{"id":29189,"date":"2025-02-21T08:50:20","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T13:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2025-02-24T09:54:40","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T14:54:40","slug":"tv-kids-festival-recap-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-festival-recap-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"TV Kids Festival Recap"},"content":{"rendered":"

The fifth edition of the virtual TV Kids Festival, available to view on demand here<\/a>, hit on many of the game-changing developments reshaping the children\u2019s media sector on the heels of what was a\u00a0difficult\u00a0<\/em>year, to put it mildly. The overarching message remains that it\u2019s rough out there amid an untenable sea of available content and a challenged funding ecosystem, and the only way to get through this turbulence is to be creative\u2014and not be afraid to throw out the rulebook when needed.<\/p>\n

In her brilliant presentation, Olivia Deane, research manager at Ampere Analysis, gave TV Kids Festival viewers valuable data on\u00a0commissioning trends and provided insights for traversing today\u2019s \u201cvolatile\u201d market<\/a>. Deane articulated how we got here, outlining the boom in connected TV usage and the proliferation of SVOD platforms that delivered a surge in content production for young ones. \u201cIn the third quarter of 2024, there were over 461,000 hours of children\u2019s content available to watch on streaming platforms or scheduled TV,\u201d Deane said. \u201cThis data doesn\u2019t account for the amount of children\u2019s content also available on free-to-watch platforms or social media.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, how does one break through that? Known IP very much helps, accounting for 30 percent of kids\u2019 commissions in the first half of 2024, Deane said. We spotlighted the frenetic\u00a0book-optioning sector in our panel with Dandelooo\u2019s Emmanu\u00e8le P\u00e9try, ZDF Studios\u2019 Oliver Grundel, Hidden Pigeon Company\u2019s Kristofer Updike and Lion Forge Entertainment\u2019s Jeremy Colfer<\/a>. \u201cWhen you bring a book to broadcasters, they know immediately what you\u2019re talking about,\u201d P\u00e9try said. \u201cYou can gain two or three years because you go straight into development. Timing-wise, it\u2019s valuable.\u201d<\/p>\n

While producers are mainly looking to books and comics for adaptations, the gaming sector is one that many are exploring, as we found from our Game Time session moderated by\u00a0Dubit\u2019s David Kleeman and featuring insights from Wind Sun Sky Entertainment\u2019s Catherine Winder and DeAPlaneta Entertainment\u2019s Jimena Tormo<\/a>. \u201cGaming is massive for kids right now,\u201d Kleeman said. \u201cPer Dubit\u2019s most recent trends survey, only sleep and watching videos get a bigger share of young people\u2019s time. The difference between videos and games is almost inconsequential. Time spent on digital activities only grows with age. And it\u2019s not just a U.S. phenomenon. We survey seven countries, and in virtually all of them, between a fifth and a quarter of kids\u2019 time is spent on digital activities\u2014gaming, video and so forth. Once, linear led the way, and games were an ancillary way to engage. Now, a lot of IPs launch game-first, and there are a lot of models for show-to-game and game-to-show. Most children\u2019s media companies see themselves as multiplatform franchise builders. They\u2019re all working to ensure their content is aligned with young people and how they watch, engage and play.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEngagement\u201d\u2014what it means, how to measure it, and, of course, how to get it\u2014was the focus of an insightful session moderated by children\u2019s media expert\u00a0Emily Horgan with pocket.watch\u2019s Beck Canote and Kedoo Entertainment\u2019s Olivier Bernard<\/a>. Presenting some of her data on Netflix engagement, Horgan said that among the kids\u2019 shows on that platform, \u201cYouTube IP preschool dominates, and YouTube IP within preschool has a really strong footprint. We\u2019re here to talk about how these different platforms, touchpoints and data points can all swirl together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horgan\u2019s analysis also found strong demand for dialogue-free comedy on Netflix, including\u00a0Booba<\/em>\u00a0from Kedoo Entertainment, which has built a thriving business distributing content to digital platforms. Pocket.watch, meanwhile, has assembled a powerhouse stable of YouTube creators and has been bringing that content to the broader marketplace.<\/p>\n

Creator economy content is making its way to \u201ctraditional\u201d platforms, as we heard in our signature session with leading buyers\u2014this time with\u00a0ITV\u2019s Darren Nartey, Nickelodeon\u2019s Lynsey O\u2019Callaghan and Amazon Kids+\u2019s Monica Sharma<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For ITV, acquisitions are \u201can incredibly important part of our business strategy,\u201d Nartey said, accounting for about 80 percent of its kids\u2019 output. 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.\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 [and] deliver on business obligations with our affiliates in various territories. We would be lost without acquisitions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meeting the diverse needs of buyers, adapting to the new normal, emphasizing franchise creation and coming up with innovative funding models were headline themes out of our C-suite keynotes with executives leading multiplatform children\u2019s media companies.<\/p>\n

Josh Silverman, executive VP and chief franchise officer at Mattel<\/a>, talked about what is driving the toy giant\u2019s IP content strategy as it marks its 80th birthday. \u201cAt the end of the day, we want to extend our fans\u2019 emotional connection to our products, stories and experiences in an authentic way,\u201d Silverman said in his session.<\/p>\n

