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TV KIDS
from licensing, merchandising, music publishing and so on. We created one of the largest kids’ management companies in traditional media and aim to replicate this on an all-rights basis to the best benefit of the producers we represent. Our mantra remains the same: Provide the service the leading kids’ producers deserve when it comes to international distribution. TV KIDS: What do you look for when expanding your catalogue? GUILLAUME: While we’ve been working on iconic brands, it has always been important to us to remain fresh. A good example of that is The Jungle Bunch. We started with a movie special. It’s not the most exciting format to have as a distributor, but we believed in the brand and its long-term potential. It was sold in 140 territories to all major broadcasters around the world. The trust that everybody had in the franchise and this crazy story of a penguin who thinks he’s a tiger led the producer to greenlight a 52x11-minute series, which is now in production with a budget of over $10 million and already picked up worldwide. We will support it on all media with a big partnership to be unveiled quite soon. TV KIDS: For producers, what are the advantages of
working with PGS? PHILIPPE: The company does over 200 days of international travel a year.We do over 25 markets, conferences and fairs. We have the ability to support those costs because we represent several producers and we can make this profitable. Because the international market is so important in kids, some producers will choose to do international sales internally. Our pitch to them is “what is your time worth?” Your job is to always be developing the next big IP and find one or two big partners to make this dream happen. Our job, once you’re able to do that, is to support 200 more deals—or 2,000 deals if there’s merchandise across the world. The longevity of many of our partnerships is the best proof of the advantage of working with us. The market is rapidly reshaping itself and recently, even more than before, everybody gets that you can’t be number one at everything. TV KIDS: What’s the strategy for increasing your
partner network? PHILIPPE: Always being the one with the next big
hit. At the end of the day, it’s all about content. It’s about having the best shows and a diverse lineup. It’s
about investing a lot of money in the development of the brands once they are delivered through the products’ concept, style guide and online marketing support. It’s about being more and more effective at our job. Being only focused on the brand-management side and not on the development of shows has allowed our business to grow faster. GUILLAUME: A good example is PGS Hong Kong, which I am setting up. It is providing a local presence in a market that is already very important to us, and with that local presence we expect to foster an even bigger presence. It also shows our commitment to stay on top of the development of the services we provide. TV KIDS: How have you been working with digital
platforms? GUILLAUME: We are already working with Netflix and various local platforms across the globe and are going to announce some interesting new partnerships in this field. We will continue to work with all platforms. For us, what always matters is having the right show, as it brings interest from all platforms. TV KIDS: What have been the key elements of PGS’s
success? PHILIPPE: In retrospect, it was luck and timing for
sure. On top of hard work, it has been a disruptive business model that remains unique in the marketplace. We watched it and asked ourselves, What would be a cool distribution partner for a producer of animation? They want somebody who knows about kids, and they want a partner who is not their competitor (i.e., also a distributor), so let’s do it!
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