TV Kids Festival 2026 Recap
CONTENTS
QUEST FOR THE BEST The sixth edition of the TV Kids Festival kicked off with our signature session on acquisition and programming strategies, this time featuring Sky Kids’ Ian France, Kidoodle.TV’s Brenda Bisner and Future Today’s David Di Lorenzo.
BBC STUDIOS KIDS & FAMILY’S CECILIA PERSSON Cecilia Persson, managing director of BBC Studios Kids & Family, shared her strategy for dealing with the shifts in the kids’ business and upcoming titles on the slate.
KNOWN IP Hidden Pigeon Company’s Karen K. Miller, CAKE’s Ed Galton and Magic Light Pictures’ Muriel Thomas looked at the advantages of TV content based on known IP in getting projects financed and attracting viewers.
CRAIG GERBER Craig Gerber shared his vision for the upcoming Disney Jr. and Disney+ series Sofia the First: Royal Magic, a spin-off of previous hits starring Princess Sofia, as well as his creative process and where he finds inspiration for his characters and shows.
SESAME WORKSHOP’S KAY WILSON STALLINGS Kay Wilson Stallings, executive VP and chief creative development and production officer at Sesame Workshop, talked about addressing children’s most pressing needs, reimagining Sesame Street, forming partnerships and planning the 30th anniversary of Tickle Me Elmo.
SESAME STREET’S ELMO The adorable, lovable 3-and-a-half-year-old red monster Elmo shared his inimitable laugh as he discussed his love of friends, playing, learning and living on Sesame Street, as well as the importance of being kind.
IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST PBS KIDS’ Adriano Schmid, CBC Kids’ Marie McCann and ZDF Studios’ Oliver Grundel came together to discuss the state of public broadcasting from production, distribution and programming perspectives.
SUPER RTL’S OLIVER SCHABLITZKI Oliver Schablitzki, executive VP of multichannel and CEO of Super RTL at RTL Deutschland, outlined the programming, branding and multiplatform strategies that have led the service to be the market leader for more than two decades.
EVAN SHAPIRO Media cartographer Evan Shapiro shared the latest information on how and where children watch content and offered producers and distributors advice on reaching kids and adapting to the changing landscape.
MONEY TALKS Guru Studio’s Frank Falcone, Banijay Kids & Family’s Delphine Dumont, Madgic Distribution’s Lionel Marty and SAMAX Entertainment’s Raphaëlle Mathieu talked about the financing and distribution strategies best suited to today’s constantly changing kids’ media landscape.
WILDBRAIN’S JOSH SCHERBA Josh Scherba, president and CEO of WildBrain, discussed the company’s revenuegenerating businesses, its social and digital strategies, the sale of Peanuts to Sony and reaching young viewers today.
BOUTIQUE BENEFITS Kedoo Entertainment’s Olivier Bernard, Tulipop Studios’ Helga Árnadóttir, A Productions’ Katherine McQueen and Wind Sun Sky Entertainment’s Catherine Winder shared their insights on managing independent producers and distributors.
WHERE THERE’S A WILL In a session titled Where There’s a Will: Tweens, Teens & Media Restrictions, Dubit’s David Kleeman, Matt Picton and Benjamin Sumner shared the latest data on kids’, tweens’ and teens’ perceptions of social media restrictions and how that may affect their engagement with brands and IP.
READY TO PLAY 9 Story Media Group/Scholastic Entertainment’s Kristin Lecour, Boat Rocker Studios’ Mellany Welsh and Spin Master Entertainment’s Maryellen Zarakas discussed the latest trends in licensing and merchandising for kids’ brands.
AHEAD OF THE CURVE WITH AMPERE Olivia Deane, research manager at Ampere Analysis, outlined the latest data on kids’ commissioning trends.
JEFF “SWAMPY” MARSH & MARTELLUS BENNETT Jeff “Swampy” Marsh, co-creator of Phineas and Ferb, and children’s book author and former Super Bowl champion Martellus Bennett talked about their new Disney Jr. series Hey A.J.!, featuring a story based on Bennett’s books and new original songs.
Ricardo Seguin Guise
Publisher
Anna Carugati Group Editorial Director
Jamie Stalcup Executive Editor
Rafael Blanco Managing Editor
Kloudia Sakowski Associate Editor
Rafael Blanco Editor, Spanish-Language Publications
David Diehl Production & Design Director
Simon Weaver Online Director
Dana Mattison Sales & Marketing Director
Genovick Acevedo Sales & Marketing Manager Bookkeeper Ute Schwemmer
Ricardo Seguin Guise President
Anna Carugati Executive VP TV Kids
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QUEST
FOR THE
BEST
The sixth edition of the TV Kids Festival kicked off with our signature session on acquisition and programming strategies, this time featuring Sky Kids’ Ian France, Kidoodle.TV’s Brenda Bisner and Future Today’s David Di Lorenzo.
