Production of Club 57 kicks off in Italy. Photo credit: Juan Botero
CANNES — “Never predict, especially about the future,” the saying goes. Three of MipJunior 2018’s key speakers and kids industry players – from Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and the BBC – took that to heart on Cannes’ Saturday afternoon when addressing the panel subject, “View from the Top: Gazing into the Future of Kids Media.” Rather than addressing where the business is headed – if they knew, they’d have ankled their jobs – Nickelodeon’s Jules Borkent, the BBC’s Jackie Edwards and Adina Pitt at Cartoon Network drilled down on the major changes and challenges affecting where the kids media business is today. Here are five insights:
1. THE NEW NAME OF THE GAME: PARTNERING
What has changed in the last couple of years? asked Borkent, Nickelodeon Senior Vice President (SVP), Global Acquisitions and International Programming. “For us, it’s about figuring out [how to meet] the desire for more and more content than we’re currently producing.” Nickelodeon’s solution: Partnerships, whether on wholly-owned or shared content or acquisitions. These have become “far more forefront on how we deliver content,” he commented. One case to point: Nickelodeon Latin America’s has just gone into production on fantasy fiction musical Club 57, its first co-production with Iginio Straffi’s Rainbow Group in Italy. “We’re working with partners that five years ago we wouldn’t necessarily have,” Borkent said.
2. RETOOLING FRANCHISES
“We’re focused on building brands and franchises,” said Pitt, Vice President (VP), Content Acquisitions & Co-Productions, Cartoon Network & Boomerang US. “That’s not just about looking for new franchises and experimenting, but also staying true to brands,” and re-tooling them, she suggested, instancing Total DramaRama. Created by Tom McGillis and Jennifer Pertsch for Fresh TV and distributed by Cake Ent., the Canadian animated action comedy series, which bowed on Cartoon Network on Sept. 1, places the characters of Total Drama in an alternate universe ageing them down from teens to toddlers. “It’s an important lesson: Sometimes go back, retool or reimagine the IP you have,” Pitt argued. Nickelodeon has also just done this with the network's recently launched Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a brand-new 2D animated series which premiered Sept. 17 that reimagines the iconic characters from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in a fresh new way.
3. LOCALIZATION – A BOON NOT A BANE
Considering China – “a great opportunity for new collaborations,” said Edwards, head of the BBC children’s acquisitions & independent animation – discussion turned to the ever more global industry. “It is a global industry and I think in the future that will be everybody’s challenge,” said Edwards. She went on: “When everything is everywhere and there is so much content, so many platforms, how are you to stand out? Sometimes localization gives you distinctiveness. As a public service broadcaster, I think that’s going to save us.”
4. LIVE ACTION OPENING UP
For many years, the multi-camera preserve of Nickelodeon and Disney, live action is one program option with ever more opportunity, as recent successes, such as Federation Kids & Family’s Find Me in Paris, which airs on Nickelodeon UK & Ireland illustrates. “We’re testing the waters with telenovelas,” said Borkent. “Live action is opening up more, as viewers are opening up to other cultures.”
5. NEWS OF THE LONGTERM DEMISE OF THE TELLY IS SOMEWHAT EXAGERRATED
According to Nickelodeon research, 65% of kids still regard a TV set as the “easiest model” to access content, Borkent said. “Most children are watching content on TV. They love character and story. Television is a showcase for the very best of it,” said Edwards. She added: “What will happen in the future is that channels will still endure for pre-school, while older kids will search for the same content on VOD platforms and YouTube.” That of course is already a growing reality. A Eurodata TV analysis – referred to during its MipJunior overview on Saturday of new trends in kids entertainment – suggests that daily TV viewing by younger and older children in both the U.S. and U.K. has fallen by pretty much one hour in both countries over 2012-17, from over 2 hours 20 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes for 4-6 year-old kids in the U.K.. The future is now.
Additionally, Viacom's research unit says globally, teens now access content on 13 devices but TV sets remain the preferred screen. Over half say they prefer to watch content on a TV set.
Also, from Variety:
Mipcom: Viacom’s Pierluigi Gazzolo on Latin America’s TV Build, Ramping Up Originals, Producing for Third-Parties
Gazzolo: ‘The hunger for original content gets greater every year’
CANNES — Few executives are better positioned to pinpoint the vast changes sweeping over Latin American TV than Pierluigi Gazzolo, president of Viacom Intl. Media Networks – Americas.
VIMN – America’s purchase of Telefe, Argentina’s highest-rating broadcast network, and then investment in Porta dos Fundos, Brazil’s second-biggest YouTube channel, have been milestones in the region’s recent entertainment business history. But in some ways, rather than a change of direction, the moves merely hastened VIMN down a road it had long been treading. In an extended interview, Gazzolo survey many of the drivers for changes, challenges and strategies VIMN is pursuing in the region. Many are felt by other companies. Few can put them into practice, however, with such scale and force.
Viacom’s purchase of Telefé and indeed Porta dos Fundos is seen as part of a transformation of the company from a distribution to a content creation company…Could you comment?
