TV Kids Licensing Expo, Annecy & NATPE Budapest 2019

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TVKIDS

WWW.TVKIDS.WS

JUNE/JULY 2019

LICENSING EXPO, ANNECY & NATPE BUDAPEST EDITION

French Animation / L&M Strategies / Netflix’s Melissa Cobb / Rainbow’s Iginio Straffi

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8 TV KIDS

CONTENTS

It Takes Two (or More)

FEATURES

16 FRANCE TOONS IN Producers and distributors weigh in on the current opportunities and challenges facing the French animation sector.

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Illustrators, producers and rights holders from across the globe descend on the French city of Annecy this month to celebrate the best in animation today and find smart ways to make the hits of the future.

Ricardo Seguin Guise Publisher Anna Carugati Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani Editor Kristin Brzoznowski Executive Editor Chelsea Regan Alison Skilton Associate Editors Victor L. Cuevas Production & Design Director Phyllis Q. Busell Art Director Simon Weaver Online Director Dana Mattison Senior Sales & Marketing Manager Andrea Moreno Business Affairs Manager

Ricardo Seguin Guise President Anna Carugati Executive VP Mansha Daswani Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development TV Kids ©2019 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website: www.tvkids.ws

The Annecy International Animation Film Festival and its associated market, Mifa, has indeed become one of a handful of must-attend events for those operating in the kids’ sector.

“We have woven a longstanding relationship with the community,” says Annecy CEO Mickaël Marin on the growth of the event. He also notes the importance of having “talent and industry professionals in the same place at the same time.

Furthermore, every year we reinforce the complementary features between the two events and promote exchanges between the diverse professional categories. Annecy is not sidelined by just one single format. This is a surefire bonus that lets us show the best animated creations.”

Marin adds that “Annecy is the sole event that encompasses the [animation] industry’s entire chain within the same week, and all on a global scale.” The festival also places a heavy emphasis on supporting the next generation of animation talent. Plus, Marin adds, “Despite currently reaching almost 12,000 accreditations, Annecy is an exclusive place for meetings, exchanges and conviviality [against] an extraordinary backdrop—the beautiful Lake Annecy.”

Partnerships are still taking center stage across the production and distribution industry, despite the march of SVOD services insisting on exclusivity. Digital platforms are opening up a host of opportunities for animation producers and distributors across the globe, including in France, a prolific animation production market that we spotlight in this edition.

Those in the challenged L&M sector are also exploring new partnership opportunities, both with traditional brick-andmortar and online retailers, as they look for new ways to engage with kids (and their parents) on every platform. This edition of TV Kids explores the latest developments in kids’ merchandising, in time for Licensing Expo in Las Vegas.

This issue also features insights from two leading executives in the kids’ and family sector: Iginio Straffi of Italy’s Rainbow talks about flagship brands like Winx Club and opportunities in live action, and Netflix’s Melissa Cobb discusses how she is working with first-time and established animation talent worldwide to craft compelling kids’ series for the platform.

—Mansha Daswani

GET DAILY NEWS ON KIDS’ PROGRAMMING

20 FULL SPEED AHEAD As the retail industry changes with the times, new opportunities are opening up in the licensing and merchandising business.

20 INTERVIEWS

24 Netflix’s Melissa Cobb The VP of original animation at the streaming platform discusses the potential to bring local stories with global resonance to young ones across the globe.

28 Rainbow’s Iginio Straffi The chairman and CEO shares the plans for the live-action Winx Club series and explains what’s driving the success of the new preschool hit 44 Cats.

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AnimalFanPedia

Cisneros Media AnimalFanPedia / Wowzu / Dinosaur project

Among the new children’s titles that Cisneros Media is developing is AnimalFanPedia, a wildlife program shot exclusively in HD that will take young viewers around the world and introduce them to giraffes, sharks, tigers and more, exploring how they live and what they need to survive. “AnimalFanPedia not only entertains, but it is also culturally relevant and essential, offering an incredible and wildly enjoyable adventure through the animal world,” says Ailing Zubizarreta, Cisneros Media’s VP of creative services. The live-action series Wowzu will see children reacting to animal behaviors through memes, dance-offs, lip-syncing and other challenges meant to entertain. There is a brand-new dinosaur project in the incubation stage that “will attract many young dino lovers both on the regular screen and on digital platforms,” according to Zubizarreta.

“We strive to develop our content with a visual language that children can relate to.”

—Ailing Zubizarreta Taffy

Cyber Group Studios Taffy / Sadie Sparks / Gigantosaurus Leading the slate of titles Cyber Group Studios is taking to the marketplace is Taffy, the company’s first Boomerang original series. “This is a modern version of classic cartoons in the spirit of Tom and Jerry,” says Raphaelle Mathieu, senior VP of sales, acquisitions and new media for Cyber Group Studios, who calls Taffy an “evergreen program for the whole family.” Sadie Sparks follows a schoolgirl as she discovers magical powers and receives training from a grumpy rabbit. Winner of the Cartoons on the Bay Pulcinella Award for best upper preschool TV series is Cyber Group’s Gigantosaurus, which has successfully launched on Disney Channel in the U.S. “We are really overwhelmed by [the success of] this show, for which we have worked so hard to appeal to young kids worldwide,” says Mathieu.

