{"id":22261,"date":"2022-01-28T08:50:39","date_gmt":"2022-01-28T13:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2022-01-31T09:07:49","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T14:07:49","slug":"star-gazing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/star-gazing\/","title":{"rendered":"Star Gazing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several leading distributors share their thoughts on what 2022 holds for the global kids\u2019 content business.<\/em><\/p>\n

The British kids\u2019 content industry was dealt a significant blow this month when the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport said it was pulling the plug on the Young Audiences Content Fund following a three-year pilot program. The fund had helped support 144 development projects and 55 brand-new productions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese have considerably enhanced the public-service offering of CITV, Channel 5\u2019s Milkshake!, Channel 4, S4C and others,\u201d said Anna Home, chair of the Children\u2019s Media Foundation. \u201cNow we face a definite decrease in the number and range of programs being made for young people in the U.K. We could very quickly be back where we started three years ago, with the BBC as the only body commissioning content for children. And in fact, it\u2019s worse, as the BBC is facing government-imposed budget cuts of its own over the next few years, too.\u201d Indeed, the BBC learned this month that its license fee would be frozen for the next two years.<\/p>\n

As pubcasters and commercial linear channels look to new funding models to survive in this environment, the streamers continue to exert their influence on the industry. The streaming wars kicking into high gear last year, and continuing into 2022, is the industry development that most impacted distributors\u2019 businesses last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone can agree that the rollout of Disney+ and other streamers across several international regions changed the dynamics of the children\u2019s TV industry in 2021,\u201d says C\u00e9cilia Rossignol, executive VP of international sales and development at Gaumont France.<\/p>\n

For Martin Krieger, CEO at Studio 100 Media, the trend that had the most significant impact on his business last year was the fast growth in the AVOD space, \u201cwith more and more players emerging and global players like ViacomCBS\/Pluto TV and Comcast\/Xumo being part of it,\u201d he says. \u201cFAST channels were not a significant part of our business in 2021, as we were testing the waters. For 2022, we will actively be pursuing an ambitious strategy to push and expand our activities in this area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christophe Goldberger, managing director of indie distributor GoldBee, also has his eye on AVOD developments, projecting some consolidation in that space this year \u201cas the business matures and revenues increase\u2014but not all of them will survive in a very competitive environment,\u201d he observes.
\nThe overall growth of the streaming business, he notes, \u201chas had a significant impact on our business, as we have seen a growing appetite for our renowned IPs,\u201d on both the live-action and animated sides of the company\u2019s catalog.<\/p>\n

FLIPPING THE SCRIPT
\nHowever, while the opportunities created by the streamers have been immense, they are not without their complications. \u201cWith financing for new kids\u2019 shows largely coming from digital streamers, the challenge of retaining second-window and licensing and merchandising rights continues to have an impact on independent studios,\u201d observes Jonathan Abraham, the VP of sales and business development at Guru Studio. \u201cStudios like ours that continue to develop incredible new IP are having to get more creative with how financing gets pulled together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, funding models continue to evolve as the marketplace adapts to a raft of new players. \u201cWe are seeing fewer prebuys from linear channels as they contemplate shifting to a VOD-first strategy, which naturally locks up territory VOD rights,\u201d Abraham continues. \u201cIt\u2019s a paradigm shift as broadcasters change their business model. In the end, we\u2019ll have to do what we do best in the animation community and think creatively to build out new financing models from a broader range of potential funding partners.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of content trends, meanwhile, Gaumont\u2019s Rossignol highlights the enduring demand for \u201cbig franchise brands,\u201d especially among streaming platforms. \u201cThese established brands that strongly resonate across the kids\u2019 and family demo contribute to the elevation of the individual streamer\u2019s brand, playing a major role in their ability to deliver upon their customer value propositions. Never was this more evident than during the period of successive lockdowns around the world, when we saw families, in record numbers, come together to enjoy the co-viewing experience while in the safety and comfort of their own homes. As we continue to navigate our way through what we hope will be the end of this challenging time, this trend continues, and therefore, the search for the right intellectual property is on!\u201d<\/p>\n

Goldberger cites a growing demand for \u201cpositive and joyful kids\u2019 programs,\u201d especially since the onset of the pandemic. \u201cWe have received a very positive response to our newly launched preschool IP The Game Catchers<\/em>, which promotes games, friendship and an active lifestyle with adventures full of laughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Studio 100, as demand from platforms surges, the company will be looking to expand its content output, Krieger reports. This includes a second season of the 100% Wolf<\/em> franchise after the first batch of episodes sold to almost 100 countries, including Australia (ABC), Germany (Super RTL), France (Gulli), the U.S. (IMDb TV) and China (Tencent). It is also gearing up to roll out FriendZSpace<\/em>, which wraps production this year, and Vegesaurs<\/em>, a key pillar in the company\u2019s efforts to expand its licensing and merchandising business. \u201cWe own a strong portfolio of IPs and have recently added high-value third-party licenses to it,\u201d Krieger says. \u201cThis will push our L&M business even further in 2022.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Abraham at Guru, the priority this year will be \u201cpursuing projects that are best suited to leverage our strengths as a production, distribution and brand-building entertainment company,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re looking at a wide variety of projects from potential partners [seeking] help with anything from early-stage development, production, distribution or financing. We\u2019re also actively looking at some interesting partnership opportunities on new IP with emerging players in the toy and L&M space.\u201d<\/p>\n

The key, Abraham adds, remains in \u201cadapting to the changing landscape and keeping your finger on the pulse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gaumont\u2019s Rossignol also offers up a big-picture take on navigating the complexities of the business this year. \u201cIn 2022, decision-makers and the industry as a whole have an opportunity to take a breath and consider the purpose content holds for young viewers and parents in addition to the question of: What do they want to watch and why? It is this back-to-basics approach that will guide us as we forge a new path forward, applying all we have learned over the last two years\u2014it is about thinking differently as we push the creative process to new heights.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several leading distributors share their thoughts on what 2022 holds for the global kids\u2019 content business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":22262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-features","category-top-stories","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nStar Gazing - 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\/star-gazing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Star Gazing - TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Several leading distributors share their thoughts on what 2022 holds for the global kids\u2019 content business.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/star-gazing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-28T13:50:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-31T14:07:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/07\/FriendZspace-STUDIO100-1220.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"360\" \/>\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=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/star-gazing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/star-gazing\/\",\"name\":\"Star Gazing - TVKIDS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-28T13:50:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-31T14:07:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/star-gazing\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/star-gazing\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/star-gazing\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Star Gazing\"}]},{\"@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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