{"id":25442,"date":"2023-07-07T08:50:43","date_gmt":"2023-07-07T12:50:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2023-07-10T11:49:24","modified_gmt":"2023-07-10T15:49:24","slug":"toon-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/toon-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Toon Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leading distribution executives weigh in on the styles, tones and narrative techniques needed to make an impact with kids today.<\/em><\/p>\n

Generation Alpha may be unlike any other demographic kids\u2019 media executives are used to catering to. A huge majority are spending at least part of their busy days on gaming. And they\u2019re consuming all kinds of content, from the beautifully animated, expensive-to-make shows on broadcasters and streamers all the way through to made-on-a-shoestring-budget videos found across the creator economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at where they spend their video time, increasingly there\u2019s this \u2018yes\/and\u2019 point of view among all consumers, but especially among those under the age of 20,\u201d says media cartographer and thought leader Evan Shapiro. \u201cYouTube is one of the first places that they\u2019ll go for video content. Netflix is the second place. Twitch is a place that they spend a tremendous amount of time, but then also Disney+. There\u2019s this real acceptance of the idea that I\u2019m going to jump from free media on social video to premium video on a subscription platform and back and forth. The idea that publishers don\u2019t see social video as premium video is a big mistake. They\u2019re going to miss a whole generation if they don\u2019t pay attention to social video consumption, which younger consumers see as equal to premium video.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gaming is a primary entry point into content for this demo, as is TikTok. So, it\u2019s incumbent upon IP owners to be everywhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you own a really big brand like Snoopy or Teletubbies or something like that, it makes a lot of sense to make a deal with an Apple or a Netflix because they\u2019re going to pay you enormous sums of money to get exclusive access to that intellectual property,\u201d Shapiro says. \u201cHowever, if you\u2019re an IP rights holder or a producer of content, 50 percent of the value that you\u2019re going to get out of your intellectual property from this point forward is going to come from what most people call the creator economy, but what I call the community economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you focus solely on the \u201cgatekeeper economy,\u201d Shapiro says, \u201cyou\u2019re going to leave so much of your relationship with your audience and the value you can get out of your intellectual property if you do not practice in the community economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

A little over a year into her appointment as managing director of a new kids and family unit at BBC Studios, Cecilia Persson has been focused on setting a clear content strategy that will allow the division to take advantage of all the opportunities in the market today. Working in tandem with broadcast partners, digital and consumer-products teams has been key \u201cto make sure that we are pulling together and approaching the audience at the same time and really harnessing what the characters and stories are about and ensuring that we\u2019re giving the best opportunity for our shows to land. [We\u2019re] also making sure that there\u2019s consistency in how our characters are presented and that they embody the characteristics and the joy that the shows are about. It\u2019s essential for this audience as they\u2019re coming up now, particularly in preschool, that they are able to connect and see the characters that they love and see the stories that they enjoy in many places, and that they can dig deeper and learn more and understand more. That sort of access is important for kids today. And that\u2019s what we\u2019re working on accomplishing with our content.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, being everywhere doesn\u2019t mean you will automatically have a hit on your hands. And figuring out exactly what will move children to consume the content, play the game and plead with their parents for the merchandise is an ever-evolving conundrum.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor preschool, we need our brands to have high visibility,\u201d says Delphine Dumont, the chief commercial officer at Banijay Kids & Family. \u201cAs a result, there is currently a big demand for well-known IP, and we are seeing increased interest in the revival of classic shows. At Banijay Kids & Family, we are home to iconic shows such as\u00a0Topo Gigio<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Mumfie<\/em>, which have been lovingly reimagined for today\u2019s preschoolers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though kids are spending a lot of their time consuming shows that were made in a gamer\u2019s basement with a webcam or shot-on-iPhone TikTok videos, producers continue to invest in cutting-edge animation technology to ensure they have the tools at their disposal to tell stories the way they want to\u2014and at the budgets the market is now demanding.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all pushed to create more innovation by the market itself,\u201d says Ulli Stoef, CEO and producer at Toon2Tango. \u201cQuite some money has been taken away from the market. So at the moment, budgets are a little bit tighter. We have to be really innovative and cost-effective in order to produce great shows with the utmost creativity. That almost cries for innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Animation innovation has always been part of the DNA at Cyber Group Studios, with the company most recently experimenting with real-time animation. Rapha\u00eblle Mathieu, the company\u2019s COO, calls using Unreal Engine a \u201cgame-changer.\u201d Its use is \u201ccomplementary\u201d to the company\u2019s traditional animation pipeline. \u201cIt gives us more possibilities, more flexibility and more ability to speak in a language that is appropriate to the content or to the cost-effective need of creating content with budgets that are getting smaller. Or when you need to create content that is digital-native.\u201d<\/p>\n