“We are coming with three very different types of series—all of them of the highest quality and with great storytelling.”

—Raphaelle Mathieu

FUN Union

Panda and Krash

BabyRiki / Panda and Krash / PinCode Panda and Krash, a Russian-Chinese co-production, is among the highlighted properties in FUN Union’s catalog.

The show, which is set to premiere simultaneously in Russia and China in June, provides “pure entertainment” and is a “fun TV series for preschoolers about real friendship and exciting adventures,” says FUN Union’s CEO, Diana Yurinova.

The company’s BabyRiki property, aimed at toddlers, is expected to create numerous licensing opportunities. “Our focus is on master toy companies in Europe, North America and Latin America, in countries where we already have secured broadcasting of our series,” says Yurinova. For older kids, the series PinCode tackles science through stories, making learning scientific facts a fun experience that can be enjoyed by the whole family.

“Panda and Krash is the first RussianChinese co-production in animation.”

—Diana Yurinova

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Bionic Max

Gaumont

Bionic Max / Furiki Wheels / Calimero Bionic Max, a 2D buddy comedy aimed at kids in the 6-to-11 set, leads Gaumont’s slate of offerings at NATPE Budapest this year. It follows the friendship between Max, a prototype for a bionic guinea pig, and Jean-Claude, a social outcast at the lab where Max was born. While watching the show, “kids will escape into the chaotic madness, laugh out loud and do what kids should do—have fun!” says Vanessa Shapiro, Gaumont’s president of worldwide TV distribution and coproduction. Other highlights from Gaumont include Furiki Wheels, which features a sloth who has the unique desire to be a racecar driver, and Calimero, a CGI series that follows a little chicken and his pals, who encourage children to “take a fresh look at the world around them with an open heart,” says Shapiro.

“Gaumont will be at NATPE Budapest this year meeting with buyers and potential partners.”

—Vanessa Shapiro

Green Gold Animation

Mighty Little Bheem

Mighty Little Bheem

Green Gold Animation is focusing on its preschool series Mighty Little Bheem, Netflix’s first original animated series from India, at Licensing Expo. Each six-minute episode of the series follows the adventures of the title character from Chhota Bheem, a popular kids’ series that has been running on Pogo TV in India since 2008. Bheem hails from a small town in India, where his strength gets him into—and out of—all kinds of trouble. “With Mighty Little Bheem, which is now being watched by millions of young viewers and their families on Netflix globally, Green Gold is proving that audiences respond to irresistible storytelling and characters they can relate to, regardless of cultural affinities or country of origin,” says Rajiv Chilaka, founder and CEO of Green Gold.

“Green Gold’s senior team is looking forward to discussions with various publishing, toy and apparel companies at the market.”

—Rajiv Chilaka

Mondo TV Group

MeteoHeroes

MeteoHeroes / YooHoo to the Rescue / Robot Trains Mondo TV Group’s highlights center on the theme of respect for the environment. MeteoHeroes sees six kids with the power to control the weather fight against extreme climate phenomena, with each episode taking its theme from real weather reports.

“MeteoHeroes was created to answer some of the questions that arise from climate change, which affects the lives of people and animals and the entire ecosystems,” says Luana Perrero, the company’s head of content sales. “We are, therefore, looking for partners to embrace this series and the changes that it promotes.” YooHoo to the Rescue follows the titular character as he and his pals travel to Earth to confront threats to wildlife, meeting endangered animals along the way. Robot Trains teaches kids about the planet’s balance of water, fire, wind and light through talking trains that transform into robots.

“The objective is not only to entertain kids with special and well-made content that brings with it a positive message but to work with big institutions and get as many partners as possible to take action, to make a difference.”

—Luana Perrero

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Monster Entertainment

WowWow Rolling Friends

The Day Henry Met…? / Earth to Luna! / WowWow Rolling Friends Monster Entertainment’s The Day Henry Met…?—which is currently broadcasting on free-TV channels in Poland, Latvia and Estonia—follows the titular character on a different adventure each day, as he befriends everything from animals to the Moon. The series Earth to Luna!, which hails from Latin America, follows the eponymous 6-year-old as she explores the world through science, bringing her little brother and pet ferret along on her adventures. Meanwhile, Korea’s WowWow Rolling Friends, Monster’s first Asian property, is a storytelling-themed series aimed at 3- to 5year-olds that helps them develop problem-solving skills by using imaginative block toys. These three programs “show our versatile catalog,” says Andrew Fitzpatrick, chairman of Monster Entertainment.

“All of these titles are unique, and this is what we would like to show our existing and future clients.”

—Andrew Fitzpatrick

Studio 100 Media & m4e Heidi / Tip the Mouse / Wissper The series Heidi is touting 26 new adventures of the happy orphan girl who handles the challenges of everyday life with a smile. The show is a “real worldwide evergreen,” says Dorian Bühr, head of global distribution at Studio 100 Media and m4e. “Heidi, as an authentic character, has already inspired kids for more than a century.” Season three of Tip the Mouse will become available this fall. The CGI preschool series is based on a publishing success that has sold over 11 million books worldwide. Meanwhile, there’s a second season of the preschool series Wissper. “The show is designed to attract kids and families, offering a unique story about a cute animal whisperer and her animal friends,” says Bühr. “Its style, design and production quality meet the highest market standards.”

