Reboots, Spin Offs, and Young Audience Formats Among Global Kids Content Trends
The 30th MipJunior, the international kids content market, opened Saturday with the presentation Binge Watching Session: Kids Audience Successes Around the Globe.
Presented by industry analyst Avril Blondelot, the head of content insight Paris-based Global Audience & Content Evolution (Glance), the colorful overview presented the latest hits for kids and tipped off the audience on upcoming shows to track.
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âThe trend towards reboots isnât going away anywhere soon,â she told Variety in Cannes, citing the global success of the reboot of 80sâ hit âThe Smurfs.â
Reboots like âMoominvalley,â âRugrats,â âAnimaniacsâ and the upcoming âTeletubbiesâwere all cited as key examples in the trend.
âAnimaniacsâ resurfaced on Hulu in 2020, 27 years after it was first seen. Netflix will debut its âTeletubbiesâ reboot this fall. Tove Janssonâs âMoominâ characters were resurrected in 2019.
Another trend is âspin offs and more spin offs.âTitles Blondelot presented for this popular category included âMadagascar: A Little Wild,â âBatwheelsâ and the upcoming âScooby-Doo and the Mystery Pups.â
âWe are seeing younger character spin offs,â she said.
Formats for kids marks another popular trend with Blondelot noting series like Dutch show âLast Family Standing,â a reality survival show from Skyhigh TV.
âBritainâs Best Young Artistâ from BBC Children and the YouTube hit âThe Big Tiny Food Face Offâ from B17 Entertainment were some of the other formats highlighted.
âThe main overall format trend is find a kidsâ version,â she said.
Another trend: Presenting a way into older times for younger viewers. One of the shows doing this most successfully include the program âWhen I Was Your Ageâ from Monello Productions. It was the number three most-watched series in the age bracket 4-14 in France.
With over 9.2 million views, another hit she cited was the YouTubeKids series âCorpse Talkâ from Tiger Aspect Kids and Family.
âYou see you can infuse elements from history and magic which brings kids back to their past and creates an adventure. Some shows by contrast put kids in a future world,â she says.
Relatable science, nature, and fantasy and adventure remain solid categories for kidsâ success stories.
Some of the hits mentioned in these categories include the UKâs âLovely Little Farm,â and Franceâs âEdmund & Lucy,â while the French kids show âWelcome to Permacity,â from Millimages, is one to look out for, she says.
âNature has worked for many years because kids have a genuine interest in nature,â she says. âOne of the best shows this year in Germany is âAnna Auf dem Bauenhofâ.â
Girls entertainment now rolls off better role models and a greater diversity, Blondelot noted. Examples are âMarvelâs Moongirl and Evil Dinosaur,â about a 13-year-old girl super-genius, for The Walt Disney Company, and Mondo TVâs âAnnie and Carola.â
âThere are new role models for kids. There have been many attempts in the past to create new role models, picturing girl mathematicians for example. Now girls can even be clumsy,â Blondelot concluded.
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