Your once-a-month update on trends in the kids & YA sectors, with news recaps, interviews, analysis & more.
ScreenMDM Kids/YA
|
|
|
From Greg Dray’s rousing MIPJunior address to the new summit looking to fill a market need for the kids’ sector; recapping the month in coverage on ScreenMDM Kids/YA.
What's Inside:
- A Radical Reinvention: The view from Animaj’s Greg Dray
- Franchises, Fandom & Knowing Your Audience: The kids and family playbook at Disney
- Introducing KIMS Canada: Previewing the new summit taking place in Québec City in February
- Funding Innovation & Brand Strategies: Ed Galton on how CAKE is driving new strategies to get shows made
- More Gen A to Z: Conversations with Martin Krieger, Elena Lyalina, Matt Huether & Courtney Jane Walker, and Ramy El Gabry
- Franchise Mindsets: Coolabi’s rebrand, Mediawan Kids & Family & Toon2Tango’s partnership, and more
- What’s Being Bought: Recapping deal activity at Acamar Films, Mediatoon Distribution, the Australian Children’s Television Foundation, WildBrain, Rainbow, Banijay Kids & Family, Kaito Entertainment and Animotion Media Group
- What’s Being Made: Commissioning activity at BBC Children’s & Education and Netflix, plus new co-productions and adaptations
- Executive Shifts: Cottonwood Media goes independent, Mattel’s new CEO, plus appointments at Minno and DeAPlaneta Entertainment
A Radical Reinvention
In a rousing keynote address at MIPJunior, Greg Dray, the cofounder of Animaj, called for a radical reinvention of how the kids’ content business is approached and structured, and urged the industry at large to stop viewing it as a walled-off vertical but rather as the leading indicator of where the content business is and where it’s headed.
“Our business is facing a complex transition,” Dray said at MIPJunior, but that isn’t a reason for doom and gloom. “We can not only survive but thrive, provided we decide to fully embrace the new world in front of us and radically reinvent the way we are doing things. In other words, reinvent ourselves.”
The segment is “rarely viewed through the correct strategic lens,” Dray said. “It is consistently treated as a walled-off category when it’s actually the media industry’s leading indicator. Misconception number one: kids and family content is a vertical niche. No, it’s not. It is actually the primary driver of global media consumption. Gen Alpha represents over 25% of the world population, making them the largest generation in human history. They are not a subsegment. They are the baseline of future consumer culture.”
Franchises, Fandom & Knowing Your Audience
A powerhouse session at MIPJunior with Disney Kids & Family’s senior team highlighted the company’s “holistic” approach to serving these audiences, strategy adjustments to meet the moment, and the importance of franchises, fandom, and listening to audiences.
Ayo Davis, president of Disney Kids & Family; Alyssa Sapire, head of original programming and strategy at Disney Jr.; Charlie Andrews, EVP for live action; Zack Olin, SVP for development and current series at Disney Television Animation; and Gino Guzzardo, VP for multiplatform content, offered up a company-wide snapshot of how it is approaching the market.
The Walt Disney Company is not “dipping in and out of” this segment, Davis stressed. “We treat it with a great sense of care and respect. At Disneyland, there’s a sense of wonderment, adventure, and joy. By extension, our storytelling creates the same experience. Our experiences live beyond those big screens kids watch all day long through consumer products, music, and live events. The company puts great effort into creating a holistic system that engages kids in a meaningful way. Disney wouldn’t be Disney without them.”
Introducing KIMS Canada
Set for February 23 to 25, 2027, the Kids International Media Summit (KIMS) Canada aims to attract delegates from around the world for three days of deal-making, networking, and showcasing the local children’s ecosystem and its co-production opportunities, the Youth Media Alliance’s France Martin and Maria Kennedy told ScreenMDM Talks.
KIMS aims to fill the gap in the calendar for a North American media conference after Kidscreen Summit ended its storied run as a hub for the global children’s content community at the start of the year. As soon as word broke that the event would not return, Kennedy and fellow YMA co-chair Athena Georgaklis began speaking with the organization’s board about what to do. Martin and her team had already been talking about how the alliance could support the local ecosystem in these challenging times for the sector at large. That led to immediate action, starting with a feasibility study to gauge what potential attendees needed.
Funding Innovation & Brand Strategies
From innovative partnerships like the one announced with Mandai X to inking deals to represent well-known IP like Doraemon and Voltron and helping producers get shows like Pablo: Next Level off the ground, CAKE is using a range of strategies to navigate the complexities of the kids’ market, CEO Ed Galton said on ScreenMDM Talks.
“Branded content is obviously a big thing,” Galton said. “I’m not talking about heritage brands like big IP. Broadcasters or platforms are still looking for an easy marketing campaign. But what we’re seeing is companies that are brands in themselves leaning into creating more content.”
More Gen A to Z…
Catch up on our conversations with Martin Krieger, CEO of Studio 100 International, on brand-building; Elena Lyalina, CEO and producer at Polydont Films, about Nick the Mechanic, a CG preschool series that WildBrain recently acquired the distribution rights to; showrunners, writers, and executive producers Matt Huether and Courtney Jane Walker on why The Next Step: Cheer is winning over audiences worldwide; and Ramy El Gabry, creator and director of Captain Shedeed at Divine Touch Productions, on his journey to raise the profile of Egyptian animation.