Wissper

“Studio 100 Media and m4e is always trying to make great content accessible to a wide audience and to help kids have fun and thrive.”

—Dorian Bühr

ZDF Enterprises

The Athena

The Athena / The Bureau of Magical Things / Zoom—The White Dolphin In The Athena, a young model’s career implodes when she complains about a famous designer treating her like an object. She decides she wants to design her own clothes and wins a place at The Athena, London’s most prestigious art school. Also in the way of live action is The Bureau of Magical Things. “Zoom—The White Dolphin is only one of the several new additions to our animation catalog,” says Peter Lang, VP of ZDFE.junior at ZDF Enterprises. “After being the hero of the 1970s cult series, the most famous cetacean in the history of cartoons makes his comeback in this animated series.” In addition to sales for the series, Lang says all of these properties “are ideally suited for L&M exploitation in the very best sense.”

“ZDFE.junior is the number one address when it comes to successful live-action series.”

—Peter Lang

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Cyber Group Studios’ Mirette Investigates.

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France Toons In

TV KIDS

Kristin Brzoznowski explores the current opportunities and challenges facing the French animation sector.

T

he history of French animation is among the longest, and most enviable, in the world.

France was the birthplace of some of the earliest animated films, dating back to the late 19th century. Throughout the years, the country has cultivated a rich tradition of storytellers and animators that is still alive and thriving today, as it’s home to a number of highly respected and internationally renowned animation schools, the famed Les Gobelins among them.

“There is not only a long tradition of French animation but also a strong foundation,” says Pierre Sissmann, chairman and CEO of Paris-based Cyber Group Studios. “I’m talking about 70 or 80 years of people working in the industry, learning and being nourished by fairytales and then creating original stories.

That explains why France, today, is the number one country in Europe for animation, not only with television series but also feature films.”

Indeed, the latest figures from the CNC (National Center for Cinema and the Moving Image) and TV France International illustrate animation as France’s most valuable programming export. In 2017, a year when the country set an all-time TVprogramming export record, animated content accounted for 37 percent of French sales, for a total revenue of nearly €76 million—compared to €64 million for fiction and €36 million for documentaries.

“The industry has reached a new high,” affirms Jérôme Alby, managing director of Mediatoon Distribution, which is part of the French conglomerate Media-Participations. “There are lots of good IPs in Europe that travel quite well. The free-to-air channels were commissioning so much animation, plus movies, that France developed an expertise. That is a key asset that we have in terms of having students who are very well taught; we have very strong schools and very good writers.”

The commissioning landscape in France, however, is bracing for some changes, Alby explains. For one,

France Télévisions is planning to shut down the free-to-air France 4 channel, which boasts a bevy of kids’ and family programming. Meanwhile, Gulli, the country’s leading free-to-air digital channel for children, and its sister networks, Canal J and TiJi, are transitioning ownership to M6 Group. “So, there are some worries within the French animation sector,” he says.

CHANGING TIMES “The French and European animation market is definitely going through some big changes, which triggers numerous new challenges but also creates many new opportunities,” says Delphine Dumont, senior VP of sales, acquisitions and co-productions at Zodiak Kids. “These opportunities vary, depending on what point of view you are looking at things from (content creators, producers, distributors and platforms, both linear and digital), but we are all in a period of transition.”

The transformation of distribution and the proliferation of platforms are causing the biggest changes in the sector, she says. “Viewing habits are now incredibly varied, but importantly, demand for content has never been so strong, resulting in a healthy commissioning market.”

“One of the greatest challenges is being able to produce enough content to satisfy the demand, which has accelerated as a result of the rapid multiplication of platforms,” says Morgann Favennec, the executive VP of global sales development at Xilam Animation. “With so much competition, it’s also a challenge for the industry to create content that will cut through the noise and keep audiences tuning in. Our strategy is to look for new properties with a distinct, unique concept and engaging characters, to hook kids in immediately and keep them coming back week after week.”

Lionel Marty, the managing director of APC Kids, agrees that competition is as stiff as ever. “More and more titles are produced in Europe every year, and the traditional contentprovider markets, such as France, the U.K., Italy, Spain and Germany, are now not only facing competition from the U.S.,

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The preschool series Lilybuds, produced by Zodiak Kids Studio France, has been sold into markets such as the U.K.

Canada and Japan, but also from growing rivals, including Russia, Latin America and Asia.”

“Meanwhile, consumer demand has not accelerated at the same pace as the content offering,” he continues. “Traditional broadcasters still have limited time slots for kids’ content, and the schedules of kid-dedicated channels rely heavily on multiple runs of the most successful titles, while SVOD platforms tend to focus on properties with built-in audience awareness.

Therefore, it takes high creative values, combined with the right marketing approach, for a property to stand out.”

RAISING THE BAR

For the time being, we found a maximized balance by starting with linear broadcast.”

