{"id":20858,"date":"2021-06-10T07:54:43","date_gmt":"2021-06-10T11:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/avod-stream-platform-perspective\/"},"modified":"2021-06-10T08:23:33","modified_gmt":"2021-06-10T12:23:33","slug":"in-the-avod-stream-platform-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/in-the-avod-stream-platform-perspective\/","title":{"rendered":"In the AVOD Stream: Platform Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"

This first half of the TV Kids Summer Festival super panel on the massive kids\u2019 AVOD opportunity featured WildBrain Spark\u2019s Jon Gisby and Roku\u2019s Ashley Hovey discussing working with content and ad partners.<\/p>\n

Hovey, director of AVOD growth at Roku, oversees the Kids & Family destination on The Roku Channel, which reached more than 28 million people last year, she said. Gisby is the executive VP and managing director of WildBrain Spark, \u201crunning a network of almost 1,000 channels across YouTube and all other major platforms as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Read excerpts from the session below and watch it in its entirety here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

At Roku, \u201cwe offer content across VOD, we have live content, we work with over 30 different content partners and we service content in lots of different ways,\u201d Hovey said. \u201cWe do it by age group, we do it by characters and we have it all curated by our editorial team. We have tens of thousands of titles available. And we\u2019re part of this broader ecosystem of The Roku Channel, which reached 70 million people last quarter and is continuing to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

A division of kids\u2019 and family powerhouse WildBrain, \u201cthe core of what we do is distributing our own content, so big brands like Teletubbies<\/em>, Inspector Gadget<\/em>, Caillou<\/em>, lots of others,\u201d said Gisby of WildBrain Spark. \u201cAnd we work with a whole series of content owners. They could be big content studios that we help build audiences for. They could be companies creating for the first time\u2014we work with a lot of toy companies. We\u2019re trying to get the best possible premium content to kids and families. And trying to make sense of this huge shift that\u2019s happened, accelerated with Covid, of kids consuming AVOD content, and increasingly on bigger screens as well. So we\u2019re all about engaging audiences and bringing the best content to kids wherever they are. And importantly, monetizing that content\u2014figuring out ways that brands and advertisers can reach that audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Discussing content partnerships, Gisby noted, \u201cWe are experts at managing big catalogs of content. The majority of our viewing is on a connected TV. And the vast majority of that viewing is on content that is at least half an hour long. When we were growing up, you\u2019d call that TV. Kids today think about it as being TV. So we partner with companies that have those catalogs of content. We also create lots of new content. We have a digital studio, and we work with lots of production houses around the world to create new content for existing brands. We also create content from scratch. We invest in our own content and happily invest alongside others who are bringing content to market. Third, and importantly, we work with advertisers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cContent partners we work with are looking for broad scale,\u201d said Hovey. \u201cThey are looking for reach that they can\u2019t get just with their standalone apps or apps they have on all of these platforms. This is an incremental way to get more audience. They\u2019re looking for not only how do you get that content in front of the audience, but how do you monetize it in a way that is brand-safe for advertisers? And they can go back and invest in additional content opportunities, grow that audience and be a trusted source for content creation. That\u2019s what we focus on: How do we continue to be even more effective in monetizing for these partners? And by driving scale for them, [they can] go back and do more. And we work across the board. Creators that are bringing things like Ryan\u2019s World and CoComelon. We\u2019re working with creators like the Mattels and the Hasbros that continue to evolve for today\u2019s audiences. We see that same trend that Jon highlighted. Post-Covid, there\u2019s a lot of viewing in the house, a lot of co-viewing in the same room, a lot more family time. We\u2019re seeing it on platforms like Roku. Being the number one TV streaming platform in the U.S., we\u2019re seeing tons of that viewing coming in. We\u2019re trying to keep that flywheel going for all of our content partners.\u201d<\/p>\n

On exclusivity in rights deals, Hovey noted, \u201cAVOD is really special.\u201d Unlike SVOD, where new and exclusive content is key to driving and maintaining subs, \u201cin the ad-supported world, there\u2019s much more of a need for comfort viewing and broad distribution, for kids especially. They want the characters they know and love to be where they are. And they want to be able to find them and immerse themselves in these experiences and this world. We focus much more on an ad-supported, economic-friendly type of model, rather than feeling like exclusive content is the only way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gisby agreed, noting, \u201cAt heart, we\u2019re both a distribution company and an IP ownership and creation company, so for us, it\u2019s about making sure that kids who want to watch our stuff can find it.\u201d Teletubbies<\/em>, for example, is on YouTube, YouTube Kids, Roku and other places. The company, however, does sometimes do exclusive partnerships, Gisby added. \u201cThere are times when exclusivity can make sense. On a big platform like YouTube, for example, it tends to work best if there\u2019s just one channel rather than 20 channels with the same content because you\u2019re confusing the audience and the algorithms that are helping kids discover stuff. You don\u2019t necessarily know where to go unless there\u2019s an official place. That said, we also have a lot of hub channels that are quite similar to what Roku does or what you might find on a cable network, where you\u2019re programming those channels for specific audiences. And in those cases, that can be an on-ramp for people who might not have distributed their content on YouTube before. And we\u2019re happy to do that non-exclusively.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deals are largely based on a revenue share, Gisby added.<\/p>\n