In subject matter, meanwhile, commissioners are looking for \u201clovable characters who spark empathy, who are experiencing everyday situations that kids can relate to, but also emotional intelligence,\u201d reports Sophie \u201cKido\u201d Prigent, head of sales at HARI. \u201cAnd a lot of comedy. With all that, if you can bring the family to watch the shows together, then you tick so many boxes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emmanu\u00e8le P\u00e9try-Sirvin, producer and head of international at Dandelooo, also references the enduring demand for comedy but adds that commissioning partners are also \u201casking for more meaningful programs. Parents and broadcasters don\u2019t want kids to just be eyeballs anymore and be entertained, but they want to have takeaways. Not in an educational or preachy way, but intertwined into the story to have things that are helping kids feel better about themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for how kids find your show, though, that remains a challenge that the entire sector is grappling with. \u201cDistributors need to ensure content is as visible as possible,\u201d Banijay\u2019s Dumont explains. \u201cAs a platform-agnostic business, we have the freedom to work with any platform and are open to non-exclusive deals, in order to maximize availability and strengthen our viewership.\u201d<\/p>\n

The exclusivity question is in flux, especially as broadcasters look to up their presence in the free on-demand space. \u201cThey require the whole series to be there, unlimited, at any given time,\u201d HARI\u2019s Prigent says. \u201cThat is making it a bit challenging for us to get the pay services to come in and have these multiple windows. In that sense, FAST channels work much better, I think, because it\u2019s linear still.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even just choosing promotional art for a show can be difficult, Dandelooo\u2019s P\u00e9try-Sirvin notes.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the platforms is saying that they are looking for sticky programs. They\u2019re talking about the thumbnail choice. The kid has to click on something they recognize as a brand or something extremely striking. That scares me; I have to say. It\u2019s good in a way because it\u2019s the essence of what the show is about. But at the same time, your series is judged on a very small image. You cannot explain what it\u2019s about and how good it\u2019s going to be. It\u2019s a way of judging that is extremely harsh. You have to be extremely impactful on two centimeters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have created this series of walled gardens that makes finding content incredibly hard,\u201d says Shapiro on the discoverability question. \u201cWe\u2019ve also oversaturated the market in storytelling to a certain extent. We\u2019ve created a massive paradox of choice issue for publishers and audiences. The more choice you give consumers, the fewer choices they will actually make. I think that\u2019s why testing things out and building audience and community in direct-to-consumer relationships is incredibly important. Just because you sell a show to Netflix doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re going to surface it well and it doesn\u2019t mean anyone\u2019s going to see it. If you operate exclusively through the gatekeeper economy, even if you\u2019re lucky enough to sell a show to a gatekeeper, the odds that it\u2019s going to get a second or third season are decreasing at a very rapid rate.\u201d<\/p>\n

On what\u2019s ahead, Shapiro says, \u201cDisruption is now the operating system of the ecosystem. Generation A is going to be extremely different than every generation that came before it, more so than previous generations because of what they just went through in their most formative years, but also because they are so technologically savvy. They factor it into who they are and what they do. Change is now a constant state and you\u2019re going to have to be OK with that. And if you\u2019re not OK with it, that\u2019s OK\u2014but don\u2019t be in the entertainment or media business.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leading distribution executives weigh in on the styles, tones and narrative techniques needed to make an impact with kids today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":25443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,21],"tags":[6621,3671,1187,145,4636,7294,5297,7475,7209,1710,6869,4843,4244],"class_list":["post-25442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-features","category-top-stories","tag-banijay-kids-family","tag-bbc-studios","tag-cecilia-persson","tag-cyber-group-studios","tag-dandelooo","tag-delphine-dumont","tag-emmanuele-petry-sirvin","tag-evan-shapiro","tag-hari","tag-raphaelle-mathieu","tag-sophie-kido-prigent","tag-toon2tango","tag-ulli-stoef","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nToon Time - 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\/toon-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Toon Time - TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Leading distribution executives weigh in on the styles, tones and narrative techniques needed to make an impact with kids today.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/toon-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-07T12:50:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-10T15:49:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/07\/2023-07-06-Bluey.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=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/toon-time\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/toon-time\/\",\"name\":\"Toon Time - TVKIDS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-07T12:50:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-10T15:49:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/toon-time\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/toon-time\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/toon-time\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Toon Time\"}]},{\"@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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