He sees that digital platforms are increasing in importance for the French animation sector. “For Mediatoon, if we add up free VOD, AVOD, SVOD and TVOD, it’s more than a third of our global turnover, in terms of exploitation.”

With the growth in OTT and the impending changes to the country’s free-to-air landscape, the pay-TV channels “are facing new challenges,” says Alby. “They are constantly enriching a combined linear and nonlinear strategy so as to avoid being cornered by the linear free-to-air channels on one side and the SVOD and OTT on the other side. So, most of the key pay-TV networks are developing their SVOD and/or OTT offers. The same goes for the free-to-air channels, making for exciting times ahead!”

“The OTT alternatives created by European networks and telecom companies keep improving,” notes APC Kids’ Marty, highlighting the impact this has had on the creative community in France, and in Europe as a whole.

“We anticipate that the demand for more and more content will continue to grow, with an increasing number of requests for exclusive rights,” says Xilam’s Favennec. “As a result, if you want to produce for a broad range of platforms and broadcasters, you have to be robust and have a solid business strategy, while also remaining attractive to new creative talent.”

“French animation remains one of the most prolific markets, thanks to an abundance of kids’ channels and service providers—producers, studios and distributors—and very strong funding grants such as the CNC model,” adds Zodiak Kids’ Dumont. “The metamorphosis of France TV and the arrival of Disney+ in the territory will definitely change the landscape and the way things have traditionally been done.”

Even with the changes looming in France’s TV market, Cyber Group’s Sissmann maintains an optimistic outlook for the country’s animation sector. “I’m feeling positive about the future,” he says. “But I think the challenges are very big.

How do you adapt to the new platforms? How do you manage your SVOD rights? How does that impact storytelling?

These are some of the challenges that we’re facing. But, with its strong foundation and tradition of artists, with its worldrenowned animation schools and with the French government’s support, France is better positioned than anywhere else to face these challenges.”

Cyber Group’s Sissmann says that with regard to creativity, digital platforms have opened up more potential for serialized storytelling. “Another good thing is that some of the platforms have a lot of money, so your ambitions, in terms of special effects and storytelling, can be [greater]. One of the series that we’re currently doing has a budget of about €9 million, another one has a budget that went to €12 million, and these are both for traditional television. We felt that we had to compete—in terms of visuals, special effects and storytelling— with all the other new series on digital platforms.”

Of course, being ambitious is a good thing for the animation business at large, but the issue is finding the financing to remain competitive, says Sissmann. “If you look at the traditional [budget] for a French series, the average price is €7 million to €7.5 million, because that’s what the market allows in terms of financing and how you can recoup your investment. To compete on the world market can be much more expensive, and hence, this creates financing issues.”

Sissmann also notes that many OTT platforms want to own all rights to the IP created for them.

“I’m afraid that independent producers are going to struggle,” he says. “They will need to fight to get this new budget and will eventually wind up doing work for hire and not for their IPs anymore.”

Mediatoon’s Alby says that in this changing marketplace, it’s important for distributors to “manage the best possible balance between exposure, exclusivity, holdback and revenue. Based on a picture book, The Fox-Badger Family is part of the Mediatoon Distribution catalog.

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Mondo TV’s Robot Trains.

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Full Speed

Ahead

As the retail industry changes with the times, new opportunities are opening up in the licensing and merchandising business. By Chelsea Regan

M

uch was made last year of the liquidation of Toys“R”Us, the ultimate purveyor of toys. There were fears that its bankruptcy not only underscored a singular company’s financial woes, but perhaps foretold unavoidable ails for an entire industry. But those fears may have been unfounded, or at the very least, premature.

Despite a 2-percent decrease in toy-industry sales in 2018, as reported by the NPD Group, the Toys“R”Us liquidation was possibly indicative of an isolated problem: an outmoded business model for a soon-to-be bygone era. Once the industry adapts to make up for its absence, it seems reasonable to believe that more growth lies ahead.

As broadcasters launch streaming apps and media megabrands like WarnerMedia and Disney unveil SVOD and AVOD platforms, they’re acknowledging a pivot in how viewers want to consume television. So too, kids’ media brands and merchandisers must acknowledge a pivot in how consumers want to buy toys and other branded merchandise for the children in their lives.

EVOLVING RETAIL “Amazon and Walmart have to top your list each and every time,” says Jennifer Coleman, Konami Cross Media NY’s VP of licensing and marketing, about the routes brands are taking to bring their products to retail in light of the closures of many brick-and-mortar toy sellers. What’s more is that Konami, which recently rebranded from 4K Media and manages the YuGi-Oh! brand, in addition to Contra, Frogger and Bomberman, is meeting the buyers where they are—on the internet. “We’ve had our own small Yu-Gi-Oh! shop online.”

Natasha Gross, SUNRIGHTS’ director of licensing and merchandising, also sees the rising importance of having a strong presence in the online sphere to reach consumers directly and with more flexibility.

“Brands could feature select products and attract niche consumers, but this area is still challenging because you need to attract your audience and build awareness,” says Gross. One solution is to take Konami’s route of creating an online shop.

