{"id":22347,"date":"2022-02-02T09:49:44","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T14:49:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-festival-spotlights-preschool-trends\/"},"modified":"2022-02-02T11:00:49","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T16:00:49","slug":"tv-kids-festival-spotlights-preschool-trends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-festival-spotlights-preschool-trends\/","title":{"rendered":"TV Kids Festival Spotlights Preschool Trends"},"content":{"rendered":"

Serious Kids\u2019 Genevieve Dexter, Jetpack Distribution\u2019s Dominic Gardiner, Dandelooo\u2019s Emmanu\u00e8le P\u00e9try-Sirvin and CAKE\u2019s Daniel Bays participated in a lively discussion on catering to preschoolers as day two of the TV Kids Festival opened today.<\/p>\n

Watch the entire session, moderated by Chelsea Regan, managing editor of TV Kids<\/em>, here<\/a>.<\/strong> It opened with Regan asking the panelists what a preschool show needs to stand out today amid the considerable volume of content available on the market for that demo.<\/p>\n

\u201cInteresting characters that are touching, that kids can identify with, interesting stories, surprising situations [and] empowered characters\u201d top the list for P\u00e9try-Sirvin, partner and producer at Dandelooo. \u201cThe fact that there\u2019s more competition doesn\u2019t change that. You just have to be better at all of these points.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dexter, founder and CEO of Serious Kids and Eye Present, said the answer depends on perspective\u2014that of the child audience, or the \u201cgatekeepers\u201d delivering the content\u2014and the territory. \u201cFor example, if you\u2019re trying to get a property into China, the preference is for certain types of animation. It tends to be CG, with very cute characters. Whereas if you\u2019re trying to get into the U.K., we perhaps like things to be a little quirkier. Each market tends to be quite different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gardiner, CEO of Jetpack Distribution, added, \u201cA lot of shows look quite similar\u2014derivative. I think people need to take more risks to make something that, if you put it in a lineup with other shows, will look different from the others. Otherwise, we end up with just a cookie-cutter solution that doesn\u2019t excite anyone. It has to look exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKids nowadays are presented with a big wall of content,\u201d noted Bays, VP of development at CAKE. \u201cThey have to pick out your show from all the noise. It\u2019s really important to be visually distinctive. We\u2019ve seen an increase in demand for 3D content for preschoolers, and I think it comes down to that visually distinctive wall of content thing. As Emmanu\u00e8le said, you\u2019ve got to do the basics right first. Then you can take those familiar themes and, as Dominic was saying, find a new spin, something different to do with the same formula. This audience is ready to be challenged. You can give them exciting, new things if you\u2019re willing to take that risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regan asked the panelists about the role of digital extensions for preschool brands. \u201cWe need to consider the future of the show, even at its very early stages of development,\u201d said Jetpack\u2019s Gardiner. \u201cWe have to be prepared for it to go into all the different platforms and mediums kids are accessing. We know kids are prolific with their platforms and devices. If you want your brand to succeed in the long term, you\u2019ve got to be thinking about how it can work in different spaces.\u201d For the Jetpack-distributed property Moley<\/em>, a Roblox game was developed and released in time for the show\u2019s launch on Boomerang in Europe. \u201cIt enables kids to experience the brand and the characters in a different way. It gets the creators to think about the show in a different way. We know that Roblox is huge; this is where kids are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou used to rely on your broadcaster much more to get your property to your audience,\u201d observed Serious Kids\u2019 Dexter. \u201cWe\u2019ve only recently started to employ marketing agencies when we\u2019re launching a show for them to do a lot of the legwork in terms of parental blog sites, influencers, people who are going to draw [others] to your show. In the case of preschool, you are targeting the parents. If they\u2019re not finding it, the kids will have more trouble finding it, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Discoverability \u201cis one of the biggest challenges,\u201d said CAKE\u2019s Bays. \u201cIt was the parents who were in charge of everything before. With tablets and touch devices, even the youngest kids are taking control of their media consumption and making their own choices. The temptation from a content point of view is to blast content everywhere to reach them everywhere. We\u2019re considering which platforms will have the best potential to express the brand in the best way. How we can best use the platforms to express the different elements of our IP.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conversation then moved to AVOD platforms, which have emerged as key buyers of preschool fare. \u201cWe\u2019ve experimented with some brands, just putting them on every single AVOD platform in the States,\u201d said Dexter. \u201cAnd to be frank, the results are pretty disappointing. They say you\u2019re going to get a great share of the AVOD revenue. I think it\u2019s great for the AVOD channels, which are getting your content for free while you labor to load your content to their particular portal. We agreed to review after a year of putting a show everywhere. And it really hasn\u2019t worked.\u201d<\/p>\n

