here<\/a>.<\/p>\nFor ITV, acquisitions are \u201can incredibly important part of our business strategy,\u201d Nartey said, accounting for about 80 percent of its kids\u2019 output. \u201cComing out of Covid, with a lot of production being delayed, acquisitions were extremely useful. The strategy is less risky because you are picking up content that has been tried and tested.\u201d<\/p>\n
ITV shuttered CITV in 2023 and, as a result, \u201cneeded to quickly up the number of hours on our new AVOD platform, ITVX, and ITVX Kids. Acquisitions were a great way for us to step up in terms of the different genres we could offer kids in the U.K. and the different types of stories.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amazon Kids+ offers episodic content and films as well as games, books, podcasts, music and Alexa skills, Sharma explained. \u201cAcross all of these content types, most of our content is acquired.\u201d<\/p>\n
Similarly, at Nick, \u201cacquisitions are hugely important to us, across our whole international footprint,\u201d O\u2019Callaghan noted. \u201cThey allow us to deliver brilliant titles alongside our beloved brands. They also allow us to diversify our points of view, with voices from creators, distributors and producers from around the world, so they enhance and ensure we\u2019re reflective of the children worldwide who are watching us. They also allow us to deliver on business obligations with our affiliates in various territories. We would be lost without acquisitions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about changes to their strategies in the last year or so, Nartey referenced the closure of CITV and noted, \u201cThe difficulty that we\u2019re all having to grapple with in our industry is the migration of kids from linear to YouTube, TikTok and a lot of those social media platforms. That was part of the reason why CITV closed. With ITVX, we found an opportunity to try to widen out what we were doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
That included expanding its slate of girl-skewed content, Nartey said, adding, \u201cIt didn\u2019t have to be self-contained episodes as well\u2014we were able to experiment with the types of stories we were bringing in. The last couple of years has been a big experimental phase for ITV.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nartey has his eye on more boy-skewed comedy, noting that ITV has several girl-skewed commissions in the works. \u201cCITV used to be a very boy-skewed channel. We had a lot of success with things like Horrid Henry<\/em> and The Rubbish World of Dave Spud<\/em>, so I would like to find that one U.K. property, ideally with a regional voice in it.\u201d<\/p>\nComedy-driven shows remain at the heart of Nickelodeon\u2019s positioning, O\u2019Callaghan said. \u201cWe would love to see more live-action comedies because they\u2019re extremely important in certain regions, such as the U.K.,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Callaghan also referenced a change in her rights acquisition strategy. \u201cWe have condensed a lot of our channels onto our global feeds. Therefore, we\u2019re looking for more and wider rights to cover all the different territories. Before, we could operate smaller deals in certain regions; we now have to look much broader and wider. However, we\u2019re always committed to operating and utilizing great content in the territories where we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Amazon Kids+, which is purely a subscription service, the strategy for acquisitions and originals \u201cis focused on known brands and known IPs,\u201d Sharma said. \u201cWe want to get stuff kids that love and put it on our service. It could be an existing show. It could be content that\u2019s based on a toy property, a game or a YouTuber. What\u2019s important for us is keeping a pulse of what\u2019s changing with kids today. They\u2019re migrating to different platforms. It\u2019s about understanding what\u2019s going on with them. Amazon is a data-driven company. If it is a YouTuber, how many views do they have? What\u2019s the subscriber base? If it is content based on a toy property or a book, what were their sales last year? We want to have the brands that kids love in our service.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drilling down further into the specifics of what they\u2019re looking for, Nartey is open to all genres, \u201cbut it has to sit within the 6-to-12 age bracket. Preschool is not a huge priority at the moment, because of [our] pipeline. That may change in a couple of years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nick targets a broad 2-to-12 audience, but \u201chitting those kids in the upper cusp of our target is getting trickier as they move on to other platforms and socials, looking at older content that perhaps they shouldn\u2019t be,\u201d O\u2019Callaghan said. \u201cWe have to recognize that our sweet spot is probably younger than it was a few years ago. That said, we don\u2019t want to exclude those older kids, so we want content to still appeal to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Preschool remains key for the entire Paramount Kids & Family portfolio, with O\u2019Callaghan seeking \u201cstrong series that will offer our schedules a new dimension for audiences to explore and opportunities for co-viewing. The target for preschool is 4-plus as the sweet spot, not excluding the younger ones but also providing the stakes and stories that will keep the older kids engaged and fully focused on the screen. Bridge titles are super important to us as well. They provide a great utility because we can use them on Nick Jr., Nick and Nicktoons in certain regions, and they\u2019re a great way for kids to transition from the youngest channels to the older ones.\u201d<\/p>\n
