KidsCo is emerging as a key player in the ultra-competitive kids broadcasting market, particularly in Europe. With young audiences some of the most demanding around the globe, the broadcasters that operate in this arena need to be at the top of their game in terms of delivering content in an innovative way. Paul Robinson, managing director, worldwide, KidsCo, discusses what it takes now for broadcasters to serve the youth market today. 

Via Satellite: Has the economic slowdown had an impact on your market?

Robinson: The overall downturn has had some effect. This has happened in two areas. Firstly, people have been more cautious in terms of carriage deals. Last year, in my opinion, was one of the slowest I have seen, and I have been in this business for many years. It wasn’t that we did less business; in fact, we almost doubled our revenues last year. What happened is that any deal that we did was either referred up to a more senior executive — or possibly to the CFO — or took longer. There were more layers and processes required. That said, on the other side of the coin, it did us some good. A lot of platforms were looking to reduce their third-party programming costs, in the wake of the recession. That benefited us, because when deals came up for renewal, there were a number of occasions where they asked if we could take the slot rather than renew a contract with current broadcasters. The thinking was they could get the same or better quality programming for less money, so by taking KidsCo, they maintained and improved their offer to consumers, and saved some cash.

In terms of advertising, KidsCo is not predominantly an advertising-funded business. Advertising makes up a very small percentage of our total revenue, and that is deliberately so that we can offer clients a unique opportunity and environment. So the advertising downturn had very little effect on us last year.

Via Satellite: What is the purpose of the MyKidsCo concept?

Robinson: The idea behind MyKidsCo is that in spite of the digital revolution, kids will continue to watch linear television. It is far from dead. I think people that are sounding the death knell for linear television are being somewhat premature. Our challenge is to find ways of getting content to kids, which is increasingly going to be on-demand and interactive. It won’t necessarily be linear content that people put together.

MyKidsCo is designed to be effectively that. It looks like television and feels like television, but it is your television. It is the Last.FM model, if you like, in TV. Effectively, the child can have their own dedicated pin number and can make choices about things that they like, and the channel is adapted to their own personal taste, as opposed to the scheduler who is trying to serve them. 

Via Satellite: Can this approach move beyond the kids market?

Robinson: Music would be an obvious genre where this technology would be greatly appreciated, but I don’t see why it would not go beyond that. The analogy that I think of in regards to MyKidsCo is that it’s like your local news agent. You have hundreds of titles of publications on the shelf but you are able to segment the topics of interest into ever smaller segments. If you marry this concept with television, this software enables you to access whatever you are interested in, when you want it and in the way that you want it. So I can see no reason why it won’t go into many different genres. 

Via Satellite: What other trends are you seeing in how your audience accesses content?

Robinson: I think what is interesting is just how young kids now are when accessing content. Nowadays, most children’s bedrooms are like an electrical store. They are an Aladdin’s Cave of technology. I think children today expect to access their content everywhere anytime and don’t understand when that’s not an option.

It is important to understand is that children expect technology to do what they want it to do, therefore, you have to be available wherever technology is in their hands. The other thing is kids are getting younger and younger in terms of accessing content and understanding how technology works. I hear stories of four-year-old kids who know how to use a DVR and operate and store their programs on it. It is no use thinking they are just children, as they are the vanguard here. Kids also have more time, as they don’t have the distractions that adults have, and they have this incredible ability to multi-task thus creating more time for themselves. My overall message is never underestimate this audience. It is very easy to overlook kids as small people that will accept anything, however, they are very discerning consumers. 

Via Satellite: How else is content delivery different in your market when compared to other generations of consumers?

Robinson: VoD (video on demand) is a big thing for us, so we are looking at SVOD (subscription VoD) opportunities as we find it to be very successful with kids. Children like to choose and they are very technology adept at using handsets. Additionally, kids enjoy watching programming over and over again. For a child, an SVOD service is like a DVD, really. For the parent, SVOD is also good because it is a fixed monthly subscription, and there is no fear of the child running up a huge bill because it is not based on transaction. We find when we have SVOD systems, such as in Greece, it adds value to the overall product. It gives deeper brand immersion as well as reinforcing the linear channel. We are keen to extend the SVOD offering to the channel as it is a great way to add more stickiness and reduce churn. 

Via Satellite: Do you have any plans for HD programming for your audience?

Robinson: Children’s TV is not necessarily the first genre you go HD with, but we are working on an HD version of KidsCo which we hope to launch in 2011. 

Via Satellite: What are the growth plans for KidsCo?

Robinson: There are two things to do: grow in markets where we do not currently have a presence and deepen the penetration in the territories that we do. There are a few territories in Asia, such as Malaysia, Japan and New Zealand, for example, that we hoping to launch in over the next year. Additionally, there are still parts of Europe where there are gaps that we are gradually filling. In some of the Western European countries, we are still not on all of the major satellite platforms. So, for example, whilst we are on Foxtel in Australia, we are not on Sky Deutschland or Sky Italia, yet. We want to color in the map as well as deepen our penetration with some of those still to be secured big DTH platforms in Europe. 

Via Satellite: Why have you not be able to get on some platforms?

Robinson: The reason that we haven’t been able to secure presence on those platforms is that those markets are more developed and already have quite strong kids offerings, although we believe they are not yet rounded out. Negotiating with these bigger platforms is a more long-term process. If you pick up the smaller operators and the cable operators, the natural evolution is that you can get those people first and then the DTH operators come later. If you are dealing with a Sky Deutschland or Sky Italia, that takes time. It is not a deal you do in six months or even 12 months. It is a long-term strategy. Given that some of the platforms have had challenges, such as D-Plus in Spain, we have come along at a time where we want to get distribution, and platforms are thinking about breaking even or rationalizing their offers. Our target of trying to grow does not necessarily fit into their agenda. You have to take a long-term view with them.