content is being eyed for television, such as Fresh TV picking up the exclusive rights for Lucas the Spider<\/em>, a series of animated shorts, and R\u00daV, Iceland\u2019s public broadcaster, licensing ten episodes of the animated Tulipop<\/em> short.<\/p>\n

Another significant content trend that has picked up over the last year or so is diversity and inclusion, with broadcasters and producers eager to develop shows that reflect the reality of children\u2019s lives today. Production has begun on Mira, Royal Detective<\/em>, Disney Junior’s new animated preschool series inspired by the cultures and customs of India. Italian pubcaster Rai produced Jams<\/em>, a drama miniseries on sexual harassment, and The Star of Andra and Tati<\/em>, based on the true story of two sisters who survived Auschwitz. Hulu rolled out The Bravest Knight Who Ever Lived<\/em>, an animated series with an LGBTQ character.<\/p>\n

The emphasis on known IP continued throughout 2018, with a wave of reboots and book-based properties. On the reboot front, key examples include Nickelodeon bringing back Blue’s Clues<\/em> and Scholastic Entertainment reimagining Clifford the Big Red Dog<\/em>. There is also a Flintstones<\/em> spin-off in the works. Books that landed deals for TV adaptations last year include The Velveteen Rabbit<\/em>, The Last Kids on Earth<\/em>, When I Feel Good, When I Don\u2019t<\/em>, Princesses Wear Pants<\/em>, the Beetle<\/em> trilogy, Touch the Earth<\/em> and Fairy Mom and Me<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In their quest for the best IP, channels, distributors and platforms are keen to align with top-tier talent, as evidenced by the raft of first-look deals that were announced in 2018. Craig Gerber (Sofia the First<\/em>, Elena of Avalor<\/em>) signed an overall development deal for children’s programming at Disney Channels Worldwide. Eric Friedman signed an overall agreement to create and develop new projects exclusively for Disney Channel. Travis Braun agreed to develop and produce animated and live-action content for Disney Channels Worldwide and Disney\u2019s upcoming direct-to-consumer service. Nickelodeon entered into a first-look partnership with comedian\/actor\/TV personality Kevin Hart. Cyber Group Studios signed an agreement with Bee Prod, founded and led by Gaumont alum Pierre Bela\u00efsch. Sonar Entertainment signed a first-look agreement with Wildseed Studios.<\/p>\n

Last year also saw plenty of activity on the live events and theme parks front as rights owners sought new ways to allow kids to connect with the brands they love. Sesame Workshop is collaborating with PortAventura World and Sally Corporation on Europe’s first-ever Sesame Street<\/em>-themed dark ride. Kilburn Live struck a deal to create, build and operate Hasbro-themed family entertainment centers across the U.S. and Canada. Viacom International Media Networks Asia inked a deal for Nickelodeon\u2019s first indoor theme park in the region. Turner Asia Pacific and Indonesia’s The MAJ Group are developing an entertainment park featuring Cartoon Network brands as part of The MAJ Nusa Dua complex in southern Bali. Entertainment One secured a deal with Italian theme park Leolandia for the first-ever PJ Masks<\/em> attraction, and worked with Merlin Entertainments to roll out Peppa Pig World of Play, the brand\u2019s first indoor play centers for kids and families. Turner and Singapore-based Oceanic Group launched Cartoon Network Wave, a fully-branded cruise ship featuring the channel\u2019s most famous animated characters.<\/p>\n

Other significant developments in 2018 included a new \u00a360 million ($76 million) initiative that aims to find “the next big thing” in U.K. children’s television; experiments in AR and VR; and rumblings that the FCC in the U.S. wants to change television rules in the U.S. that require free-to-air broadcasters to air some educational\/informational content for children.<\/p>\n

The kids\u2019 business also lost two icons in 2018 with the passing of Emmy winner Stephen Hillenburg, creator, writer, producer and director of the long-running animated comedy SpongeBob SquarePants<\/em>; and Stan Lee, chairman emeritus of Marvel who co-created such iconic characters as Spider-Man.<\/p>\n

Catch up on these stories and more by subscribing to TV Kids Daily<\/a><\/em> and TV Kids Breaking News<\/a><\/em> and visiting TVKids.ws<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

World Screen recaps the biggest stories in kids’ content in 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":15550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-profiles","category-top-stories","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\n2018: The Year in Kids - TVKIDS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/2018-the-year-in-kids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2018: The Year in Kids - TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"World Screen recaps the biggest stories in kids' content in 2018.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/2018-the-year-in-kids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-01-04T14:00:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-01-08T14:28:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/07\/2019-01-02-Year-in-review.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"319\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/2018-the-year-in-kids\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/2018-the-year-in-kids\/\",\"name\":\"2018: The Year in Kids - TVKIDS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-04T14:00:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-01-08T14:28:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/2018-the-year-in-kids\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/2018-the-year-in-kids\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/2018-the-year-in-kids\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"2018: The Year in Kids\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/\",\"name\":\"TVKIDS\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\",\"name\":\"Mansha Daswani\",\"description\":\"Mansha Daswani is the editor-in-chief and associate publisher of World Screen. 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