Nearly one year after the Tier Three specialty channels launch, a tremor is registering on the Nielsen Richter scale with the advent of more specialty nets vying for the wide eyes of children.

During the 10 years since ytv (the mother of all children’s nets) was born, broadcasters have woken from a complacent slumber to discover that children could be lured away from standard Saturday-morning fare and reruns with a new approach to kids’ programming. And the newest specialty nets this year have joined the ratings race.

The Family Channel, once a premium pay service, is now on extended cable. Specialties like Space: The Imagination Station and The Comedy Network, which don’t specifically target children, are nevertheless capturing their attention and adding to the fragmentation of the market. Young upstart Treehouse tv is chasing the very specific preschool audience. And last but not least, Teletoon, the highest ranked of the tier three Canadian services, is attracting kids in droves.

But although Teletoon may win a week-by-week race against ytv (see chart, p. 25), the King of Kids channels is holding its place. According to CBC Research/Nielsen Media Research, based on a 12-week average from April 27 to July 19 for Saturday through Sunday, 6 a.m. to midnight, ytv holds a +17.7% margin over Teletoon for viewers aged two to 17.

Fragmentation

‘There has been quite a drastic repositioning of the children’s marketplace,’ says Kevin Wright, vp, programming at Family and Teletoon. ‘Teletoon has had a major impact on children’s viewing habits, and Treehouse for younger viewers. Even other channels like Comedy and Space have had an impact.

‘There’s definitely more competition and it has made it more difficult to acquire hot titles,’ says Wright. ‘If I’m a producer or distributor, and there are five broadcasters interested in a program, I’ll take the one that offers the best licence fee and the best exposure, among other things, so obviously, with more choices, product gets harder to find.’

Paul Robertson, president of ytv, agrees. ‘There has been a real sea change in terms of the amount of competition in kids’ programs – not just from the networks within the 16 new services, but also conventional broadcasters have been dialing up the amount of kids’ programming in the last few years. It’s at a real peak now.’

There are several reasons that broadcasters are trying to grab their piece of the kids’ pie. For one, the legions of baby boomers have created the baby boom echo, kids now two to 11 and ripe for tv watching and toy buying.

Also, children’s television is an area where Canadian producers thrive. In turn, there is plenty of quality programming for broadcasters to pick up and fill Canadian content requirements.

Lastly, and perhaps most significantly, never before has merchandising been so prevalent. Securing ancillary rights to Teletubbies or Arthur paraphernalia can render the kids’ market a very attractive proposition.

The result of this mushrooming competition? All the players are maneuvering to get the best programming and programming to differentiate their network. ‘Branding,’ a popular buzzword in the biz, is being zealously applied through the use of on-air personalities hosting blocks of programming, merchandising and big-budget promotion.

‘Kids’ television is big business,’ confirms Dale Taylor, president of production at William F. Cooke, and former head of programming at ytv.

‘Everybody’s looking for the next hit, but there are no guarantees and the competition is relentless. Deal-making has become front and center as people try to protect their bottom line and as things become more fragmented.’

While cbc, tvontario and Treehouse are blatantly differentiated by their focus on preschool programming (see sidebar, p. 22), other networks have developed more subtle lines of distinction.

‘We found audiences have decreased and sales have diminished as the new channels specially marketed to kids have come on,’ admits Showcase programmer Laura Michalchyshyn. ‘Our strategy is to put the best, classic Canadian television on the air in the mornings, where there is a true audience.’ Thus kids and parents alike can look forward to the return of The Friendly Giant and Mr. Dressup to Showcase.

Since last year, Global has all but thrown in the towel on preschool programming and has geared its youth offerings toward older viewers.

‘We’re aggressively programming for older kids,’ says Global programmer, Sue Grimmer. ‘We’re hoping that if our bull’s-eye is 15, that will trickle down and capture a solid nine to 15. It makes sense for us to aim for older viewers and grow them up with the network.’

Global is hoping that its older-skewed cartoons and branded ‘Totally Heroic’ time block, with shows such as Xena the Princess Warrior, Hercules and Sliders, will keep tweens watching.

The revamped ctv and Discovery Channel seem to be bowing out of the race, the former with standard fare on weekend mornings, including an hour of Disney programming, and the latter with minimal children’s programming.

Family, naturally, is taking advantage of its new, wider exposure to broadly target all ages, particularly with its movies.

ytv, whose ratings have been eroding, is continuing its efforts to bring state-of-the-art programming with a continued relationship with Vancouver’s Mainframe (Beasties and ReBoot) and two new Mainframe computer-generated animation projects, Shadow Raiders and Weird-Ohs. It will also follow up on the popularity of Protocol Entertainment’s Goosebumps with Protocol/Scholastic Productions Animorphs.

ytv reports a ‘sharp increase’ in its coproduction budget, giving it a ready supply of custom-made kids’ fare.

Like several other networks, ytv has also bumped up its marketing/promotion budget, pouring funds into its Website and its ‘Bust-out Tour’ – a sort of traveling carnival that brings ytv and its pjs out to communities across Canada.

Expect to see a glut of print campaigns in parent magazines, kids’ contests and on-air promos from all the networks. Even cbc has bumped up its promotional budget (although no figures have been released).

‘We have a comprehensive outreach campaign,’ says Adrian Mills, cbc’s creative head of children’s and youth programming. ‘It involves print and television and is designed to let people know in the community how valuable preschool programming is. It’s something we have worked on with the private sector and is based on research about how children’s brains develop.’

In the new environment, while licence fees appear to be stable, competition to acquire certain hot titles is heating up. Some networks are opting to share windows and the licence fees that go with it to keep costs down and to at least get a piece of a program they can’t get exclusively.

‘There are window agreements happening with all services now,’ says Michalchyshyn. ‘It’s definitely increasing, with blackout periods for shorter terms and sooner windows. There’s definitely a trend toward sharing and windows coming sooner.’

While windows may be getting shorter, distribution deals, in many cases, are getting longer. In this age of fragmentation, building strong relationships with producers and distributors is key.

‘With the highly competitive market we’re in now,’ says Wright, ‘you’re more likely to do a longer-term than a shorter-term contract because if something works for you, you want to be able to hold on to it.’

Says tvo’s acting creative head of children’s Pat Ellingson: ‘Deals like the one we have with Cinar for Arthur have been very successful. It is building those relationships that is crucial.’

Despite the competition, most broadcasters still feel the supply of programming outweighs the demand – although quality tween and teen programs are considered somewhat scarce. Still, hot titles such as Teletubbies, one of tvo’s highest-rated kids’ shows ever, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this season, were sought after by a handful of networks, some of which, naturally, had to go home empty-handed.

What does the future of kids’ television hold? Very likely, the industry will see still increasing competition and pressure on broadcasters to work smart – and deals, deals, deals.

‘The lines are becoming blurred,’ says Taylor. ‘Treehouse as an offshoot of ytv and Family Channel having a stake in Teletoon illustrates how vast the tentacles are in this business. There are more coproducers and everyone is trying to partner up to make ends meet.

‘There are many more pre-deals to drive ancillary marketing aspects,’ he continues. ‘Sometimes there will be a push by toy companies who say, `We want to make a tv show to drive toy sales,’ and then they will make a buy on the network to buy commercial inventory to drive toy sales. It’s all part of the business plan.

‘Public, private, terrestrial or cable – all are involved in that kind of decision making. If they think they will have a runaway hit and get profit participation or equity position in the program, along with sharing in the spoils and the riches of a successful toy launch, those decisions are part of the overall plan.’

Global’s Grimmer says simply, ‘We spend smarter now. It’s all about how to better partner, how to better cross-promote.’