Comedies that can sit alongside juggernauts like SpongeBob SquarePants<\/em> are high on O\u2019Callaghan\u2019s wish list. \u201cThey do have to be hilarious, not just funny, to compete with what we already have on our schedules. And live action is of interest in the 11- or 22-minute duration.\u201d<\/p>\nLike Nartey, O\u2019Callaghan is open to prebuys and straight acquisitions. \u201cIn the younger space, we prefer a prebuy position because it allows us to curate, ensure it\u2019s on brand and meets compliance, standards and practices, etc. But we are very flexible in terms of how we can work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amazon Kids+ is available in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany and Japan, targeting kids 3 to 12. \u201cWe\u2019re always on the lookout for preschool and older kid content and bridge content,\u201d Sharma said. \u201cOlder kids are transitioning to other platforms at a younger age, so we\u2019re looking for how to find that content that keeps older kids engaged. For preschoolers, we have a healthy mix of entertainment and edutainment, shows that nurture curiosity and learning. For older kids, it\u2019s more on the entertainment side. How do we ensure they watch the whole season and then come back and watch the season again? That\u2019s sometimes hard to find for older kids today because they\u2019re not watching a lot of the traditional content.\u201d<\/p>\n
The conversation then moved to the creator economy and its role as a content source for the panelists.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it has calls to action\u2014if the video says \u2018like and subscribe\u2019\u2014we have to remove that,\u201d Sharma said. \u201cIf there\u2019s branded content or advertising innate to the video, we\u2019ll have to remove that. It\u2019s making sure that the content is safe for our audiences. We\u2019ve licensed a lot of content from YouTube creators. We\u2019ve seen the content that we\u2019ve licensed for older kids popping. It\u2019s something that we are keeping tabs on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nickelodeon has succeeded with Ryan\u2019s Mystery Playdate<\/em> and the Instagram-inspired Tiny Chef<\/em>. \u201cWe\u2019re fully aware of how these creators and content can transition,\u201d O\u2019Callaghan said. \u201cHowever, just because something works well on another platform, that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean it will transfer to yours effortlessly. Once it\u2019s pushed through a brand filter, compliance, standards and practices, it can often remove the thing that pulls those followers to the creator. It\u2019s vital that you don\u2019t dilute the very thing that makes that creator special. Also, make sure that they\u2019ve got longevity and that by transitioning them onto your platform, linear or SVOD, you\u2019re additive to what\u2019s already there.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cThere are shows that have had success on YouTube and our platforms,\u201d Nartey noted, \u201cbut the ones that tend to suffer are the creator-led content. We find the audience prefers to watch them in that medium. But we\u2019re very open-minded. If an idea comes through that we think is worth trying, then we would certainly have a go. But as things stand, we\u2019re not actively seeking. That\u2019s not to say we don\u2019t have our own YouTube strategy for having official channels or working with some of the creators via marketing to help build awareness of our platforms. But in terms of lifting their content and putting it on our platforms, we\u2019re some way off that.\u201d<\/p>\n
In terms of market gaps, beyond live-action comedies, O\u2019Callaghan is also seeking \u201cmore content that you genuinely feel can be the evergreens of the future. Whether that\u2019s a unique hook, tapping into something we haven\u2019t seen before or providing co-viewing potential. Fewer, bigger, better and quality over quantity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Non-scripted is an area of interest for Amazon Kids+, Sharma said. \u201cWe don\u2019t see a lot of that out in the market. Unscripted is an area that I feel is pretty untapped. It has the pluses of being quicker to produce and getting it out to market faster; you can see the performance data much quicker and often is cheaper to produce.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nartey also pointed to the lack of available live-action non-scripted. \u201cI appreciate it\u2019s quite difficult because, with some formats, we would love to localize it rather than just acquire it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Non-scripted live-action \u201ccan be a quicker turnaround,\u201d Nartey continued, \u201cbut it can be quite expensive, and there are issues filming with kids in different territories, especially in the U.K. regarding insurance.\u201d<\/p>\n