SVOD deals, Dexter continued, \u201cwhere you\u2019re being paid correctly for your content, have been very lucrative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dandelooo\u2019s P\u00e9try-Sirvin noted that in France, the linear broadcasters remain significant pieces of the financing puzzle. \u201cWe can still build our blocks in the traditional way, with linear co-producers, the way we\u2019ve been doing it for the past 20 years. The SVOD channels coming along are creating more opportunities that are different. It gives us more opportunities to put our shows together. It is more doors, more genres. It\u2019s extremely creative.\u201d<\/p>\n

FAST channels catering to kids are a potential growth opportunity for independent producers, Gardiner added. \u201cSpeaking as a distributor, our strategy is always to work with as many platforms as we possibly can. It\u2019s about getting the right mix and extracting the most value at the right time in the value chain. That\u2019s why we like to work with Netflix, and at the same time, we like to work with Roku.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just more opportunities\u2014it\u2019s different kinds of opportunities,\u201d said CAKE\u2019s Bays. \u201cThere seems to be a lot of big players now who are defining what their own version of preschool content is. [The preschool block] Cartoonito just launched. Netflix is doing all sorts of different things. It\u2019s helping to find new ways of doing things. I\u2019ve been particularly excited by developing for YouTube. They want [content] uniquely developed for YouTube, speaking to that specific audience. It\u2019s an interesting challenge to do preschool in a way that is very focused on a particular broadcaster\u2019s style or audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regan asked the panelists if themes such as sustainability and diversity are being featured in more preschool content today. Dexter noted that she\u2019s seeing shows presented as \u201cthis is an environmental series or this is a show about diversity. When you\u2019re presenting it to broadcasters for commissioning, that can be a hurdle because it\u2019s too focused. It\u2019s got to be bigger than that. It\u2019s got to have all of those themes in there\u2014diversity, environmental challenges, all the things you want to convey to children. But I think it\u2019s a mistake to be too narrow. It\u2019s quite difficult to do 52 episodes about one subject.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those themes should be \u201cnaturally intertwined\u201d into series, Dandelooo\u2019s P\u00e9try-Sirvin added. \u201cIt should come naturally into the episodes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bays said the industry is moving away from \u201cthrowing diversity or representation or equality at shows, adding it in at the end. We\u2019re thinking now, how is this part of the DNA of the show? How is it in there but not a thing? The stories then flow from that rather than us trying to crowbar in something. The audience spots that a mile off. The broadcasters spot it. And it\u2019s not doing anyone any good. Diversity is rightly at the top of everyone\u2019s agenda. We\u2019re trying hard to build it into the show from the ground up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLocal cultural identities are still hugely important,\u201d Gardiner added. \u201cI hope we don\u2019t all race toward a great homogenized universe where everybody looks different but looks the same. It\u2019s important for all sorts of different reasons that nations and languages and accents are all represented. The Australians made a direct push for having more Australian identity within their content. Lo and behold, they have the fastest-growing preschool show in the world that sings to their identity and what it means to be Australian. To stand out, we\u2019ve got to push the boundaries, we have to do things differently. At the same time, you still have to stand for something and identify with something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mama K\u2019s Team 4<\/em>, from Triggerfish Animation Studios and CAKE, is a good example of that, Bays said. The show, commissioned by Netflix, \u201cbrings that authentic perspective of [creator Malenga Mulendema\u2019s] lived experience in Africa to life, for a global audience, but keeping it very focused on the origin of where she came from as a creator and where the characters are based.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need that creative heart,\u201d Dexter added. \u201cThat carries through. It has to be there. Why was that show made? Who had that concept? Was it a game you used to play with your child? Was it dreams of being a superhero? If it has that beating heart, it shows, and it\u2019ll give it a strong foundation to make a series. You can\u2019t just insert these elements as a box-ticking exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n

