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Feature carefully designed to encourage learning through play.”
enjoyed independently of the TV series). By contrast, on animation series Strange Hill High, commissioning broadcaster the BBC greenlit a game that acted as an interactive episode of the show. Written like a real episode, it achieved high levels of immersion and generated a healthy 500,000 unique browsers. On the second point, Higgins, whose hit preschool property Kate & Mim-Mim has just
that has successfully transitioned to TV. “We produce a show called Warren Buffett’s Secret Millionaires Club, which is designed to encourage financial literacy among young audiences,” Heyward says. “It started life as a series of webisodes on AOL before transferring to The Hub as a series. Voice talent to have taken part in the show includes Bill Gates, Jay-Z, Shaquille O’Neal, Nick Cannon, Gisele Bundchen and Kelly Rowland.”
Of course, once you view kids’ content as a cross-platform business, as opposed to a TV business, it raises interesting questions. For a start, should your digital content relate directly to the TV iteration of the brand? Or should it offer a stand-alone entertainment experience? Similarly, does it become possible to launch a kids’ franchise on other platOne of the big trends to forms, with a view to bringing have emerged in the era it back to television in the secof digital entertainment is ond phase? the rise of toy companies as On the first point, content creators and ownFremantleMedia Kids and ers. In part, this has been Family Entertainment exdriven by the opportunity ecutive vice-president Bob for them to own media, as Higgins says both routes are opposed to renting it from options, depending on the third parties. But it is also property and what you are an acknowledgement that trying to achieve. A couple of toy brands face the same FremantleMedia-produced challenge as TV series: if shows underline the point. In they are not available in all the case of Tree Fu Tom, for Warren Buffett’s Secret Millionaires Club: voice talent includes Bill Gates, Jay-Z, Shaquille O’Neal, Nick forms across all platforms, example, FremantleMedia Cannon, Gisele Bundchen and Kelly Rowland they risk being detached worked with Crane Media on from fans. an augmented reality technolThe toy/content/digital relationship has takdebuted on Disney Junior US, says: “We’ve ogy that allowed kids to bring the pre-school en many forms, including The Lego Movie, seen example of properties going from app show’s central character to life on an iPad by Mattel’s acquisition of pre-school stuto TV, the most obvious being Angry Birds. juxtaposing him with real-world settings (thus dio HIT Entertainment and Spin Master I’d love that kind of success and do think digcreating a standalone spin-off that could be Entertainment’s deital can act as a kind cision to join forces of reverse engineerwith Mondo Media to ing test lab. My main launch kids-focused warning, however, “The app world is crazily cha n nel is that the app world competitive — even more so YouTube Spindo TV. is crazily competiHasbro, meanwhile, tive — even more so than TV. To break out you has a number of TV than TV. So to break need something that is truly series based on toy out you need to have unique in character and prop er t ies , not asomething that is trudesign” bly Transformers, ly unique in character Bob Higgins My Little Pony and and design.” Littlest Pet Shop. Henson is one comSu m ma r i si ng t he pany that has been company’s view of the new digital landscape, exploring this route to market. Last year, it senior vice-president of international distrilaunched Chatter Zoo as an appisode, workbution and development Finn Arnesen says: ing with new-media specialist Mindshapes. “We’re still working with all the major kids’ Created by Alex Rockwell (Pajanimals; Bear networks but we welcome the emergence of adIn The Big Blue House), Chatter Zoo is an ditional platform partners. For us, the key issue interactive pre-school property that features is to get the right balance between the camps.” stories, learn and play activities, animations In terms of how digital impacts on Hasbro’s and music content. The ultimate goal is to content, Arnesen says: “With a franchise like build momentum and adapt for TV. Transformers, we’re always thinking about Genius, meanwhile, already has a property Transformers, one of Hasbro’s series based on toy properties preview magazine I March 2015 I www.miptv.com