The discussion then moved to rights negotiations and the panelists\u2019 perspectives on exclusivity.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Callaghan referenced Nick\u2019s increasing focus on expanded rights internationally for its acquisitions. \u201cWe have had to be more flexible there to make deals work because the rights have already been presold in certain territories. We\u2019ve had to play more nicely with everybody in terms of what we\u2019re looking for. Also, it\u2019s harder for people to get their series fully funded at the moment. We are open to flexibility and using strategies like holdbacks and windows where we can in certain territories to get things made. In certain territories, we are looking for wider pay and free rights. Paramount+ has added a level of looking for broader rights.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prebuys are becoming more important for Nick, O\u2019Callaghan said, adding that, at times, having a ubiquitous distribution strategy can help build a brand. \u201cWith a fragmented audience, all ships rise sometimes with the more platforms your content is on. We have affiliate obligations regarding where our content is made available, but we are always open to making things work for great content for our audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n
Much of Amazon Kids+\u2019s video lineup is non-exclusive, Sharma said. \u201cA lot of it is library; we don\u2019t need it to be exclusive. But that doesn\u2019t mean that we don\u2019t have exclusive titles. Exclusive titles are great for marketing, user acquisition and PR. It\u2019s finding that balance of what needs to be exclusive and what doesn\u2019t and having a healthy mix. We have the same philosophy not just for shows and movies but also for games.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sharma stressed that, given its five-country footprint, the platform does not need global rights. \u201cFor commissions or prebuys, we\u2019re doing co-productions with companies in other territories.\u201d<\/p>\n
ITV has shared content with Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Amazon and Netflix, Nartey said. \u201cIt\u2019s very much a case-by-case basis. When that [rights] question comes up, often it\u2019s around YouTube. It comes down to our investment. If we\u2019re putting in a hefty chunk of money, we wouldn\u2019t expect the producer to put it all on YouTube then. We are happy to share depending on what our investment is and what the ask is.\u201d<\/p>\n
The panelists then talked about how their respective services are using YouTube. \u201cWe have to be quite strategic in how we engage with it,\u201d Nartey said. \u201cWe ask for YouTube rights as part of any deals that we do. Anything we put out on YouTube helps with discoverability. It is a very important platform, but it\u2019s a very different platform from what we are. We are a heavily curated service for kids; in that space, it\u2019s about algorithms and recommendations. It\u2019s the relationship between ITV and YouTube that we have to build.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sharma said that Amazon Kids+ has seen some success with trailers and series premieres on YouTube. \u201cWe find it to be a good tool for discovery. We\u2019re reevaluating our strategy and thinking about how we want to work with it going forward. We know kids are engaging with it. We know that it\u2019s a powerful platform. YouTube is a competitor to all of our services. So, how do you use it in the most effective way? That\u2019s the question a lot of us are facing right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNickelodeon is passionate about being everywhere kids are,\u201d O\u2019Callaghan said. \u201cNot being on YouTube wouldn\u2019t reflect what we set out to do. We\u2019re successful with our channels and content on YouTube. It\u2019s important to us in a number of ways. Firstly, it is a tool to support current brands on air by making bespoke content and montages or using our successful Toymation channel. It\u2019s become increasingly important to launch new brands. We are launching our first-ever animated original, Kid Cowboy<\/em>, a short-form preschool series, on YouTube. We are growing the brand and seeing if it can transition off the YouTube platform.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The fifth edition of the TV Kids Festival kicked off today with our signature session on acquisition strategies, this time hearing from ITV\u2019s Darren Nartey, Nickelodeon\u2019s Lynsey O\u2019Callaghan and Amazon Kids+\u2019s Monica Sharma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":29059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[9385,10435,10436,10494],"class_list":["post-29038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-darren-nartey","tag-lynsey-ocallaghan","tag-monica-sharma","tag-tv-kids-festival-2025","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\n
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