The challenge, P\u00e9try-Sirvin said, \u201cis to keep that sparkle all the way through development and production. It can be so long to develop something!\u201d<\/p>\n

P\u00e9try-Sirvin also pointed to the importance of authentic local stories that can be brought to the global marketplace. \u201cThere are so many different cultures in the world, so many interesting topics we can tackle; it opens the door to many new projects. As long as you keep it relatable to other kids in the world, there\u2019s no reason we can\u2019t root stuff into real cultures.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing how many folkloric traditions are the same,\u201d said Dexter. \u201cHumanity has the same aspirations and hopes and dreams, so there will be something for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conversation then moved to the importance of educational components in preschool shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cPreschool content can have the most profound, positive impact on the audience,\u201d Bays said. \u201cThey\u2019re excited about getting information and learning about the world and finding stuff out. They\u2019re naturally curious. Having educational stuff, or even the hint of it, in content for older kids often puts them off. There are exceptions to that rule. It feels like you can get so much great nourishment within younger kids\u2019 shows, as long as you embed it well, as long as you hide the learning and make it part of the story. We\u2019ve been trying to lay breadcrumbs in educational shows to help kids feel smart and help them get to the answers, maybe before the characters, and working with educators to find ways to scaffold their learning, giving them bits they can add to themselves. So you give them the framework in the show but then enable them to learn in their own way through the show. It\u2019s having the characters not just teaching information and facts, [but also] modeling ways to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

P\u00e9try-Sirvin said edutainment shows \u201cused to only be for the public broadcasters. Now, the commercial channels and platforms are asking for takeaways and things that kids can learn from and grow from. That means it\u2019s a new era. The whole world has realized how important it is for the eyeballs to not just waste their time and be purely entertained. That means our job is meaningful, and that\u2019s quite important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to the Young Audiences Content Fund (YACF) in the U.K., Dexter said, CITV, Milkshake! and S4C \u201chave started commissioning and buying things that are strongly educational. In addition, commercial channels like Cartoonito want to see an educational document with the presentation. They want to know how your project\u2019s core concepts relate to their [curriculum] pillars. However soft the educational content is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEducational was maybe a little bit looked down upon compared to, say, comedy ten years ago,\u201d said Gardiner. \u201cNow there\u2019s an appetite for education in the same way there\u2019s been an appetite for comedy. The challenge has been getting the balance right. I think we need to do a lot more creative development on educational content.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Serious Kids\u2019 Genevieve Dexter, Jetpack Distribution\u2019s Dominic Gardiner, Dandelooo\u2019s Emmanu\u00e8le P\u00e9try-Sirvin and CAKE\u2019s Daniel Bays participated in a lively discussion on catering to preschoolers as day two of the TV Kids Festival opened today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":22348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[6360,3386,5297,1581,5723],"class_list":["post-22347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-daniel-bays","tag-dominic-gardiner","tag-emmanuele-petry-sirvin","tag-genevieve-dexter","tag-tv-kids-festival","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nTV Kids Festival Spotlights Preschool Trends - 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\/tv-kids-festival-spotlights-preschool-trends\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TV Kids Festival Spotlights Preschool Trends - TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Serious Kids\u2019 Genevieve Dexter, Jetpack Distribution\u2019s Dominic Gardiner, Dandelooo\u2019s Emmanu\u00e8le P\u00e9try-Sirvin and CAKE\u2019s Daniel Bays participated in a lively discussion on catering to preschoolers as day two of the TV Kids Festival opened today.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-festival-spotlights-preschool-trends\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-02T14:49:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-02T16:00:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/07\/2022-02-02-Preschool.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=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-festival-spotlights-preschool-trends\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-festival-spotlights-preschool-trends\/\",\"name\":\"TV Kids Festival Spotlights Preschool Trends - TVKIDS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-02T14:49:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-02T16:00:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-festival-spotlights-preschool-trends\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-festival-spotlights-preschool-trends\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-festival-spotlights-preschool-trends\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"TV Kids Festival Spotlights Preschool Trends\"}]},{\"@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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