Franchise Mindsets
In a nod to its flagship IP, Warrior Cats, Coolabi Group has rebranded as Four Trees Media. The refresh brings the company’s books, digital, television, consumer products, and gaming activities under a single brand as it embraces a franchise-building mindset that encompasses storytelling, audience engagement, and digital innovation. Meanwhile, Mediawan Kids & Family has enlisted Toon2Tango to lead the global licensing and merchandising efforts for its slate of IPs. The move strengthens ties between the two Mediawan Group-owned companies. It creates a combined L&M portfolio for the Toon2Tango and Mediawan Kids & Family properties, plus selected IP from LEONINE Studios, covering toys and games, apparel, home and living, publishing, digital games, and promotional activities. In other key L&M news, WildBrain has landed a slate of new licensing agreements for the Strawberry Shortcake franchise, with a new series, Strawberry Shortcake’s Bake Shop, set for a digital-first launch.
What’s Being Bought
We covered a range of distribution deals over the past month, from known IP to new breakouts, pubcasters and commercial networks to digital-first outlets. Acamar Films reached a deal that brings its hit preschool series Bing to Disney+ across EMEA. The Marsupilamis, produced by Ellipse Animation and Belvision, has expanded its Nick Jr. footprint into the U.S. Whale Shark Jack, distributed by the Australian Children’s Television Foundation, has been picked up by CANAL+ in France, RTÉ in Ireland, RTV Slovenia, Netherlands Public Broadcasting, and BYUtv in the U.S. The Snoopy Show, Snoopy in Space, and Camp Snoopy secured broadcast deals internationally for WildBrain. Rainbow has closed several new broadcast deals on its animated fantasy adventure series Mermaid Magic. Sky in the U.K. secured the rights to the entire Little Princess catalog from Banijay Kids & Family Distribution, which notched up several other deals for the preschool animated series. Banijay Kids & Family also inked a range of new digital distribution deals as it expands its reach across YouTube, FAST, Prime Video and more. Kaito Entertainment, co-founded by Hannah Dubcoff and Jonathan Abraham, announced a raft of deals for Baby Einstein, Tulipop Tales and Monchhichi. The digital entertainment platform Kidjo TV added three brands from Animotion Media Group to its international footprint.
What’s Being Made
Netflix renewed its deal with Sesame Workshop for Sesame Street and is developing a feature film for the beloved educational brand. It revealed several other additions to its children’s content lineup. Netflix says that kids and family represented 15% of its total viewing hours in the first half. The genre has delivered 106 billion viewing hours since the beginning of 2023. BBC Children’s and Education unveiled a slate of new commissions for CBBC, CBeebies and iPlayer across new IP and returning shows. Disney Channel and Disney+ are moving forward with an animated adaptation of the Artemis Fowl book franchise. In their first-ever co-production, Milkshake!, RTÉ, and NRK have joined forces for the 2D animated series The Huggingtons. Boat Rocker Studios greenlit its first fully financed animated series, Nano Runners, created by Industrial Brothers’ co-founder Matthew Fernandes. Millimages secured a commission from M6/Gulli for the upper preschool animated comedy Benny and the Bin Buddies. Roy MacGregor’s acclaimed book series Screech Owls, previously adapted as a live-action series, is getting an animated action-adventure treatment from Shaftesbury and Sphere Animation, in partnership with the National Hockey League and Boat Rocker Studios. Meanwhile, Katie Kirby’s best-selling book series The Extremely Embarrassing Life of Lottie Brooks is getting a live-action version courtesy of STUDIOCANAL Television and Deadpan Pictures, and Guru Studio has inked a co-production deal with U.K.-based Karrot Entertainment for a preschool animated series based on Eric Hill’s Spot book series. It’s not all about known IP, though; Noodle & Caboodle and KaizenPop have joined forces to develop Chuck Loris, a martial-arts-themed action/comedy IP for the 8-to-12 set that will include an animated series and an interconnected, character-driven game.
Executive Shifts
David Michel has bought out Federation Studios’ stake in Cottonwood Media, the kids-and-family content outfit he co-founded in 2014. The company is now leaning further into YA content following its success in the teen drama space. With Ynon Kreiz having left to co-lead Skydance—the merged Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery entity—Mattel appointed current board member and former Sling and Chello Broadband chief Roger Lynch as chairman and CEO. Skydance is in the midst of voluntary buyouts, a precursor to expected layoffs; stay tuned for further updates on who is leading what there. Minno, the faith-based streaming platform for kids and family audiences, appointed Craig Hunter as its chief content officer, tasked with driving a new global acquisitions and co-production strategy. Daniel Acero Montoya joined DeAPlaneta Entertainment to lead its digital strategy, tasked with expanding the kids’ and family entertainment company’s footprint across FAST, AVOD, and YouTube.
|
|
Our MIPJunior & MIPCOM news recap
|
Missed the last ScreenMDM Kids/YA Digest? You can see it here.
