{"id":20307,"date":"2021-03-19T08:00:30","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T12:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2021-03-22T09:04:18","modified_gmt":"2021-03-22T13:04:18","slug":"jetpacks-dominic-gardiner-talks-kids-tv-trends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/jetpacks-dominic-gardiner-talks-kids-tv-trends\/","title":{"rendered":"Jetpack\u2019s Dominic Gardiner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dominic Gardiner, CEO of Jetpack Distribution, talks to <\/em>TV Kids about the state of the kids\u2019 distribution market, surviving a year without physical markets and tapping into the expanding opportunities in the AVOD space.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the seven years since Dominic Gardiner launched Jetpack Distribution, the company has solidified its place as a go-to destination for quality kids\u2019 content. With a catalog of more than 800-plus half-hours across the preschool and 6-to-11 brackets, animated and live-action, Jetpack takes a flexible approach to curating the best possible slate, picking up already completed shows (such as taking on Mighty Little Bheem<\/em>) and working closely with producers to get projects off the ground, as it did on Master Moley<\/em>. Gardiner, CEO of Jetpack, tells TV Kids Weekly <\/em>about the state of the kids\u2019 distribution market, surviving a year without physical markets and tapping into the expanding opportunities in the AVOD space.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS:<\/strong> How did the Covid-19 shutdowns impact your business over the last year?GARDINER:<\/strong> It was a good year for Jetpack all around. Year-on-year, the business has been growing. The appetite for kids\u2019 content has remained remarkably stable. I think 2020 was the year we were looking forward to having lots of new platforms, and obviously, more platforms mean more hours to fill. For us and the producers we represent, that\u2019s encouraging. When we went [into lockdown], that put a brake on conversations. The worst-case scenarios that got bandied about in March [2020] were quite terrifying, and rightly so. A lot of people put business on hold and started furloughing. There was a slowdown throughout the summer, but there was a little bit of a pick-up toward the end of summer. The animation studios we work with all moved very quickly\u2014within three months, they were operating entirely out of office. Live-action producers struggled and still are struggling. There was a drive toward educational content within kids. The BBC has had fantastic results on their daytime educational content. So we started considering some of the more educational components within our catalog as selling points. And as we\u2019re reviewing new shows, we\u2019re looking at: What do kids learn from this? Even if it\u2019s not just a pure educational series but nourishes kids\u2019 minds. Inclusiveness and diversity, both on-screen and off-screen, is something we\u2019re much more sensitive to. We\u2019ve always been aware of it, but it\u2019s very much at the front now. Some broadcasters made very significant statements to say they had to see diversity on-screen. We\u2019re doing our due diligence on that, and when we speak to producers, we\u2019re providing that feedback, so they recognize that it\u2019s not just a nice-to-have, it\u2019s an essential component.<\/p>\n

We were worried about the economic impact of Covid-19; we were worried about the impact on commercial broadcasters, on advertising. That hasn\u2019t been too big of a negative there yet. Maybe 2022 will be different, but right now, things are looking OK.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS:<\/strong> What have the intensifying streaming wars meant for your business?GARDINER:<\/strong> We knew that when Disney launched Disney+, they would, over time, migrate from having multiple pay-TV channels in lots of territories, all with their own unique spin on what the brand is and how to maintain audiences. We could sell a piece of content to Disney in one country and Nickelodeon in another country, maybe Cartoon Network in another country. The first thing that set alarm bells off was Disney closing the channel in the U.K. over the summer, a matter of months after launching Disney+. We\u2019re in conversations with the others. It\u2019s trying to guess the longevity of the linear pay business. How long will they keep both the streaming and linear going at the same time? The opportunity on SVOD is there and it\u2019s growing, particularly with HBO Max in the U.S. Suddenly, you have WarnerMedia moving into preschool, which is something Turner had not done for 10 to 15 years. That\u2019s a big opportunity. An opportunity opened up in live action as well. ViacomCBS seems to be taking an approach where they want to produce a lot of series for their own platforms, but they want to produce for other platforms, too. That changes the way you pitch to them. We\u2019re looking forward to that. In the past, when you pitched to Nickelodeon, you had to know what their brand values were, what they were trying to achieve with their audience. It\u2019s going to be interesting to see if they\u2019re open to broader ideas, new formats, new producers. That\u2019s something to look forward to.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS:<\/strong> Has your approach to crafting distribution strategies for shows had to change? How do you determine what the best route to market is for a property?GARDINER:<\/strong> There\u2019s lots of new development coming through in this early part of 2021. We have our catalog shows and we have our highlights that we\u2019re promoting that are ready now to buy. Some come from streamers or have been on other platforms. On those, we\u2019ll probably look at country-by-country deals where we think we can make the biggest impact. When it comes to something that is in development and requires a commission or more financing, we tend to start with a company with the biggest reach, the one in the most amount of territories and therefore the most amount of financing that comes in. As well as Netflix, HBO, Disney or Apple, we will always talk to the BBC if it\u2019s editorially on-brand for them, or ABC in Australia, many of the German channels, networks in France, because a yes from one of those guys gives you momentum. The decision-making process is still a very long tail. You can\u2019t wait for everybody to say yes or no before moving on to the next people.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS:<\/strong> How has it been doing business without the physical markets?