We’ve decided to go with a prebuy and acquisition strategy going forward from this year. Acquisitions perform really well for us. We want to find and invest in some real gems that will bolster our output. We find that we can get it on air quickly as well if it’s an acquisition, especially if it is tailor-made to a particular trend that children are loving at that moment.”
—Ian France
Content has to come with brand awareness and an active strategy. We have created some tentpole in-house content to support some of our efforts, specifically in education, for example. And we consistently look at ways we can support the creator economy, which naturally extends beyond only acquiring completed content, but supporting new.” —Brenda Bisner
Over the last few years, we have started to create HappyKids originals, primarily using user-generated content in the gaming space. Kids spend a lot of time watching other kids play games like Roblox and Minecraft, so we’ve started to develop our own exclusive content in that area. ”
—David Di Lorenzo
BBC Studios Kids & Family’s
CECILIA PERSSON
Cecilia Persson, managing director of BBC Studios Kids & Family, shared her strategy for dealing with the shifts in the kids’ business and upcoming titles on the slate.
The creative business in general is going through a profound change, something we haven’t seen before. It’s particularly coming off the back of fragmentation of audiences and different behavioral patterns. That has crept into funding models, and obviously there is a flux between the established broadcasters and new and upcoming areas to connect with storytelling. All of these things have led to risk aversion and people trying to find new ways of working together. The opportunities that arise in that are that there’s new partnerships and new ways of working and different approaches to reach and connect with audiences. Often these things lead to several partners, which lead to a broader audience faster, which leads to your content being better known, which can lead to franchise-building.”
KNOWN IP
Hidden Pigeon Company’s Karen K. Miller, CAKE’s Ed Galton and Magic Light Pictures’ Muriel Thomas looked at the advantages of TV content based on known IP in getting projects financed and attracting viewers.
We have an embarrassment of riches [at Hidden Pigeon]. We have Mo Willems’ catalog, and there’s 80-plus titles in the catalog. The reality is, though, to some degree, we have the crown jewels and we have books that are lesser known. We do struggle when we go out to talk about a property that has sold 4,000 copies as opposed to 9 million copies.”
—Karen K. Miller
It’s so incredibly fragmented that in order to gain some sort of traction and awareness from your platform, whatever platform you’re on, [buyers] feel that the only way to do that is to have known IP that can be the driver. That’s really different from back in the day when original IP was an everyday or every quarter occurrence.” —Ed Galton
In terms of adapting, when I look at the specials and adaptations of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s books, you can read the books in about five minutes, so we need to expand not necessarily the story but the visuals and the universe. Something that we’ve been really aware of is [bringing] more diversity into the world of those characters.” —Muriel Thomas
CRAIG GERBER
Craig Gerber shared his vision for the upcoming Disney Jr. and Disney+ series Sofia the First: Royal Magic , a spin-off of previous hits starring Princess Sofia, as well as his creative process and where he finds inspiration for his characters and shows.
There are a couple of things that really good kids’ animation provides for young viewers. The first is role models and life lessons. Sofia is compassionate, loyal, resilient. You want to ingrain those qualities in young kids. Look out for your friends, look out for your neighbors, be empathetic. If you fall down, get up again. Imparting those life lessons is valuable. The other part of it is, here’s a world you can immerse yourself in, where you can feel good about the characters you’re watching. You can escape into that world, and it gives you a place to hang out for a while. If other things are getting you down, this is a place you can come to and find comfort. ”
Sesame Workshop’s
KAY WILSON STALLINGS
Kay Wilson Stallings, executive VP and chief creative development and production officer at Sesame Workshop, talked about addressing children’s most pressing needs, reimagining Sesame Street, forming partnerships and planning the 30th anniversary of Tickle Me Elmo.
We want to be everywhere kids are. So, we’re on Netflix, where we’re reaching hundreds of millions of subscribers globally. We’re on YouTube, where we know digital, short-form content is something that’s really interesting to kids. We’re also on PBS, and in the United States, PBS KIDS is seen by 97 percent of the country. Those are the mass media ways that we’re reaching kids. But we also know that they’re on other platforms, too. We’re reaching kids through publishing and digital games. We recently launched a Roblox game for kids. That is an area where we know that it’s growing in terms of kids’ audiences. Even younger kids are going onto that platform and having an enjoyable experience.”
ELMO Sesame Street ’s
The adorable, lovable 3-and-a-half-year-old red monster Elmo shared his inimitable laugh as he discussed his love of friends, playing, learning and living on Sesame Street, as well as the importance of being kind.