Pierluigi Gazzolo: Yes, a little bit of history. Viacom’s founder, Sumner Redstone, always talked about content being king. Our principles have always been to own content. Of course, in the ‘80s and the ‘90s we were very strong on the network front. And we were mostly known in Latin America as a network company. But the reality is that we have always made sure that we own at least 90% of our content. We have always had the vision that the industry is ever changing because consumer habits are also always changing. We have always had the ability to not only work as a network company but utilize that content to do VOD packages to MVPDs or to change our windowing strategy depending on a particular intellectual property. For example with kids, I might give a first window to Televisa, because I know it would be better for consumer products, before it comes to pay TV. And now with Viacom International Studios, we have the ability to play with our windowing strategy even further.
So what does Telefe give you?
We bought it for three reasons. To grow in scale and expand on the strategy of owning content to monetize it. Telefé also helps us complete our portfolio. We were mostly owners of either kids content or young adult demographic content coming out of MTV and Comedy Central. But we were lacking prime time content which Telefé, being one of the biggest producers in Argentina, is providing for us. Now our portfolio covers everything from kids to adults. In addition, we also bought Porta dos Fundos, the second largest YouTube channel in Brazil. They are great creators of comedy content which has a lot of universality. The first strategy was to learn from them about the non-linear world, including their amazing ability to sell branded content. Secondly, it is producing thousands of hours of shorts that we can turn into long-form scripted content to add to our portfolio. With Telefé and the majority acquisition of Porta dos Fundos, plus our existing VIMN Americas slate, we were able to create a division we’re now calling Viacom International Studios to become one of the top producers and distributors to third parties of Spanish-originated formats and content around the world.
What have been the immediate consequences of the purchases?
The hunger for original content gets greater every year. Our revenues have increased across the board. In the case of Telefé, the content sales revenues have more than doubled from what they were when we bought them in 2016. In the case of Porta do Fondos, their revenues are five times what they were when we bought them in 2017. In the case of Viacom networks in Latin America – MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, for example – the original content earnings are almost 20% up.
Is that just from sales or are other factors at work?
When we bought Telefé we reduced the rights given to third parties outside Argentina. We now fully fund almost all of our shows and now monetize them fully, via the International Studios, which also include MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and Porta dos Fundos. Viacom International Studios Latin America is also increasing production, up to nearly 1000 hours [a year].
With Telefe, in 2018 we produced 80 hours more of long-form content for a total of 800+ hours, mostly scripted, which is a 23% increase from last year. We are producing in total about a hundred hours more between all the networks and Telefé, this year. Of those 100 hours, about 70% to 80% will also air on the network, some of them will go first window for example to a client, either broadcast, OTT or SVOD, or will have joint premieres with other broadcasters from other regions.
What about development?
On top of that – and this is the part that matters when you have a studio in this day and age – we are developing more hours of originals. In other words, we started [at Telefe] with four developments per year – ideas and concepts to shop around to third parties. Now we’re up to eight, so we are doubling the new shows that we are developing and that we are offering to third parties regardless of their networks. So, for example, at the L.A. Screenings last May we presented seven shows. Of these shows only one aired on Telefé, “100 Days to Fall in Love” that has averaged a 45.5% SOV since launch. The rest might air on Telefé or might premiere with a third party, or be produced as an “original” for a third party, or might be done in a different language for a European partner. It’s the studio model. So that’s the new part of this, we’re not only doing content so that we can air on the network and sell it after that. Now we’re making content to maximize it the best way possible regardless of the network.
What market factors are driving the ramp-up in production?
The demand is huge. The entrance of VOD players has encouraged people to consume and [altered] the expectation of consumption and the volume that is required now for consumption. Also, you have advanced MVPDs, pay TV operators which own OTT platforms and are looking to provide content. And Latin American authors, creators, developers are capable of doing Hollywood level original content. New Latin American originated series are traveling around the world.
Could you mention some deals?
With regard to deals closed, with an MVPD partner in Argentina, a big one, Cablevision, we’re going to be airing a format co-produced straight from Comedy Central, “Drunk History” that will air first with them and on Telefe, and then on Comedy Central, and then “Morir de Amor” which is a Telefe show that will premiere on the network weekly but Cablevisión will carry the full series on its OTT platform, Flow. Nickelodeon tween telenovela “Noobees” will be premiering on both Nickelodeon Latin America and the broadcaster RCN in Colombia. And the most recently announced sale of the “100 Days to Fall in Love” format to Mega in Chile.
What about digital platforms?
With Porta dos Fundos, we took their shorts format and created a half-hour show called “Borges,“ about an import export company, that goes broke and to survive creates a YouTube channel making shorts. That has been licensed to Netflix. Viacom International Studios is also negotiating a big SVOD deal in Latin America with VIS and Porta dos Fundos titles in development and new originals.
And outside Latin America?
