Producers of tv series skewed to a younger target audience are taking advantage of a number of new media opportunities and rolling them into the traditional merchandising route to maximize their youth targeting potential.

While the conventional wisdom is that the show drives the merchandising – especially in the case of an original show as opposed to those where the characters crossed over from literature – there is arguably a force, however unquantifiable, in the opposite direction as well. Who’s to say where the chicken/egg lines are drawn now in the endless cycle of Batmania that continually fuels itself on fresh series and features, which in turn benefit from all that action figure jazz.

In addition to spinning new revenue streams, do the varied creative promotional strategies have an impact on the longevity of the show? And does the added element of interactivity yielded by game product play a new role in building affinity for the show it’s based on? Playback went to Rockie nominee producers to find out.

The world’s first totally computer-animated series, ReBoot, offered up some attractive cross-promotional avenues, one of which was on the I-Way, where several sites created by fans have sprung up.

The input ReBoot producers gleaned from Web site visitors has been influential in the direction of the series and has also helped shape new product.

Since there was demonstrable interest in more show-related digitalia, the show’s producer, Vancouver-based BLT Productions, is currently cooking up a cd-rom game with Electronic Arts. A merchandising launch is set for this fall, with licences sold to a wide variety of manufacturers, including Irwin Toys, for product ranging from thermoses and t-shirts to Fleer trading cards.

Steven DeNure, president of Alliance Productions, coproducers of ReBoot, when asked what impact all this ancillary profile-boosting product has, and specifically how it influences the series’ life, says: ‘We haven’t had the experience that the merchandise drives viewership, it’s the other way around.’

However, for whatever it’s worth in the long haul, there is a quantifiable difference in the amount of promotional effort given a show with high merchandise-q such as ReBoot, which is heading into its second season.

‘You have to treat promotion in a totally different manner,’ says DeNure. ‘The job of the unit publicist on a show that doesn’t have the same kind of merchandising possibilities is to promote the show to an audience. With a project like ReBoot, it goes way beyond that. Licensees expect and require a higher level of general promotion of the show.’

The cross-pollination factor kicks in once the merchandise is on the shelf – images of the show are seen literally everywhere. However, in terms of contributing to general awareness, typically the merchandising life cycle means you’re only betting on a few good years (evergreen product excluded), says DeNure.

He says the ReBoot creators intuitively designed a show that lends itself to certain kinds of merchandising. The fact that there are game cubes that drop into the show made the deal with Electronic Arts an obvious spin-off. And one which enables a unique new hyperlink, targeting an age group that is beyond toys in an interactive way.

ReBoot is a bit of a demographic hybrid; due to its complexity it really does have that wide age appeal so often touted but seldom realized. It airs in Saturday morning lineups (abc, ytv) as well as in evening slots (ytv). In the u.k., it’s getting a big audience of kids in the younger age range in the after-school zone.

The merchandising mix reflects this, with the youngest skewed in the six-to-nine bracket. As the program was just starting in other countries, there were 60 licensees signed, with five agents working on different licence deals in different territories inking new deals daily. The number is expected to double or triple in the coming months.

Says DeNure: ‘There’s a chance to make lots of money in merchandising, but in the end, you’re still building a library of shows that you can sell on into the future to broadcasters. We’ve seen that animation, especially, has a long life, and we’ll have to see if the same is true for computer animation. We believe it is.’

Whatever happens at the cash register come back-to-school season, part of the incalculable profit is bound to be promotional footage for things like the ReBoot back-story feature that’s in the works.

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Seen in primetime on both ytv in Canada and Nickelodeon in the u.s., Are You Afraid of the Dark? is built around a versatile plot line of ghostly campfire tales which entertain preteen audiences in countries around the world.

And while the show, produced by Montreal’s Cinar Films in association with ytv and Nickelodeon, is a hit with kids, series producer Ron Weinberg, president of Cinar, says the concept is steadily attracting a growing number of adult viewers, a mark of maturity and skill in the highly competitive children’s tv market.

Everyone loves a chilly campfire tale, and international broadcasters have been quick to pick up on the show’s appeal. Are You Afraid of the Dark? is now telecast in markets around the world, including FR3 in France, Nickelodeon in the u.k., rai in Italy, abc in Australia, Beta Taurus in Germany, Scandinavia, and on Philippine television, where the program has the fine distinction of being the only foreign tv series broadcast in primetime.

The show’s fifth season is presently in front of the cameras, bringing the total number of half-hour episodes to 65.

Louis Fournier, Cinar vp of sales and marketing, says with 65 episodes in hand, Are You Afraid of the Dark? can be stripped on a daily basis as syndication, opening up merchandising and licensing opportunities.

Through an agreement with Sony Music Canada, the series has become available to the home video market, and as a cd-rom game published by Viacom New Media, more than 15,000 copies have been sold to date. A spin-off board game will be introduced by Cardinal Games in the u.s. market later this year, with a Canadian deal to follow shortly.

Are You Afraid of the Dark? is also the subject of a recently signed licensing and merchandising agreement between Cinar and Viacom Consumer Products in Canada. Promotions, including apparel promotions, are planned for ytv’s Dark Night III Halloween special.

While Fournier points out that the greatest promotional benefit flows from the series to the merchandise, he also buys into the cross-pollination factor, wherein the licensed product gives a plug to its parent.

Fournier goes on to assess the relatively intimate connection that is forged with new-media product. ‘cd-rom does something totally different than the show, it allows you interaction. It’s an audiovisual medium that engages you.

‘It’s great that the cd-rom points to the show. It’s not an artifact, like a baseball cap that you’ll forget five minutes after you put it onÉthe cd-rom is the strongest extension of the tv show that you’ll find today. And it is reaching the audience in a different fashion; the cd-rom will enrich the viewers’ experience of the intellectual property called Are You Afraid of the Dark?’

(with files from leo rice-barker in Montreal.)