Bruno Zarka, president at Toonz (France) is a referent about kids business. What must be done to be successful in kids & teens? He answers: ‘First of all, you have to focus on what you want to do, to know it well. To be surrounded by the right people, to assure a very good story. And to be authentic, persistent, to listen to the network, to consider that children’s programs are many times chosen by their parents… all of these together, with your own approach’.
Animation or Live action? ‘They are not rivals, they are complementary. In preschoolers 3-6, animation first. Live action can be if it is very simple and full of iconic tips. Then, at 6-7 years old, comedies, action, you have more live action there. In older kids, girls lead the audience, you have to take this in mind. At 9-10 years old, kids start reading novels, so we have good synergies to work with there. At 8-10 girls, it is the same but different stories, the romantic tip emerges. About older boys, they are back on animation, with Japanese animé as’ referent’.
‘For targets +13, +16, you have the previous elements all together, with other types of stories. In teens violence appears, but it must be not obvious, it must be in the story. And here we also have Youtube, Roblox, social, meta, Instagram, you have to deal with the new media environment. The crypto money is for the family wallet. You must manage the products in the linear screen and at their second life, in other screens. Now we have Avatars, AI, and everything tends to be shorter and shorter’.
So? ‘Producers of kids & teens programming must be open and adapt themselves to the permanent market evolution, to see the emerging opportunities before others. VOD also brings the convergence of programming and videogames on the same platform… The evolution is totally immersive, something cannot be perfect, but it is fine for youtube’.