On the ad landscape in the kids\u2019 streaming business, Gisby stressed, \u201cThe kids and family sell is quite specific. Not only because the audience is quite specific but the regulations and the concerns about brand safety and so on. There\u2019s a lot of things you need to line up to make it work properly. There are specific tools and approaches to targeting kids\u2019 inventory, which you can still do in the right way. And we\u2019re finding that brands are engaging. The toy companies and the entertainment companies are first out of the gate. There\u2019s a range in the middle looking at the family viewing experience, so consumer products for the parents; they\u2019re coming. The shift that has happened in every other content genre, of ad dollars to digital platforms, is happening. It\u2019s happening slightly later in kids because there have been some issues around brand safety and regulations that have held it back. Those have largely been cleared up. And advertisers are beginning to engage, and investing directly in content, in their own IP.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hovey added that linear advertising on kids\u2019 channels is down, \u201cand the average age of TV is 60-plus. So we\u2019ve seen this shift of advertisers wanting to be where the audiences are. That\u2019s streaming. That said, they don\u2019t want any less control. They still need all of the things they have needed for decades. We\u2019re working with all of our advertising partners, providing them that level of control while still capturing this new audience that has moved to streaming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gisby added, \u201cWe almost call it going back to the future. This is digital inventory and digital platforms, but increasingly, it\u2019s the content piece that matters, which has been the way TV ad sales has worked forever. So making sure your ad gets to the right audience, importantly on premium content in the right way with an ad that resonates with the content that it\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addressing kids\u2019 safety and brand safety, Hovey noted, \u201cWe editorially curate everything on our channel. Nothing goes in that hasn\u2019t been reviewed. We do something similar on the ad side, where we review ads for appropriateness. It\u2019s a really important step for us. And brands see that; they see the effort we put into it. We partner with them to make sure their content experiences on our channel fit the same criteria and are to the same level of scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a similar situation at WildBrain Spark, Gisby said. \u201cFor me, it gets back to the content itself. All of our content that has come from libraries has been watched by thousands of lawyers and broadcasters before. It is all premium content, suitable for the age group, and household family brand names. And we\u2019re making sure that the services that we partner with take that seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conversation moved to the keys to creating stickiness, especially with the vast array of options available to audiences today. \u201cWe look at it in three areas,\u201d Hovey said. \u201cValue, choice and ease. Value is all about being able to have the content that users want in a way that makes sense to them, so not having to pay for content. Choice is about what they want, so we are constantly refreshing. Every time a user comes back, there\u2019s something new they will want to try and test out. And then we want to make it easier, so we\u2019re continuing to expand the touchpoints on our platform.\u201d<\/p>\n

At WildBrain Spark, \u201cWe start with curation,\u201d Gisby said. \u201cIf you take a giant library of content or multiple episodes of a series, you can distribute the content as that series, but you can also edit it. You can create different compilations of that same content in a way that is right for the character and the narrative. It also creates a completely different, engaging package of content. As an example, you can edit songs together. If you love Fireman Sam<\/em> and you love cats, you\u2019re very happy to watch a sequence of him rescuing cats from multiple episodes.\u201d The second element, Gisby said, is thinking about what content is right for the platform. \u201cWhen you are a traditional narrative content creation business, it\u2019s very easy to fall in the trap that says, I need this many episodes and they\u2019ll be this long and they\u2019ll go out on this day. Platforms don\u2019t necessarily work like that. Some do, not all. So you can have short episodes that are a few seconds long. Or you can make a music video. We spend a lot of time thinking about what\u2019s going to work for the platform and what\u2019s right for the IP. And then last, you shouldn\u2019t forget straightforward promotion. Finding audiences that are elsewhere on the platform who you think are going to enjoy that content. We\u2019re pretty skilled at finding those audiences and skilled in both the art and the science of doing that in a way that creates long-term engagement rather than just a campaign that is a flash in the pan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read about the second part of the AVOD panel, featuring the distribution perspective, here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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