French consultancy company Glance showed during MIPCOM/MIPJunior the most important trends and figures of the kids’ industry during the first half of 2021. The return to a “more normal life” for children and their families is impacting the content business with new drivers such live events and sports.
Both segments have performed ‘very well’ among children, while animation is still king although live action is strong in a couple of countries, revealing disparities, summarized the company’s presentation in Cannes. The Glance report revealed that with the return of live events and especially sports in 2021, young viewers have joined their parents to massively take part in these uniting moments.
It also highlighted that live events ranked first in audience in all five European countries studied in the report: sports in 4 out of the 5 countries. Only in Italy did sports fail to rank first, overtaken by the unmissable San Remo Festival. Entertainment shows still appeal to children: in France and the UK, children account for 13% to 15% of the audience of these shows.
Candice Alessandra, Research Manager at Glance, commented: ‘On TV, Kids mainly watch live and co-viewing is on the rise. In 1H 2021, kids have watched an average 1hr 21min of TV per day in the 5 European countries studied in the report. This figure hides disparities, with kids in Southern European countries spending more time than in the Northern part ‘.
According to the consultant and her report, among children-only shows, kids throughout Europe still overwhelmingly support animation, which accounts for 2/3 of the 20 most watched programs in the 5 countries. While pre-school IPs are the most represented in national tops: especially Paw Patrol, Super Wings and Ricky Zoom. As for live action series come second and account for an average 15% of all 20 best programs in the 5 countries.
Avril Blondelot, head of content insight, summarized: ‘Aside from ever successful IP’s, new series launched across countries show a variety of trends: the move of characters from digital to TV, technology or on the contrary simple life, the strong power of games, science, and inventiveness for pre-school kids’.
As for the origins of the shows, imported production dominated (51%) the global Top 20, followed by domestic production (33%) and co-productions (16%). The dynamic of the market in the first half of 2021 has enabled 34 new shows to appear directly in each country’s national Top 20 or Top 3 per channel.
On SVOD platforms, kids tend to watch the same series as on linear TV. In German, Italian, Spanish, and British households with children, the top three most streamed series on Netflix are well-known TV franchises: Peppa Pig, Teen Titans Go! and Paw Patrol. These series also feature among the most watched shows on TV.
As for trends concerns the transfer of digital characters to television, whether in the form of entertainment shows or animated series. The Moshaya Family Animation is a 13-episode animated series, spin-off of a YouTube program. It was aired in January 2021 in the United Arab Emirates. Adam Loves Adventure! is an Irish animated series inspired by and starring Adam King, a thoughtful six-year-old boy who was seen on The Late Late Toy Show and famous for his “Virtual Hugs”.
