{"id":29941,"date":"2025-06-20T08:00:29","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T12:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tvkids\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T10:33:34","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T14:33:34","slug":"tv-kids-summer-festival-recap-3-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-summer-festival-recap-3-2\/","title":{"rendered":"TV Kids Summer Festival Recap"},"content":{"rendered":"

If there was one overarching piece of advice to emerge from the TV Kids Summer Festival this month, it was that standing still\u2014doing things the way you always used to do them\u2014is not an option. Whether you\u2019re a producer trying to complete the financing of a show, a distributor looking to maintain revenues from a challenged market or a trusted channel finding ways to make sense of being on YouTube, pivoting and adapting are paramount. And obviously, you have to be on YouTube, in one way or another.<\/span><\/p>\n

Missed any of the sessions? Catch up on-demand on everything <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

We heard that refrain from all the \u201cbroadcasters\u201d we convened at the festival. In our opening session with Louise Bucknole at Paramount UK & Ireland, she highlighted the importance of co-productions and her wish to see more producers come to her with well-thought-through digital rollout strategies. \u201c<\/span>We\u2019re always competing for kids\u2019 time. You\u2019ve got to be present on the platforms they\u2019re on.<\/span><\/a> Looking at that as part of your production plan is interesting to us. It\u2019s about discovery and engagement, and social media and YouTube are often the entry point for some kids into new brands. We have recently been releasing full episodes on YouTube. We have short-form and other assets on Milkshake! on YouTube to drive that engagement and awareness. Linear and VOD are still key\u2014we have to drive those ratings. We\u2019re a commercial business. But we understand that the engagement from kids happens in different ways.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bucknole referenced Nickelodeon\u2019s use of YouTube to launch a brand-new IP, <\/span>Kid Cowboy<\/span><\/i>. I had the great pleasure of taking a deep dive into that strategy with Ashley Kaplan, executive VP of unscripted and digital franchise studio at Nickelodeon. \u201c<\/span>You can\u2019t talk about kids without talking about YouTube,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/a> \u201cYouTube is important, but it\u2019s not a great place to make money. The strategy for <\/span>Kid Cowboy<\/span><\/i> is to build it into the next major franchise. We start on YouTube. We introduce the IP there\u2014the world, the characters, the music. We get kids as excited as we can. Once they are, we can move beyond the YouTube content we\u2019re making. We can do more narrative, long-form storytelling. The goal here is not just to build large YouTube channels. The goal is that this becomes the next <\/span>PAW Patrol<\/span><\/i>, with a long-form series, with theatricals, toys and consumer products. That is the goal. I believe the next <\/span>PAW Patrol<\/span><\/i> will be born on YouTube.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Over at Disney Branded Television, meanwhile, Gino Guzzardo, VP for multiplatform content, is leading the development of a wealth of short-form content for use on YouTube as well as its own platforms. \u201cGo back to a place and time when Mickey Mouse did not exist. Charming character, new technology, with animation. How is [Walt Disney] going to get it out there? He used shorts as a vehicle to bring Mickey to the biggest platform, movie theaters. What we do now is a lot more complex with all these different platforms and competition, and there\u2019s a lot out there, but it\u2019s essentially the same approach. <\/span>We are using shorts to bring our characters out into the world, win over fans and bring them back.<\/span><\/a>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Public broadcasters, too, have had to implement YouTube strategies to maintain their relevance among audiences. Marie McCann, senior director of children\u2019s content at CBC, referred to <\/span>YouTube as the \u201cthird prong of our distribution strategy for video content,\u201d alongside the CBC Kids morning block and CBC Gem<\/span><\/a>. \u201cOur digital teams recognized the power of YouTube to reach audiences,\u201d McCann said. \u201cWe were able to work with our partners and start rolling out promotional clips and short-form videos, as well as our longer-form shows. We see it as one of the principal distribution arms of our content. That\u2019s important as a public broadcaster. We have the ability to go where the audiences are. We\u2019re getting content to them where they need it, when they need it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Traditional broadcasters are all evolving their positions on creator economy content, a space that continues to be dominated by pocket.watch with its stable of popular channels like Ryan\u2019s World and Toys and Colors. \u201cYou\u2019ve seen new data come out of Nielsen over the last 18 months, two years, that shows that YouTube is not only dominating mobile screens and PCs, but it is dominating the living room television,\u201d <\/span>Chris M. Williams, founder and CEO of pocket.watch, said in his keynote session<\/span><\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s the only one that\u2019s truly growing. It\u2019s gone from 6 percent when they started reporting to 12 percent of all watch time in the U.S. on television. This did open up some eyes. The early adopters will see the most success. We\u2019ve been very successful with our partners at Hulu, Peacock and Amazon, who\u2019ve expanded their portfolio of our creator content and are investing in additional content with other creators. All the major global players certainly have or are formulating strategies around digital creators. The local players, particularly internationally, will be slower to adopt. I expect that flood to come after. It\u2019ll start with the global players who are all clearly leaning in, and I think the local players will realize that to compete with YouTube, they will have to adopt some of these strategies and embrace creator content.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