“Many manufacturers, and even brands, are creating their own e-commerce platforms that are very targeted toward a particular buyer, but it will take time to grow these sites.”

In Italy, where Mondo TV is based, the retail industry has yet to dramatically shift away from brick-and-mortar, though that doesn’t mean that the company is turning a blind eye to online retail’s encroaching prevalence in the region.

“We still do a lot of business through traditional retail, shops, stores and kiosks,” says Valentina La Macchia, Mondo TV’s licensing director. “It’s true that online trading is making inroads into these markets, and we are factoring this change into our planning. However, we are wary of overcommitting to any one retail approach when the retail market remains fairly diverse.”

Ian Shipley, the head of licensing at Monster Entertainment— whose The Day Henry Met...? property has inspired a series of books—is not entirely immune to the internet’s many charms, but he maintains the belief that brick-and-mortar still serves a fundamental function in the L&M business.

“Without the brick-and-mortar retailers, brands and properties lose out massively on the exposure in-store and the ability to present a range of products and undertake brand promotions. Suppliers also miss out on the impulse purchases generated in-store,” he says, adding, “Grandparents and other relatives looking for a present would often buy if they could see a range was popular; they don’t get this with online retailers in the same way.”

Shipley has an idea of one category in particular for which Amazon could help brands develop products that frequent toy buyers like grandparents might be keen to buy. He thinks that a key opportunity in the coming years for the L&M business could be “for a major [retailer] like Amazon to get in on the print-on-demand model and become more innovative with the products that can be personalized. There are many people doing print-on-demand, but at the moment, they just do not have the reach to generate long-term high revenue for IP owners.”

“Every segment of the L&M business is getting more personalized and consumer-oriented,” observes Valeria Korotina, FUN Union’s international marketing director. She explains that the company is constantly researching and studying its

TV KIDS

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target audience. “Which social networks they are using; which platforms they watch. We can adapt our content by analyzing which episodes are more popular and by attending to audiences’ comments. It’s not enough now just to produce content; you have to be in a dialogue with your audience.”

In keeping with the theme of looking toward what’s next rather than at what is, Konami’s Coleman suggests that Kickstarter might become A new wave of toys for FUN Union’s BabyRiki has been launched to the market. a vital platform for even established brands in the play it safe,” he says. “If they only have three SKUs of lunch merchandising industry. She’s witnessed companies “using it as boxes, they will play it safe and go with a mainstream franchise.” a promotional tool to drive awareness, to create buzz and really SUNRIGHTS will be representing the well-known Beyblade to sort of seed it within that category, within that fan group that IP across all non-toy categories at Licensing Expo, as well as you’re targeting, that target market.” some select ancillary novelty toy products, as master toys are the brand’s key driver. “We have an entire demographic that is nostalgic for Beyblade who are older, and we are marketing to While conventional wisdom might dictate that a brand as stoour original fan base,” says Gross. ried and established as Konami’s Yu-Gi-Oh!, with its sprawling If nostalgia isn’t in a brand’s corner, it’s feasible to break into franchise of series, wouldn’t need to consider avenues like the competitive field and stand out from the crowd through Kickstarter, Coleman would beg to differ. From her point of quality and originality, according to Mondo TV’s La Macchia. view, the assumption that established IP has a firm leg up on “We try to make sure the positioning of our brand is somethe competition profoundly misunderstands the retail game, thing that we have done differently from every other channel. which requires continuous effort to stay ahead.

The Robot Trains app is an obvious example,” La Macchia says, “You have to work hard, you have to be creative, you have to referring to the augmented reality app that’s both free to downbe innovative, you have to make sure that you are on trend— load and available through product purchases. not only with the products that you’re putting out here, but also FUN Union has responded to the competitive market by with the style guides that you’re developing for your partners to seeking out the right partners. KingBee in China produced its work with,” says Coleman, suggesting that these musts hold BabyRiki toys, which launched six months ago with more than true for all brands. “I think you have to look hard and every70 SKUs in more than 120 stores. The company is also finding thing has to be aligned, and it has to be a concentrated effort new ways to work with retailers on IP. across numerous departments across an organization to really While partnerships are central to the licensing business, find success in this competitive landscape.”

SUNRIGHTS’ Gross points out that when it comes to categories Monster Entertainment’s Shipley, meanwhile, sees how difand timing, strategizing is as important as ever. ficult it can be to crack through the BPA-free plastic ceiling of “The days of signing up hundreds of licensees globally in the industry. anticipation of launching a brand are no longer the reality, and “I am saddened when I continually see the major householdpartners across the board are more conservative to align with name franchises and nothing else—great for these brands, but retail interest and economic change,” she says. they are blocking new IP from breaking through as retailers With Avengers: Endgame ushering in the end of the most recent great age of the superhero flick—and its corresponding stronghold on collectible toys—Konami’s Coleman sees an opportunity in the gaping hole that the megabrand will leave in its wake, one that can be filled by smaller brands, particularly ones tied in to the gaming industry.

