MipJunior Preview: Producers Take Aim at Preschool Playground

variety.com:

Emily Longeretta Programs targeting preschool viewers will take pride of place at this year’s MipJunior, as broadcasters, distributors and production outfits respond to the raft of market forces that have made kids 3-7 a key demographic.

Judging by the jackpot distribution and licensing deals scored by brands including “Paw Patrol” and “Peppa Pig,” that young crowd is also a particularly lucrative subset — though broadcasters have often pitched toward that demo for more elemental reasons. “Preschool is where you create kids’ media habits,” says industry analyst Avril Blondelot. “If you don’t invest in preschoolers, you might lose them forever.” As head of content insight at the specialist firm Glance (Global Audience & Content Evolution), Blondelot has seen animated titles emerge as globe-spanning brands — while doing so, interestingly enough, more often through linear broadcast than via streaming. “Streamers do not drive viewership,” Blondelot says. “They tend to invest in what already works on TV.

They cater to young audiences that do not mind watching the same episodes multiple times a year. For little-known brands, it can be hard to emerge.” Instead, animation producers bringing new projects to market have looked to linear broadcasters to boost discoverability while using toy-licensing deals (or public funds, depending on government largesse) to bridge production financing gaps.

And in return, those preschool series have delivered reliable sets of eyes for the commissioning broadcasters. “[Upper preschoolers] are perhaps a more loyal subset of viewers than older kids,” Blondelot says. “But you also have the complicity of the parents, who set the content choice.