{"id":15955,"date":"2019-03-08T09:00:42","date_gmt":"2019-03-08T14:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2019-05-07T12:12:31","modified_gmt":"2019-05-07T16:12:31","slug":"sarah-muller-talks-pops-content-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/sarah-muller-talks-pops-content-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"Pop\u2019s Sarah Muller"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sarah Muller, the VP of children\u2019s and youth entertainment programming at Sony Pictures Television Networks (SPTN), talks to\u00a0<\/em>TV Kids\u00a0about what\u2019s guiding the strategy for\u00a0the company’s linear and AVOD kids\u2019 brands, what she\u2019s got her eye on for acquisitions and how she\u2019s tapping into the \u201cOne Sony\u201d initiative to maximize all avenues of promotion.<\/em><\/p>\n

It was almost exactly a year ago that Muller joined SPTN. No stranger to the kids\u2019 content business, Muller was previously at Channel 5, where she was responsible for the children\u2019s brand Milkshake! She also spent ten years at the BBC, including as CBBC\u2019s head of acquisitions and creative director. For the last year, though, Muller has been leading the programming and development of SPTN\u2019s linear and AVOD kids\u2019 brands, including Pop, Tiny Pop, Pop Max and the recently launched AVOD service Pop Fun.<\/p>\n

\"***Image***\"TV KIDS:<\/strong> It\u2019s been a year since you joined SPTN. What have been some of the successes over the last 12 months?
\nMULLER:<\/strong> It\u2019s been quite an exciting 12 months. It\u2019s hard to choose between the Tiny Pop rebrand that brought it firmly into the Pop family, the Pop app launch on PS4, the overhaul of our digital strategy to offer our audience more choice across new platforms like our Pop Fun app and our YouView and Freeview players, or the significant uplift in our sponsorship business. Of course, we also maintained our position as the U.K.\u2019s number one commercial kids\u2019 channel.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS:<\/strong> What\u2019s been the programming strategy for Pop?
\nMULLER:<\/strong> Historically, Pop has very much been an acquisitions-based business and that has been phenomenally successful, so we will continue to secure great titles that our audience will love in this way. But we are thinking carefully about how we can enter the originals space, too. Meanwhile, we are actively looking for exclusive brands that we can really make our own, offering producers and suppliers the opportunity to be part of the Sony family. Top performers are Pok\u00e9mon<\/em>, Grizzy & the Lemmings<\/em> and more.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS:<\/strong> What about for Tiny Pop?
\nMULLER:<\/strong> It\u2019s very much the same effective strategy. The Pop universe is a strong mix of recognizable and exclusive titles, and Tiny Pop is no different. Top shows are Super Wings<\/em>, Masha and the Bear<\/em> and Zafari<\/em>, and again, we are looking for real brands that we can grow and make our own like, for example, Care Bears. Care Bears is a much-loved and recognizable family brand, the new series of which we will be premiering in April. We are also the U.K. linear home for super brand My Little Pony and also\u2014this is very exciting\u2014Cookie Monster. Cookie Monster is not only an opportunity to work with the world-famous Sesame Workshop, but also to bring a much-loved character to our audience.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS:<\/strong> What has been working well over on Pop Max?
\nMULLER:<\/strong> Pop Max has a very loyal following, and it\u2019s Pok\u00e9mon<\/em> and Power Rangers<\/em> all the way, with a liberal dose of laughter and cheekiness sprinkled all over.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS:<\/strong> What\u2019s new for the Pop app? How does your approach for the app differ from the linear strategy?
\nMULLER:<\/strong> Sneak peeks of favorite titles and a refreshed catch-up service are all-new features for the app. Now the app properly reflects what we\u2019re doing on-air and gives the audience a fully immersive 360-degree experience. There\u2019s been a real emphasis on games, too, as they support key brands and enhance the user experience further. Apart from being an obvious part of the Pop world, the app engages the audience in a totally different way and, hopefully, drives eyeballs back to the linear channels, leveraging the value of existing content at a low cost.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS:<\/strong> Is there anything in particular you have your eye on for acquisitions across the channels and platforms?
\nMULLER:<\/strong> We want two things: excellent comedy and live action.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS:<\/strong> How are you tapping into the \u201cOne Sony\u201d initiative to maximize promotion across the various businesses?
\nMULLER:<\/strong> Sony is at the intersection of entertainment and tech, which gives us a unique advantage. There\u2019s an emphasis on collaboration across all of our lines of business to better serve our consumers. Sony is better able to give viewers in the U.K. premium content by fully leveraging its strengths across its many businesses from Sony Pictures Television to Sony PlayStation to Sony Pictures Animation, to name just a few.<\/p>\n

Our animated Spider-Man series launch in February is a great example of this. Our theatrical, home entertainment and PlayStation teams rallied together to maximize promotional awareness for the series on all of our social media platforms and provided extra air time for advertisements, online competitions and direct mailers. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with teams throughout Sony on more exciting new projects to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sarah Muller, the VP of children\u2019s and youth entertainment programming at Sony Pictures Television Networks (SPTN), on what\u2019s guiding the strategy for\u00a0the company’s linear and AVOD kids\u2019 brands and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":350,"featured_media":15956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,21],"tags":[1697,1842,2509],"class_list":["post-15955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-interviews","category-top-stories","tag-pop","tag-sarah-muller","tag-sony-pictures-television-networks","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nPop\u2019s Sarah Muller - 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\/sarah-muller-talks-pops-content-strategy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pop\u2019s Sarah Muller - 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