“I’m excited about what the future holds for some of these game entities, and that as a new medium for content development and putting that out there in the marketplace. I’m a little happy that superheroes are kind of on the downturn so that other things can try to find their place in the category,” says Coleman, adding, “I like seeing the continued growth of Crunchyroll for our anime sector,” referring to the streaming platform whose success underpins what’s changed on the content side of the industry, and which goes a long way to forecasting what lies ahead in L&M. Mondo TV’s La Macchia, too, acknowledges streaming’s potential, as well as that of online media at large, though not without a caveat echoing one of Coleman’s concerns. “The growth in viewing platforms and online media is helping to democratize brand exposure and reach highly targeted, licenseerelevant audiences,” she says. “This is a major opportunity—if it can be properly managed.”

STANDING OUT

Monster’s The Day Henry Met...? has inspired a set of books.

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Melissa Cobb

Netflix

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TV KIDS

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ids’ and family content has become an increasingly important pillar for Netflix in its quest to maintain its position as the largest SVOD platform in the world.

Melissa Cobb, VP of original animation, recently sat down for an in-depth conversation with TV Kids to discuss her remit, upcoming projects and the potential to bring local stories with global resonance to young ones across the globe.

TV KIDS: At an event in Mexico earlier this year, Guillermo del Toro talked about the “creator-friendly” environment he’s found at Netflix. How have you fostered that?

COBB: I’ve been at Netflix for about a year and a half. When I got here, there wasn’t [an animation studio] yet. I had to think a lot about what we could create that would be different.

What is the experience that can be different? One of the things I realized was that so many creators in the kids’ and family space are working in environments where there is a very clear brand profile to work under, and often one arbiter of that taste profile. I don’t know if there had been a studio yet that was truly creator-driven, with very different styles and tastes based on the creators working there. That seemed like an intriguing idea. So that was what we set out to do. It’s about bringing in the right creators. You need creators who have a strong enough vision that they can take it all the way to the finish line. We’re there to help provide them with support and guardrails and someone to bounce ideas off of. It’s not necessarily the level of experience—we have first-time creators as well as experienced creators. But it’s a level of vision and confidence to be able to run their own show. It starts with picking the right people. There are people for whom that’s not a comfortable thing, and they are probably not the right people to work for us. People like Guillermo are super clear in their vision! People like that work really well in that environment.

And then they are fearless about sharing what they know with the other creators. It becomes an interesting environment where people aren’t afraid to say, Can you take a look at this? I’m having some trouble, do you have any suggestions about this character design? They all want their work to be great for themselves.

TV KIDS: The programmers at kids’ channels often talk about finding content that fits their particular brand values. What’s your approach to finding shows that will work on Netflix?

COBB: Again, it’s about who you bring in and what the projects are. And then we’re trying to look across all the projects and we have to make sure there is a real variety—more comedic things and more actiony things and things that appeal to the whole family and things that appeal to different age groups within the family. We look at our slate holistically to make sure we have a broad offering, with different tastes and kinds of creators too.

TV KIDS: How are you experimenting with formats and episode durations?

COBB: That 11-minute, 22-minute format has been ingrained for so long! There are some fun things we’re doing. We have this show called True and the Rainbow Kingdom, a preschool series. Something like that, rather than order X number of 11minute episodes, Dominique [Bazay, director of content acquisitions for kids], the content executive on that, sat down with the creators and said, Let’s do 200 minutes of content.

Let’s think about how we can divide that up in a different way. Our order size is the same, but we think of it differently.

There are slightly longer specials, maybe 18-minutes long, there are short-form music videos and then there are episodes. That’s helpful for kids because there are moments

when they need different kinds of content. Maybe they just have a couple of minutes, or perhaps they have a favorite song and want to watch [the video] over and over again, or they have more time before bed and want to watch something longer. It’s been interesting to see how the audience reacts to that. It’s been pretty encouraging so far.

On the other side, we have something like Maya and the Three that Jorge Gutierrez is doing for us. That’s a miniseries, for lack of a better word. It’s nine episodes of about a half hour each but done through a feature pipeline and feature-quality production. Just because something is a series doesn’t mean it can’t also be a feature-quality experience. It’s suited for a family to gather together and watch an animated event series over several nights. That seems like a really interesting experience to me. We can provide different types of experiences for families.

TV KIDS: You’ve also done some interactive storytelling. Is there more to come in that space?

COBB: We’ve aired four interactive series in the kids’ space.

They’ve all done well for us. They’ve all been well embraced by the audience. We recently announced another one, called Battle Kitty, which uses interactivity differently. It’s not so much branching narrative. You get to choose the order in which you have adventures. So it’s a slightly different lens on it. It’s a creator-driven situation where we’re saying, Let’s take these brilliant engineers and put them together with these great creators and see what they can come up with. [Battle Kitty] is the first show from Matt Layzell. He had a bit of an internet following because he made these funny cartoons online, and the engineer who was doing our interactive turned out to be a big fan of his. So, we put those people together. That’s the unique thing about Netflix—that partnership between the product and engineering side and the creative side. We think that can result in really interesting collaborations.