We also took a deep dive into digital-first content with a panel moderated by industry expert <\/span>Emily Horgan, featuring intelligence from two different ends of the spectrum: Elianne Friend of 9 Story Media Group and Francesco Miceli from TheSoul Publishing<\/span><\/a>. TheSoul Publishing is firmly entrenched in the creator economy space, reaching more than 2 billion followers across social media platforms. 9 Story, meanwhile, began looking at YouTube almost a decade ago and is now producing specifically for the platform. \u201cWith YouTube dominating 80 percent of the market, it\u2019s something we just can\u2019t ignore,\u201d Friend said. \u201cOur digital-first content slate has many products underway because we must be in charge of our destiny and meet kids where they are. We are first rolling it out [on YouTube] but also have in mind to put it on our AVOD platforms such as Tubi, Roku, Peacock, Pluto and the rest of the gamut. We\u2019re excited to produce for these platforms.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, it\u2019s not all about digital-first content, as much as it may feel like that these days. The \u201ctraditional\u201d ecosystem, while taking a beating amid broader industry shifts, is still finding ways to engage with audiences with premium, professional content. Our Creative Spirit session enlisted the expertise of two purveyors of high-quality kids\u2019 fare in the U.K., <\/span>Martin Pope, joint CEO of Magic Light Pictures, and Grainne McNamara, VP of development for live action and animation at BBC Studios Kids & Family, to discuss how development slates are being crafted<\/span><\/a>. ZDF Studios\u2019 Oliver Grundel, Cottonwood Media\u2019s David Michel and ZDF\u2019s Nicole Keeb joined the event to share their <\/span>successful strategies for bringing compelling, big-budget live-action teen series to the screen<\/span><\/a>. Our powerhouse session on boutique distributors delivered great advice from <\/span>Dandelooo\u2019s Emmanu\u00e8le P\u00e9try, Serious Kids\u2019 Genevieve Dexter, MIAM! animation\u2019s Hanna Mouchez and Tulipop Studios\u2019 Helga \u00c1rnad\u00f3ttir<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be where the audience is,\u201d said Netflix alum Amy Takahara<\/span><\/a> in our keynote session about where the business is headed and the advice she\u2019s giving creatives at her Sigma Girl Media consultancy. \u201cYou have to try your best to get in front of them and capture their attention. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s necessarily going after user-generated content. It can be, but I think it is more about creating content that will speak directly to them, their interests and what they want. It\u2019s not about the traditional way of making content. It\u2019s about how we adjust our thinking and perceptions of things in a way that will appeal to the audience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And knowing what will appeal to the audience means tapping into all the data available, from YouTube, channel partners, traditional research agencies and more. That necessity, which came up in all of our sessions, <\/span>was why we turned to the team from Dubit for our closing session with CEO Ian Douthwaite and team members Laura Dudley-Gough and Benjamin Sumner<\/span><\/a>. The trio revealed new research on kids\u2019 media habits and tips for how IP owners can explore opportunities in gaming.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe cost of producing a game in Roblox is so much less than animation, so much less than film,\u201d Douthwaite said. \u201cThere are plenty of ways to be on that platform, from having a full-on game around your IP\u2014probably the most expensive\u2014to pop-up games, which you can integrate into an already popular game. You can also create fashion items, which is a cheap way of getting onto that platform. With gaming, you are potentially hitting a new audience, so you can create awareness of the brand or IP.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mansha Daswani recaps the major themes from the fifth TV Kids Summer Festival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":29721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,21],"tags":[10985],"class_list":["post-29941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-features","category-top-stories","tag-tv-kids-summer-festival-2025","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nTV Kids Summer 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-summer-festival-recap-3-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TV Kids Summer Festival Recap - TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mansha Daswani recaps the major themes from the fifth TV Kids Summer Festival.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-summer-festival-recap-3-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-20T12:00:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-25T14:33:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/summerkidsfest-525.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"394\" \/>\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=\"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-summer-festival-recap-3-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-summer-festival-recap-3-2\/\",\"name\":\"TV Kids Summer Festival Recap - TVKIDS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-20T12:00:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-25T14:33:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-summer-festival-recap-3-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-summer-festival-recap-3-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-summer-festival-recap-3-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"TV Kids Summer 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. 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