Kids Platforms and Channels Benefit from Strong Shows
During the first half of 2022, beloved kids’ shows are being revived by successful reboots and spin-offs. Programs extend from platforms to TV channels and also explore the audio environment with podcasts inspired by TV series and vice-versa. In terms of contents, trends reinforce and fine-tune existing topics.
Médiamétrie’s international department Glance analyses the kids’ shows market at MIPJunior and reveals global content trends, the Radio & Television Business Report reports.
Reboots and spin-offs propel themselves up to top new shows
Since the beginning of 2022, younger viewers have continued giving a warm welcome to reboots of well-known IPs. The Smurfs (Peyo Productions / Ellipse Animation) and Nicholas’ Fantastic Summer (Media Valley) illustrate this trend. Successfully launched in France and the UK in 2021, The Smurfs made a brilliant start with pre-schoolers in Germany and Italy in 2022. The new series on Nicholas’ adventures was M6 Kids 3rd best program among 4 to 10 year-olds. A reboot of the Teletubbies (WildBrain) is due on Netflix next November.
Taking advantage of strong IPs and characters, content producers also launched spin-offs, which significantly appealed to children. The Patrick Star Show (Nickelodeon Animation Studio) – a spin-off from Nickelodeon's beloved animated series SpongeBob SquarePants – ranked first among children on Nickelodeon in Germany and Super! in Italy. In the UK, Star Trek: Prodigy (Nickelodeon Animation Studio) – the first children-oriented spin-off from the iconic Star Trek franchise – ranked third among 4 to 15 year old viewers on Nickelodeon. In this country The Boss Baby: Back in Crib (Dreamworks Animation Television) ranked second best new series on Netflix.
“Several spin-offs feature younger versions of the initial title’s characters such as We Baby Bears, Oggy Oggy, Kamp Koral, Spidey and his amazing friends.” Candice Alessandra, Client & Research Manager at Glance.
Glance has identified several trends in children’s programs over the past 6 months.
Make it younger: formats initially aimed at adults have been adapted for younger viewers: they can feature adventures, cooking, and even crime. The Dutch programme Rachel Valt Binnen (EO) relates police investigations in a way adapted to a younger audience. Broadcast in February 2022, it was a real success and multiplied the slot’s audience share by 2.5 among the 6 to 12.
Nature and scientific experiments: pedagogical and fun programmes propose a renewed approach to scientific facts. There is also increased interest for nature like for example in Anna Auf Dem Bauern Hof or Welcome to Permacity (Millimages – in development), where nature enters the city to raise awareness on environment, sustainability, recycling, etc.
Fantasy and adventures still are a good recipe for success: the Turkish animated series Sagun (Animistik Stüdyo) mixes codes of the past with Fantasy while the sci-fi Israeli live action series Infinity (Storiez) is focused on the future. Sagun increased the audience share of its slot by 47% in 5-to-11-year-olds.
Programmes promote new role models and diversity. Superheltskolen (Seefood TV) features ordinary kids as imperfect superheroes. It is a Norwegian live action in the cartoon slapstick tradition. The same for strong girls (Marvel’s Moongirl & Evil Dinosaur) who can fail in their plans, with humour.
Circulation of content between video, audio platforms and broadcasters
Candice Alessandra analyses: "We observe growing osmosis between platforms and linear TV, as programmes circulate between them. A more recent trend is the boom of audio content linked to audiovisual.”
Launched on Netflix in 2021, the pre-school series Oggy Oggy (Xilam Animation) launched on Linear TV in the UK (Channel 5), and Italy (Frisbee) this month. The Boss Baby: Back in Business, Cocomelon and Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous all premiered on platforms and were successfully transfered to TV channels in several European countries.
The public’s growing appetite for audio content inspires broadcasters and platforms: Netflix released its first podcast in January 2022 Bedtime Stories with Netflix Jr., Sensical offered a podcast based on PBS Kids IPs such as Molly of Denali and Pinkalicious & Peterrific. Amazon’s podcast studio Wondery also launched early this year its kid version with original audio content such as The Adventures of Cairo.
A few audio streaming services have directly dealt with producers to adapt their IP’s to their catalogue. The kids’ audio-streaming service Pinna launched an audio series Dinosaur Train: Ride along Adventures, while Spotify launched Cocomelon Story Time.
Finally, podcasts also inspire TV series: Maddie + Triggs (Turnip + Duck) – an Irish pre-school animated series – is based on a previous podcast. The kids podcast company Wonkybot also works on the adaptation of its Tara Tremendous series to a film and later TV series.
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