TV KIDS: Tell us about some of the originals you’re making outside of the U.S. COBB: Asia is a super important region for us. It’s a big growth opportunity. There’s a lot of family viewing in Asia, a lot of extended families living together, particularly in India and Southeast Asia. We think a lot about this audience. We now have an executive based in the Singapore office who is just focusing on finding content from the region that is appropriate for kids and families. There are a few shows we’ve already done. It’s still early—we’re just getting started! We had a couple of shows out of Korea, YooHoo to the Rescue and Larva Island.

Both are doing really well, in the region and outside the region. Mighty Little Bheem is a new show from Green Gold Animation in India. It’s a very specific Indian IP, and now everybody outside India knows about it. That’s doing really well outside of Asia. That, particularly in animation, is a great opportunity—finding those great creators and great stories and IP in the region and helping develop them in a way that they can resonate globally. We’re doing a movie, Over the Moon, which is based on a Chinese folktale about the Moon Goddess. It’s a big musical adventure that Glen Keane is directing for us. It’s big universal storytelling based on a very specific story from China. [Asia] is a rich source of great stories, great art and really strong animation, so it feels like there’s a big opportunity to continue to grow.

We have one executive in Singapore, one in Brazil and two in London. The way we think about it is not necessarily local content for local [audiences]. Our content team is looking for creators around the world [to develop content that will resonate globally]. There are a number of different projects

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we’re developing [in Europe and Latin America]. We just announced a show we’re developing out of Africa, Mama K’s Team 4, which we’re super excited about. We have a real passion for finding those creators and helping them be successful.

TV KIDS: How important are acquisitions and co-productions to the Netflix kids’ slate?

COBB: Super important. Licensed acquisitions are a big part of what we do. They always will be—working with the independent studios that are making great content. We are, more and more, working with those creators further upstream so that we can have more territories and it makes our lives easier and it’s good for our audience. It’s always going to be part of what we do. The big deals, like the DreamWorks deal, will continue on.

There are market forces that lean us more toward our own original content, but it will always be a balance.

TV KIDS: What will you be focusing on over the next year?

COBB: International is probably our biggest growth area, in terms of where we’re looking for creators. If you look at the Netflix audience overall, that’s where our big growth is.

There is still growth in the U.S., but we’re seeing really rapid growth in Europe and Latin America and Asia. So we want to make sure we’re tapping into the creators there. In animation, it takes a couple of years to make something! We’re always having to look at the long horizon of where we think our audience is going to be and where their interests are going to be and where we think there are going to be more families and more kids. We have to anticipate that.

TV KIDS: We’ve talked a lot about animation. Are you also investing in original live action for kids?

COBB: We’re doing more tween sitcoms. We have No Good Nick on now and a number of other series coming out this year, like Malibu Rescue and Family Reunion.

Those tend to do OK globally. We’re looking a bit more in Europe for live action. And we have a tween tele novela from Latin America called Go! Live Your Way that is really fun. It’s a soapy series set in a performing arts high school. We’re also starting a big initiative around tween/teen movies, more PGrated. Tall Girl comes out later this year. We just started shooting The Half of It, a modern Cyrano story. It has a wonderful message about friendship and love.

TV KIDS: How do you use Netflix’s treasure trove of data analytics in your content decisions?

COBB: There are a couple of things that analytics are super helpful for. One is in identifying white spaces. There will be clusters of viewers around a certain type of content, say anime. We can look at those and say, Do we have enough for the people who like to watch this type of content?

The analytics are also pretty good at being able to identify what the size of the audience is for a certain piece of content. That is quite a luxury. That helps us find the appropriate budget for something.

Not everything needs to appeal to everyone.

We’re not in that business. We’re in the business of the appropriate number of people for the budget watching something. It helps us tune and identify a budget number early on. And then, where it’s really powerful, is in finding the viewers. It’s quite remarkable to watch that process happen.

Netflix’s Mighty Little Bheem from Green Gold Animation is built on a beloved Indian IP.

TV KIDS: What excites you most about making content for kids and families today?

COBB: Netflix is in every country in the world, except for China. We can find creators from all over the world, and every show we make will be dubbed into every language and put into every household. There’s this whole generation of kids growing up with access to a platform where they will see shows from all over the world.

There’s an opportunity for a more globally aware, empathetic group of kids who will be more exposed to different cultures. That, to me, is exciting.

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TV KIDS: Expanding into live action has been a significant focus for Rainbow over the last two years. Why has this been such an important strategy for the company?

STRAFFI: We realized that in both the kids’ and the adult spaces, there was a lot of demand for live-action content.

As a content company, we had to expand our portfolio.

So we started with tweens and teens—we produced Maggie & Bianca and now Club 57 with Nickelodeon. At the same time, we acquired one of the most established and prestigious Italian live-action companies, Colorado Film. With them, we now have the know-how and a network of talent attached that can help us in growing our content into the adult space as well.

TV KIDS: How has it been for you working in the live-action space, having been an animation producer for so long?

STRAFFI: For live action, you can see the results of your story, your ideas or something from a book, within a maximum of two years from the first initial concept development. With animation, the process is longer. However, this is not the only reason [we expanded into live action].

We want to grow Rainbow as a media content company beyond kids and animation, and this is the right moment to do it. There are many players—from traditional broadcasters to Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Apple and others—that are putting good budgets behind content. Most of the time, it’s live action. There’s a budget for animation as well, but it’s much smaller compared to what is dedicated to adults. We want to grow as a global player in content.