It is very important to be kind. Elmo thinks it’s one of the most important things that you can do for other people. It’s little things. You can just hold a door for somebody or get up if someone needs a seat on the train. Or just little things that you could do every day. And it goes a long way. If you’re kind to someone, then they’ll be kind to somebody else. And it just goes on and on and on. ”
IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST
PBS KIDS’ Adriano Schmid, CBC Kids’ Marie McCann and ZDF Studios’ Oliver Grundel came together to discuss the state of public broadcasting from production, distribution and programming perspectives.
We’ve established a strong bond with our audience throughout the years, and we have not wavered from that commitment to the mission. The landscape is very stormy. There’s a lot of content out there that kids are consuming that is not appropriate for kids. There’s a sense that we have an important role to play for families and kids.”
—Adriano Schmid
We’ve all lost a lot because the industry has been in a lot of turmoil and has contracted. But we have remained, and public broadcasters are here whether times are good or bad. Perhaps we don’t have the scale that some of the privates can grow to when things are good, but we’ve stayed steady and level.” —Marie McCann
Public broadcasting acts as a stabilizing anchor. ZDF takes that responsibility very seriously. Beyond the content it provides, ZDF has also invested heavily in dialogue formats from school initiatives to audience panels. Public service media is not just about distribution of the content, it’s also about participation, connection and public discourse.”
—Oliver
Grundel
OLIVER SCHABLITZKI Super RTL’s
Oliver Schablitzki, executive VP of multichannel and CEO of Super RTL at RTL Deutschland, outlined the programming, branding and multiplatform strategies that have led the service to be the market leader for more than two decades.
[Kids] are really everywhere. This has challenged us from the very early days. I can remember when we built the very first website for kids because they started being on the internet. Then we developed our app, which was a very important tool to get kids who might not be allowed to watch TV for many hours but do have the smartphone of their parents. So, a 360-degree approach is really essential for TOGGO. We have developed this for many years. What we are doing right now is trying to be everywhere, especially focusing on the digital sector—so, the app, the SVOD RTL+, YouTube. YouTube has become an essential factor in reaching kids.”
EVAN SHAPIRO
Media cartographer Evan Shapiro shared the latest information on how and where children watch content and offered producers and distributors advice on reaching kids and adapting to the changing landscape.
Television has been used as a babysitter over the years, also as an educational device and an entertainment center. The big screen in the living room has traditionally been a way we raise our children. That converted from Nickelodeon and Disney Channel to DVDs to the internet now. The vast majority of kids’ viewing in the home happens on either YouTube or Netflix, one of those two. You include Prime Video and that’s pretty much the whole picture. Yes, there’s other areas—PBS KIDS, etc.—but that’s where the majority of the viewership is happening. ”
MONEY TALKS
Guru Studio’s Frank Falcone, Banijay Kids & Family’s Delphine Dumont, Madgic Distribution’s Lionel Marty and SAMAX Entertainment’s Raphaëlle Mathieu talked about the financing and distribution strategies best suited to today’s constantly changing kids’ media landscape.
Everyone is being really resourceful and innovative in terms of their sources of financing. We’re all thankful and relying on our public broadcasters, who are pulling their weight in terms of funding shows.” —Frank Falcone
The biggest difficulty is the fragmentation of the screening experience. It is dire, and it is really difficult. Survival will be [linked] to how you adapt your business model to this new consumption. ”
—Delphine Dumont
Big budget cannot be financed the same way, so we need to adjust. We can do it by reducing the budget, or we can do it by trying to find new ways to finance and new types of investors. Ideally, try to do both.”
—Raphaëlle Mathieu
In the past, the distribution side had more impact on the financing because the market was bigger. We were able to close more presales. Now, it’s more about co-production. A lot of shows that are financed now through the traditional way are with the public broadcasters. ”—Lionel Marty
JOSH SCHERBA WildBrain’s
Josh Scherba, president and CEO of WildBrain, discussed the company’s revenue-generating businesses, its social and digital strategies, the sale of Peanuts to Sony and reaching young viewers today.
We are platform agnostic. When we think about our network, we used to really be talking only about YouTube, but increasingly, we think of it holistically, which includes our position in FAST channels and non-YouTube AVOD. Getting content on these platforms, being able to feed those channels regularly, is important for consistent engagement on your IP. And then the additional opportunity is if you can think of your IP in more of a premium or a tentpole way, there continues to be opportunity with streaming services like Netflix or Apple TV. Ideally, you’re in all of those places and engaging in unique, bespoke ways based on the platform. ”
BOUTIQUE BENEFITS
Kedoo Entertainment’s Olivier Bernard, Tulipop Studios’ Helga Árnadóttir, A Productions’ Katherine McQueen and Wind Sun Sky Entertainment’s Catherine Winder shared their insights on managing independent producers and distributors.
Data is everything. If you want to create a brand, you need to be everywhere and crunch the data to see where your audience is. You can be true to your IP, but you need to adapt on the strategy for your audience.” —Olivier Bernard
We want to have our content on every platform. It’s [about] balancing linear local deals with global non-exclusive deals.