Vince Commisso, president and CEO of 9 Story Media Group<\/a>, discussed the company\u2019s union with Scholastic, noting, \u201cWe see this broadly as a marriage between IP and capabilities. Scholastic Entertainment has great literary-based IP and development capabilities to turn that IP into TV and feature film content. 9 Story has tremendous capabilities in production and development, which are now combined under Scholastic Entertainment, and merchandising and licensing that we can bring to bear on that IP that will allow us to control the IP more directly within the Scholastic family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dominique Neudecker, VP of kids and family for TOGGO at Germany\u2019s Super RTL<\/a>\u00a0and this winter\u2019s TV Kids Pioneer Award recipient, shared with TV Kids Festival viewers the need to reach young ones on whatever platforms they\u2019re using. \u201cNext to linear TV, we invested heavily in building a proper kids\u2019 web business to distribute our content via our digital platforms, apps and the major third-party digital platforms. We launched a radio channel for kids and families. We travel through various German cities with our TOGGO Tour. We have a footprint in the retail business through our strong consumer-product business. Our motto is: Wherever the kids go, we are there with the TOGGO brand, being the number one go-to destination.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his keynote session,\u00a0Jon Rutherford, president of global rights, franchise and content strategy at Boat Rocker Studios<\/a>, highlighted how that company\u2019s diverse slate has helped it manage the challenges of the market and stressed the importance of having a 360-degree approach. \u201cFranchise to us is all pieces working together to create something that will thrive in a marketplace more than just the individual pieces on their own,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Boat Rocker\u2019s Canadian roots have also helped it weather the challenges of today. We looked at what is transpiring in that prolific sector in our\u00a0keynote with Shaw Rocket Fund\u2019s Agnes Augustin<\/a>. \u201cCanadian producers have always been innovative in finding partners globally,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s still very challenging, but we\u2019re positioned well to build on those global partnerships to help create content.\u201d<\/p>\n

Producers across the globe are looking at new techniques to lower the cost of production and give creators the tools they need. We highlighted some of those tools in our session on animation innovation with\u00a0Composition Media\u2019s Carl Reed and Cheeky Little Media\u2019s Patrick Egerton<\/a>, who weighed in on Unreal Engine and AI. \u201cWe have three principles that we follow for integrating any tool, especially AI,\u201d Reed said. \u201cThey need to be accelerated, adaptable and artist-driven. Accelerated\u2014if it\u2019s not making us faster, why not just do it the old-fashioned way. Adaptable\u2014we have to be at the control. If we can\u2019t do what our storyboard or animatic is telling us that we have approved, then we can\u2019t use it. Artist-driven\u2014we need to have these tools in the hands of our artists to not start from scratch. That\u2019s how we decide which tools we use. It\u2019s speeding things up remarkably and affecting what an independent studio can do from a cost\/time perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

The TV Kids Festival closed with a creative keynote with\u00a0Zachariah OHora, the writer and illustrator behind PBS KIDS\u2019\u00a0<\/a>Carl the Collector<\/em><\/a>. The series is PBS KIDS\u2019 first production centered on a neurodiverse character. On deciding on the animation style, look, tone and feel, OHora noted, \u201cI didn\u2019t know anything about animation. I\u2019ve been doing books for 15 years, so my style is very left to right. I think of it cinematically, but it has strong black lines and patterns. Laying things over and having things move over those bold lines presents its own issues. Yowza! Animation wanted to make it look like my books came to life, and they did an amazing job.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An overview of the overarching messages from the fifth edition of the virtual TV Kids Festival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":29024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,21],"tags":[5723],"class_list":["post-29189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-features","category-top-stories","tag-tv-kids-festival","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nTV Kids Festival Recap - 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-recap-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TV Kids Festival Recap - TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An overview of the overarching messages from the fifth edition of the virtual TV Kids Festival.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-festival-recap-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-21T13:50:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-24T14:54:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/01\/TV-Kids-Festival-Logo-2025.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"517\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"319\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\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=\"7 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-recap-2025\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-festival-recap-2025\/\",\"name\":\"TV Kids Festival Recap - TVKIDS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-21T13:50:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-24T14:54:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-festival-recap-2025\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-festival-recap-2025\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-festival-recap-2025\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"TV Kids Festival Recap\"}]},{\"@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. She can be reached on mdaswani@worldscreen.com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/author\/mdaswaniworldscreen-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"TV Kids Festival Recap - TVKIDS","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-festival-recap-2025\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"TV Kids Festival Recap - TVKIDS","og_description":"An overview of the overarching messages from the fifth edition of the virtual TV Kids Festival.","og_url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-festival-recap-2025\/","og_site_name":"TVKIDS","article_published_time":"2025-02-21T13:50:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-02-24T14:54:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":517,"height":319,"url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/01\/TV-Kids-Festival-Logo-2025.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Mansha Daswani","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mansha Daswani","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-festival-recap-2025\/","url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-festival-recap-2025\/","name":"TV Kids Festival Recap - TVKIDS","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-02-21T13:50:20+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-24T14:54:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-festival-recap-2025\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-festival-recap-2025\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-festival-recap-2025\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TV Kids Festival Recap"}]},{"@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. She can be reached on mdaswani@worldscreen.com.","url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/author\/mdaswaniworldscreen-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/290"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}