For me, personally, the move into live action completes my experience professionally. I’ve been in kids’ and family entertainment for 25 years. Live action is a different challenge. It is very exciting for me to put my ideas behind something that is about emotion, touching your heart or inspiring you, but using different elements and real actors. Real actors have a lot of complexity compared to cartoon characters, who never get sick, never complain and never ask for more money! They bring real life and real emotion to what you are doing, if they are real talents.

By Mansha Daswani

A

s it nears its 25th anniversary in 2020, Italy’s Rainbow is cementing its position in the global marketplace as more than just a provider of high-end animation for kids and families. The company that made a name for itself with the megahit Winx Club franchise has upped its live-action game with tween shows like Maggie & Bianca: Fashion Friends and the more recent Club 57, while its Colorado Film business is producing Italian feature films and scripted dramas. Iginio Straffi, chairman and CEO of Rainbow, shares with TV Kids the growth strategy for the company he founded in 1995 and the plans for the liveaction Winx Club series. He also explains what’s driving the success of the new preschool hit 44 Cats.

TV KIDS: Club 57 is being produced in two countries with a multinational cast. How has that experience been?

STRAFFI: It has been a really nice experience. The cast, which is a mix of American, Latin American and Italian actors, has created real friendships. I visited the set many times, both in Italy and Miami. They have real chemistry.

That was experiment number one accomplished! And the know-how of Rainbow and the know-how of Nickelodeon are very complementary; the sensibilities of the Americans, with our European touch. It’s a beautiful show.

TV KIDS: I interviewed Luca Milano at Rai recently, and he mentioned that 44 Cats has been a hit since day one, and you’ve done a number of deals on the show around the world. Why do you think the concept is resonating so strongly with children?

STRAFFI: We had never done a preschool or bridge show; we were more on the older kids side. Trying to create a show that could be more gender neutral was very stimulating. We wanted to bring universal values—messages of friendship, defending against bullies—in a comedic way.

And there are all these songs that are very interesting

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Rainbow has been ramping up its roster of live-action series, which includes Club 57.

because they are not the classic, super-simple-to-sing songs for kids. They are a bit more complicated, faster, with rhymes, with funny meanings. The more the kids listen to them, the more they want to learn to sing them. You need to be successful in the first run but even more in the reruns—the thematic channels do a lot of reruns. So, what we believe is working well in 44 Cats is the combination of comedy, values, the excellent quality of the animation, good stories and the songs. The first time you hear the song you like it but maybe don’t love it, the second time you start to like it more and the third time you really enjoy it and it gets into you and you want to learn it. That’s how the reruns work well.

TV KIDS: Winx Club was the show that put Rainbow on the map globally. How has the franchise been able to evolve to remain so popular over the last 15 years?

STRAFFI: We always try to reinvent the story every time we write a new season. We never want to repeat the same thing over and over, so we’re always adding a lot of strong elements, secrets for the audience to discover. That was what kept it very entertaining for kids for 15 years. The other point I think is important is that, while the first three or four seasons of Winx Club were written and targeted to 8- to 12year-olds, the last couple of seasons—especially season eight—were restyled visually and the stories [adapted to] a younger audience. In the last ten years, the animation audience has skewed younger. Nowadays, it’s very difficult to get a 10-year-old to watch cartoons. They all go for the live action, like Club 57, Maggie & Bianca and the Disney and Nickelodeon live-action shows. When your target is 4-to-8, your story cannot have the same level of complexity as the beginning seasons of Winx, where we had a lot of layers of different stories that came together at a certain point: love stories, school stories, the big adventures, the big threat.

Now everything is toned down, but we still have a lot of original elements, beautiful visuals and nice songs.

TV KIDS: And will the live-action version for Netflix skew older?

STRAFFI: Much older. The fans of the previous Winx Club say on social media that the new seasons are childish, but they don’t know that we had to do that. At Rai YoYo in Italy, the target is kids up to 8 years old, so we can’t do the kinds of stories we did on Rai 2 15 years ago. So for those fans, the 20-year-olds who still like to watch Winx, they will hopefully find their sweet spot in the Netflix original live-action version. It is edgier and darker than what they can imagine after being used to the colorful world of Winx. The target is clearly young adults. The things we had to tone down in the animation have been emphasized in the live action—the relationships, the fights, the love stories. I hope the Netflix series will please all the loyal Winx Club fans around the world who have grown into young adults.

TV KIDS: What are some of your other priorities for the year ahead?

STRAFFI: We are developing some new animated shows, and at the same time, we have successfully launched some family comedies in Italy. We have When Mom Is Away, the highest-grossing Italian movie of the current year. We will continue to do these kinds of family comedies. At the same time, we will continue the thrillers based on books by the writer Donato Carrisi. We have produced The Girl in the Fog and now, Into the Labyrinth, a new movie we are shooting in Rome with an international cast that includes Dustin Hoffman. We are doing The Lost Girls of Rome, a series with Sky based on his books. We have a lot of exciting things coming up!

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