The traditional Kids & Family event, Kidscreen Summit, returned to its traditional 3-day face-to-face format at the InterContinental Hotel in Miami, with very good numbers: more than 1,200 delegates, including 350 buyers, both broadcasters and platforms, plus distributors, creators, producers, service companies. Organized by Brunico, the networking push was the main thing, very stressed by the attendees, apart from three central keynotes, one-to-one sessions with broadcasters and platforms, trend conferences and content screenings. The segment needs to be together.

This year the content industry had to adapt itself to new ways of consuming content, changes in strategies, the Russian-Ukraine war, budget cuts from the platforms, twists to afford original production, more careful acquisition, a strong pursuit of IPs and talent. There was a strong expansion of AVOD / FAST and technologies as the metaverse, Artificial Intelligence (AI) social media as safe spaces for children's consumption. Meanwhile, social contexts adjust to offer more diverse, inclusive and educational environments. All of these was seen at Kidscreen.

Duncan Wardle, former Director of Creativity at Disney, offered the first keynote in the market: 'The success of this business is 90% creativity, freshness, innovation, and how the whole team is added to that maelstrom. I believe that this is precisely one of the keys to the Disney development units. They promote decision-making and get out of the mold, in their production teams'. On the second day, David DiLorenzo, SVP Kids and Family at Future Today consultancy mentioned: ‘The key to being successful today is to develop a strong joint viewing experience, that the whole is more than the sum of the parts’. Additionally, Ampere Analysis highlighted new approaches to cultivating a fanbase, with a focus on classic franchises now getting SVOD reboots.

On the other hand, Paramount's global SVP of games and emerging business, Douglas Rosen, said in other of the market panels: 'To engage the new generations, you have to work with digital native talent, who integrates brands in an existing experience or a product launch'. And Rebecca Kantar, VP of education at Roblox, the online video game platform, added regarding technology and content: ‘Our power is that we combine games and social experiences where commercial brands can participate, taking advantage of new emerging audiences’.

Patricia Hidalgo, BBC's director of children's and education, took the last keynote to announce a new animated series with Banijay Kids & Family called "Super Happy Magic Forest", and said: 'The pubcaster is eager to work with talent around the world on other new shows and podcasts, and we want to expand iPlayer's offering with fresh animated content'. Finally, as a high point in the market, a new edition of KIDSCREEN AWARDS was held, where Netlix dominated the event, winning in 15 categories, mostly with "Deepa & Anoop", produced by Mattel Television for the streamer. The future will be always hybrid, but digital platforms lead the trends, especially at the Kids & teens segment.

Por Zulay Anzola desde Miami, y Alberto Buitron

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