‘The kids and young-adult content available on the international market has not changed that much. Change in content is happening mostly on YouTube and Tik Tok where this segment has taken power and created what they want to watch’ explained Virginia Mouseler, CEO of The Wit in a recent presentation.
The executive and leader of one of the industry’s trend consultancies, offered a new edition of Fresh TV, oriented towards children’s content, where she focused on creativity and revealed her selections in new content aimed at children from 8 to 12 years old.
A starting trend that she specified is the strong engagement generated by stories where children feel identified. ‘What do children do with the contents? Watch a series and after that, they co-create a viral scene on Tik Tok. An example of this is the famous scene of Jenna Ortena’s dance on Wednesday‘.
On this point, she highlighted one of the most present trends in content is the importance of TikTok influencers, such as beauty expert James Charles, or Nikkie, both characters who positively influence young audiences. The latest, crossed the Tik Tok gap and landed on a TV show at Nikkie’s Make-Up Mansion broadcasted by NPO Zapp in the Netherlands, where ten makeup artists compete in themed challenges and are joined weekly by celebrities.
‘On TV and of course Tik Tok, after beauty we have games and also real games, like football, which drives a huge fan base in the digital market’, Mouseler added.
Set in Africa, the Jay Jay: The Chosen One series reimagines Nigerian soccer star Augustine Azuka Okocha, whose life is driven by his two passions: soccer and animals. The production is about to premiere on Showmax and has aroused national success for being one of the most beloved characters on the continent.
Humor has never ceased to be a trend among children’s audiences, and the reactions on YouTube have aroused great reach among young audiences. In the Netherlands, the series Verboden to lachen follows celebrities who are challenged not to laugh while watching funny videos.
For its part, in the youth series section, The Wit especially highlighted the Brazilian production that presents a girl and her magical wardrobe Além do Guarda-Ropa, which incorporates elements of K-Pop and Korean culture and is being filmed in the neighborhood Rom Retreat in San Pablo. It will be HBO Max’s first series in this market and will be co-produced with Coração da Selva.
Another notable teen series is the original aired on CBC and based on the hit Murdoch Mystery spin-off, titled Macy Murdoch. It’s a leap into the past, as the series centers on the great-great-granddaughter of Detective William Murdoch.
‘Diversity and music are also important themes in children’s narratives’, said Mouseler, speaking about the Australian ABC ME series, about a group of teenagers who form a band at a music camp. The Turn up the Volume series talks about gender diversity.
And finally, an example of the new stories that dominate the field of tween content was the series broadcast by the Public Channel A Kind of Spark (BBC iPlayer) about a 13-year-old girl with autism who also jumps into the past in the time of the witches and addressing their reality with diversity.
