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.
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