KIDS_1013_BOYS_ALT_RIGHT_EUR_1006_ELLENDER 9/19/13 5:01 PM Page 2
110 TV KIDS
Studies have shown that a single episode of a typical straight action series might be watched two to three times by a viewer, but a comedy or series with comedic elements might be watched ten times. As Faier explains: “With straight action, once you’ve seen it, you’ve seen it.The emphasis is to up the ante and make everything bigger and better all the time. But with comedy, you can laugh over and over again.” PLAYING FOR KEEPS
Charging ahead: Saban Brands is updating the Digimon franchise with the new series Digimon Fusion, sold by MarVista.
Many owners of boys’ action brands have thought long and hard about how best to harness the dynamic of collectability in their shows. Get this part of a boys’ action show right and a series is likely to be quickly adopted into play patterns, increasing the potential for successful merchandising. Indeed, the most successful shows for boys are underpinned by a “robust ecosystem built around the shows, including licensed toys and merchandise to stimulate game-play, video games and sometimes even major motion pictures,” Dekel says. 4K Media’s global hit franchise Yu-Gi-Oh! began as a Japanese manga about gaming. Today, in addition to airing on networks across the globe, the show is accompanied by a successful trading-card game from Konami that has reportedly generated revenues of more than $18 billion worldwide. One way that boys’ action shows have tapped into boys’ interest in collectables is through the concept of morphing, as is the case with Nerd Corps’ Slugterra, which airs on Disney XD. “The mechanic of befriending slugs, training them and blasting them at 100 mph to transform them in battle taps right into boys’ love of collecting, competing and blasting,” says Faier. “These are the core components of the toy line from JAKKS Pacific, and they make the series a natural fit to cross over into other licensing categories, such as interactive.”
utes Saban Brands’ Power Rangers Samurai, Power Rangers Megaforce and Digimon Fusion. “That’s what boys’ action allows for: a lot of role play and running around.” The key to success is the genre’s ability to translate characters and story lines effectively into those play patterns, “whether it’s role-playing, mastery of challenging tasks or action figure play,” says Elie Dekel, the president of Saban Brands. “The shows that work best also have aspirational heroes, compelling and exciting content, deep and varied off-screen access, relatability and a strong sense of community among fans.” Another key element in popular action series for boys is comedy. “Networks and program makers are increasingly aware that comedy repeats far better than straight action adventure,” says Sander Schwartz, the president of FremantleMedia Kids & Family Entertainment, which is working with Mattel and Nerd Corps Entertainment on a series based on the Max Steel toy line. “By combining the two genres, producers and broadcasters find they can sustain a show for much longer periods.” That’s a strategy backed by Ken Faier, the president of Nerd Corps Entertainment, who estimates that around 40 percent of his company’s titles can be classified as boys’ action, with hybrid shows such as the action comedy Slugterra showing how the genre has evolved. The introduction of increasing amounts of comedy into the boys’ action genre is in part driven by the expansion of kids’ entertainment in general, argues Faier. “There are around 24 to 25 specialist kids’ channels now, but their commissioning budgets are not getting any bigger, so they have to repeat things regularly. That’s one reason why comedy has become more evident in boys’ action shows—it increases the Powering up: FremantleMedia Kids & Family Entertainment partnered repeatability of the programs.” with Mattel for a new Max Steel series, inspired by the toy line. 354 World Screen 10/13