\nGARDINER:<\/strong> The biggest impact of Covid-19 has been the lack of face-to-face meetings. And the bumping into people. Never before were we able to put a value on a chance meeting in a bar or being sat next to someone at dinner you\u2019d never met before. You now realize how important those are. Otherwise, you\u2019re in a bit of an echo chamber. You only hear yourself. The physical pitching through Zoom, it\u2019s very one-way. And at the end of 25 minutes it\u2019s, thanks very much, I\u2019ve got to run. It\u2019s ironic that we probably have less time than when you\u2019ve got someone in front of you at a MIPCOM, where you have an opportunity to really engage. We miss that.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS:<\/strong> We\u2019ve seen so much consolidation in the drama space. How is it managing as a kids\u2019 independent today?
\nGARDINER:<\/strong> If I were selling sport or drama, I\u2019d go through this process in exactly the same way, except the money would be so much bigger. I watch a lot of drama; it\u2019s my relaxation. Kids has been my business for 20-plus years, I know it inside out and I love working with all the people in kids. It\u2019s not just the business; it\u2019s a huge network of friends and ex-colleagues and ex-employees and so on. We\u2019re so interwoven\u2014quite literally in some cases\u2014people have gotten married and had kids! There are second generations involved, if not third these days. I\u2019ve seen bigger distributors get into kids and I wonder what their motive is. You have to love it. It is a passion industry and you have to love the audience too. We\u2019ve stayed in our lane and we probably will still stay in our lane. When I see people come into our lane from another one, I always say, I give them 5 minutes before they bail out. The commitment doesn\u2019t last. Animation, which makes up the majority of the kids\u2019 business, is incredibly expensive, incredibly slow to produce, and it\u2019s a unique specialism to produce.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS:<\/strong> What are your key priorities for Jetpack this year?
\nGARDINER:<\/strong> For our big three titles\u2014Mighty Little Bheem<\/em>, Clangers<\/em> and Master Moley<\/em>\u2014some have already had exposure and we\u2019re now taking them to the next level. Bheem<\/em> was on Netflix, Clangers <\/em>has been on BBC and on Sprout in the U.S. Master Moley<\/em> is completely original; it\u2019s something we\u2019ve been working on from quite early days with the producers. We\u2019re increasing our involvement at the earlier stage. We\u2019ve expanded the team, and it keeps expanding. As our success has grown, the gravitational pull is great. There are a lot of people coming to us with projects now. And it can be quite overwhelming. So we\u2019ve increased resources there. We\u2019ve also challenged our sales team to become almost like mini territory managers. Who are the studios out there? Who are we not talking to? Can you drum up more contacts, more acquisitions, as well as do sales? So that\u2019s increasing our reach across the world. Building on top of that, we want to make sure our AVOD business is growing consistently. There are so many new AVOD platforms springing up, particularly in the United States. In 2020, we worked with five different AVOD platforms. AVOD is a curious business. YouTube took a big hit just before Covid. And then the pandemic happened. We were going to spend a lot of time looking at AVOD and then we didn\u2019t have time in 2020. So we\u2019re going to focus a bit more. It\u2019s going to become an important pillar in our business. I always used to say AVOD was a part of the long tail. Your YouTube exploitation for many properties was after your pay and free. I think they\u2019re all compressing. There\u2019s now an opportunity where AVOD can stand alone on some properties. We\u2019ve seen that through YouTube brands that have been successful, whether it\u2019s Pinkfong or CoComelon. It\u2019s an interesting dynamic in the kids\u2019 business that a series can be born on YouTube, exist on YouTube and now take the leap into retail. We\u2019re making sure that our skill set is strong and we\u2019re managing our properties on AVOD as well as we can do. We\u2019re one of the top distributors in the world for kids. We want to make sure we can successfully do AVOD as well as sell to free and pay and SVOD.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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