Pauline B\u00e9rard, international sales executive at Cyber Group Studios, shares with World Screen her views on the company\u2019s business in Asia as she gears up to attend Asia TV Forum.<\/p>\n
WS:<\/strong> What\u2019s driving your distribution business in the region today? What kinds of content are resonating with your clients? At this ATF 2023 edition, Cyber Group Studios is bringing a diverse slate of content to the APAC region. The region is one of the most varied markets composed of a mix of emerging and developed sub-markets, where each country has its own culture and aspirations. To address this market, we need to work on bringing universal stories that would appeal to all while also being able to address today\u2019s more and more fragmented market and many specific desires and tastes.<\/p>\n To do so, we\u2019re relying on our big hit and global success Gigantosaurus,<\/em> which is going for its fourth season already, and we\u2019re leaning into major franchises such as Final Fantasy IX<\/em>, partnering with Square Enix to adapt this timeless classic video game into an animation series for the first time.<\/p>\n We also invest in new genres based on research and development conclusions about what the audience wants. At this year’s Cartoon Forum, we presented Erica & Trevor vs The Spooky Monsters. <\/em>This series follows a 10-year-old boy and his 16-year-old babysitter as they try to stop the monsters escaping from the Z-Movies VHS cassettes. With this new project, Cyber Group Studios is focusing on cartoon comedy and manages to find the right balance between the two genres to create a safe space for kids to confront their fears and learn from them. The mix of spooky and comedy is universal and brings a roller coaster of emotions.<\/p>\n We also aim to build new franchises with amazing talents in the coming years, starting with Press Start!<\/em>, a CGI animated-comedy adventure show for the 4-to-6 age group based on the best-selling scholastic book series by Thomas Flintham and executive produced by Emmy Award-winning writer and showrunner Scott Kraft (PAW Patrol<\/em>). The series will premiere on Peacock in April 2024 and is available for a 2025 regional release.<\/p>\n Entering further the world of video games, Cyber Group Studios is producing the very first esport series, Alex Player,<\/em> using its well-developed and fine-tuned real-time animation pipeline driven by the Cyber Group Studios\u2019 Singapore-based studios Scrawl Animation, directed by Choon Meng Seng with the support of Singapore\u2019s IMDA. The series is also co-produced with Graphilm Entertainment (Italy), Bee Prod (France), Webedia (France) and in collaboration with RAI (Italy). Arnaud Bouron, the director of the show, while mixing 2D and real-time animation in a beautiful and amazing way, is pushing the boundaries of what Unreal Engine can offer to create a video-game-ready universe.<\/p>\n WS:<\/strong> Given macroeconomic concerns, what are you hearing from your clients about how they are approaching their acquisition remits for the year ahead? WS:<\/strong> Are you seeing differences in the needs of \u201ctraditional\u201d linear clients vs the streamers? Apart from this, they seem to have a common voice, looking for high-quality content for a lower budget than before. This set a path to new ways to do business and triggers us as distributors to be more creative in negotiating the terms. Our clients want to invest in low-risk, already existing, strong IPs with awareness within their audience. As a balance and to have a unique presence on the market, they are also willing to bet on new original stories with franchise potential but being way more cautious than ever before.<\/p>\n WS:<\/strong> Are there markets in particular you\u2019re exploring for new opportunities? WS:<\/strong> What are your goals for your distribution business in AsiaPac in 2024? At this market, we\u2019re highlighting the success of Gigantosaurus<\/em>, which will come back with a fourth season in several months, and the cartoon comedy series 50\/50 Heroes<\/em>, now available for free-to-air broadcasters in the region. It started its journey in the region thanks to Warner Bros. Discovery, and we can’t wait to see what comes next for our beloved half-brother and half-sister, the half-heroes Mo and Sam.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pauline B\u00e9rard, international sales executive at Cyber Group Studios, shares with World Screen Newsflash her views on the company\u2019s business in Asia as she gears up to attend Asia TV Forum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":26329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[145,8806],"class_list":["post-26328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-cyber-group-studios","tag-pauline-berard","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nB\u00c9RARD:<\/strong> Cyber Group Studios has always relied on its solid and embedded company culture supported by three pillars: high-quality content, talent and innovation. These three pillars are solid business drivers for our global activities.<\/p>\n
\nB\u00c9RARD:<\/strong> Even though we are evolving in a troubled and changing market, we\u2019re very optimistic about where the industry is going. Cyber Group Studios and the managing team are clever and agile in managing the company\u2019s strategy. We are attentive and listen to the market changes and aspirations with acuity. We are witnessing a massive shift in children\u2019s habits over the past few years, creating the misfortune of some major industry stakeholders. Our objective is to be a unique support for them, being innovative and creative in many ways. Our research and development department is actively working to find new ways to produce high-quality content for a budget that makes as the industry is reducing its expenses and thus being more selective in their content acquisitions and investments. Our optimism also comes from our clients wanting to go through these difficult times as best as they can as they prepare solid ground for 2025 when they will have adapted to the new market parameters and can invest again. Troubled times are times for new opportunities, and we can make a difference.<\/p>\n
\nB\u00c9RARD:<\/strong> The main difference may be that, unlike the traditional linear clients, the streamers are open to different kinds of formats than the regular 52×11-minute and are open to more serialized content, while having standalone stories per episode is still very important for our linear partners.<\/p>\n
\nB\u00c9RARD:<\/strong> Having set foot in the region thanks to our close partnership with Scrawl Animation, a Singapore-based cutting-edge studio directed by Choon Meng Seng, we benefit from the Singaporean team\u2019s experience and market knowledge. We work hand in hand to identify our opportunities in the region. This year\u2019s ATF is a time to meet as many partners as we can from all over the region. Our main objective for Gigantosaurus<\/em> is to find it homes and families in the Philippines and in Malaysia, where we witness tremendous growth in awareness on YouTube thanks to the work of our digital and new media department led by Ben Abrass.<\/p>\n
\nB\u00c9RARD:<\/strong> We are truly happy to be back in Singapore. 2024 will be a time for change, and it\u2019s thrilling to meet with our partners and discuss the various opinions about the market evolutions.<\/p>\n