From a long-term, brand-building, perspective,
we focus on
visibility.
”
—Helga Árnadóttir
Now more than ever, you have to be mindful of every cost that goes on to a production and making sure that your vision is 100 percent aligned with that and cutting your cloth accordingly.”
—Katherine McQueen
We have our established corporate vision, and that’s based on a set of goals and values that don’t change. We’re using those as our touchpoints as we move forward and filter decisions, even if the tactics need to change.” —Catherine Winder
WHERE THERE’S A WILL
In a session titled Where There’s a Will: Tweens, Teens & Media
Restrictions, Dubit’s David Kleeman, Matt Picton and Benjamin Sumner shared the latest data on kids’, tweens’ and teens’ perceptions of social media restrictions and how that may affect their engagement with brands and IP.
—David Kleeman
A couple years ago when YouTube stopped allowing comments on their made-for-kids content, we heard from kids that they were really upset about this because the comments were where they found validation of their own feelings. They found a sense of belonging.”
Beyond restrictions, it would be better for them to be accompanied by some form of education around digital literacy and safety on certain platforms so that, if kids were restricted as to the platforms they were able to access at younger ages, they weren’t then dropped in the deep end when they are eventually able to access those platforms.” —Benjamin Sumner Platforms have meaning for [young ones].
One part of the questionnaire that we do asks parents for their views. One of the key things we capture as part of that is how much they trust some of the different platforms. It’s not surprising that YouTube is top of the pile when it comes to parents’ trust. Just over three quarters of parents of teenagers, 13- to 15-year-olds, trust YouTube.” —Matt Picton
READY TO PLAY
9 Story Media Group/Scholastic Entertainment’s Kristin Lecour, Boat
Rocker Studios’ Mellany Welsh and Spin Master Entertainment’s
Maryellen Zarakas discussed the latest trends in licensing and merchandising for kids’ brands.
A good part of what we do is brand-first— looking at that DNA, looking at what’s so sticky and what kids are engaging with and really making sure that no matter where we’re showing up, we’re showing up authentically and playing with what’s so special about our brand and putting that at the forefront.” —Kristin
Lecour
We have seen particularly strong [consumer products] performance with our brands that are tapping into that nostalgia effect. Brands like The Big Comfy Couch, Danger Mouse and Count Duckula are resonating with that Gen X and millennial audience who love to reconnect with the content they grew up with and also increasingly share that content with their own kids.” —Mellany Welsh
Gaming is a significant part of how we engage with audiences. We’ve had opportunities where we have things that start in gaming, like Toca Boca, which we’re expanding outside of that. We’ve had IP and storytelling that started on digital platforms and gaming, specifically, Roblox with Sparkles Magical Market. ” —Maryellen Zarakas
AMPERE AHEAD CURVE OF THE WITH
Olivia Deane, research manager at Ampere Analysis, outlined the latest data on kids’ commissioning trends.
I’ve got three things I’d like you to take away. The first is that the market has stabilized. We may not be in a growth boom, but we are definitely in a period of predictability, and predictability is exactly what commissioning needs in order to take those creative risks. Secondly, the old models for kids are no longer delivering. Scheduled broadcast is losing relevance. Subscription platforms can’t rely on kids’ content to drive growth or retention. And free platforms have permanently raised the bar for accessibility and choice. However, public broadcasters continue to represent a stabilizing force, and their increased activity in the VOD space means that there will be new opportunities for new kinds of content. And then finally, libraries are aging. Audiences refresh quickly and relevance has a shorter shelf life than it used to. This is precisely why new children’s content matters more than ever.”
JEFF “SWAMPY” MARSH
& MARTELLUS BENNETT
Jeff “Swampy” Marsh, co-creator of Phineas and Ferb, and children’s book author and former Super Bowl champion Martellus Bennett talked about their new Disney Jr. series Hey A.J.!, featuring a story based on Bennett’s books and new original songs.
Music is an incredible unifier. Music transcends age, race, religion, socioeconomics. It’s something that everyone can share. It’s something that families share and continue to share. There are songs that come on, and I am transported to a moment with my father. That’s music. I don’t understand storytelling without music. It just seems like if you take the music out of it, you’re trying to do a job with one hand tied behind your back. It’s immediately emotional. It immediately conveys the sentiment, the feeling, the pace, the intention.”
—Jeff “Swampy” Marsh
I think about this as a family show, not a kids’ show. What I want families to take away is this idea of playing together— generational play. Grandmother, granddaughter; father, son. A lot of times, grandparents get left out of play because they’re aging, but in this show, the grandmother is very much a part of the play. Everybody’s playing together as a family, and then the community as well. The whole community is participating in the imagination of all the children on the block.”
—Martellus Bennett