“Club 57,” which is another Nickelodeon tween telenovela, has been pre-sold to Rainbow in Italy. They’re going to make it Italianesque and Argentina with characters in Italy and in Argentina. It will air on a major broadcaster in Italy and on Nickelodeon in Latin America. Internationally, daily scripted “Amar después de amar” has been re-versioned in Mexico and Middle East and North Africa. Along with “Sres. Papis,” it has discovered a market in the Middle East.
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Also, from TVNIÑOS:
Destacados compradores conversan sobre el futuro del negocio infantil
En un panel en MIPJunior, Jules Borkent de Nickelodeon, Adina Pitt de Cartoon Network y Jackie Edwards de BBC opinaron sobre el futuro del negocio de medios infantiles y hablaron sobre sus responsabilidades con el contenido.
“No tenemos presupuestos ilimitados, tenemos buenos presupuestos, pero se tienen que estirar cada vez más”, dijo Borkent, VP ejecutivo y gestión de contenido y estrategia de cadenas de Nickelodeon. “Para nosotros, ha tenido que ver con encontrar las mejores alianzas. Eso se ha vuelto más importante en cómo analizamos el contenido a nivel global”.
Lo lineal está para quedarse, dijo Borkent, agregando: “La pregunta es qué apariencia tendrán esos canales”.
El ejecutivo continuó diciendo que la estrategia multiplataforma de Nickelodeon está cambiando: “No todo el contenido es apropiado para cada plataforma. Algún contenido podría quedarse en el app o servicio VOD y no llegar al canal lineal”.
Otra novedad de Nickelodeon es su experimentación con las novelas tween en Latinoamérica, tras la adquisición de Telefe por parte de Viacom. “El género de drama de acción en vivo está floreciendo”, dijo Borkent.
Edwards, directora de adquisiciones y animación independiente de BBC Children, también cree que “la televisión sobrevivirá. Hay una necesidad absoluta de que respondamos a los hábitos cambiantes de los niños y de considerar la realización de contenido adicional para diferentes plataformas. Es un ciclo bueno que debemos fomentar para que sobreviva. La televisión es la primera, pero tenemos que responder a los cambios de hábitos de la audiencia”.
Sobre la responsabilidad de programación de BBC Children, Edwards explicó: “Nuestra inversión principal está en encargar contenido que refleje la vida de la audiencia en el Reino Unido”. El presupuesto de compra en CBeebies se invierte principalmente en la pre-compra de animación. Para niños mayores, “tenemos una mezcla de requisitos. Compramos animación y drama. Realizamos pre-compras y adquirimos de librería. Buscamos contenido para niños de 6 a 16 años, lo cual es amplio”. Para audiencias de niños mayores, las adquisiciones son usualmente para iPlayer y no para el canal lineal.
Pitt, VP de adquisición de contenido y coproducciones de Cartoon Network y Boomerang, comentó: “Todos tenemos targets de marca específicos a los que queremos llegar. Estamos muy enfocados en lo que el consumidor quiere y sus hábitos. Estamos conscientes de lo mucho que esto ha cambiado. Nos enfocamos en forjar marcas y franquicias. No tiene que ver sólo con encontrar nuevas alianzas y experimentar con conversaciones sobre modelos de negocios, sino también ser fieles a nuestra marca y encontrar cosas que pensamos puedan ser marcas en el futuro, que puedan estar juntas a nuestra vasta librería de contenido original”.
Con relación a la financiación de los shows, Pitt señaló que los modelos continúan evolucionando. “A veces se recortan nuestros presupuestos, a veces tenemos abundancia, y esto nos obliga a reconsiderar. Hay ciertas cosas que necesitamos y debemos lograr que funcionen los presupuestos. Uno de los elementos que considero importante para nosotros es que tengamos una amplitud de derechos para lo que sea que desarrollemos o adquirimos. Eso puede significar un cambio en el modelo porque debemos pagar más y adquirir menos, o quizás no. Depende de la propuesta del productor. Muchas veces la gente espera que nosotros hagamos el presupuesto por ellos. Conocemos cuáles son los nuestros, tenemos modelos de coproducción, de adquisición y pre-compra. Cada uno es diferente. Así es que cuando alguien nos presenta una idea, le preguntamos cuál es su presupuesto, su propuesta, si ya tiene financiamiento y luego lo resolvemos juntos. No creo que vaya a cambiar significativamente en el futuro. Será una continuación de esto. Sólo tiene que ver en cómo nos estamos asociando: Si es 50-50, 20 por ciento o una adquisición directa. Pueden ser varias cosas”.
Pitt dice que frecuentemente le dice a los productores que no duden en asociarse con compañías de distribución. “Llegan a la mesa con un entendimiento de lo que puede tolerar el mercado global y si se puede monetizar el show que estás desarrollando”.
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More Nick: Nickelodeon Latin America Kicks Off Co-Production ‘Club 57’ with Italy’s Rainbow Group | MIPJunior | MIPCOM 2018!
Originally published: Sunday, October 14, 2018.
Original source: Variety.
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