Super Toons TV, which forayed into Europe in late December 2020, is a safe online environment where children can watch and stream curated shows for all different age groups. Parents can trust the channel and kids love the fun and diversity of the programmes.
Animation Xpress had an insightful chat with Kedoo Entertainment COO and co-founder Olivier Bernard on the past year, challenges, solutions, partnership with Samsung TV+ and much more. Read more:
How did 2020 fare for Super Toons and Kedoo Entertainment in terms of trending shows and viewership amid the pandemic?
Despite the turbulence of 2020, Kedoo’s business growth was very healthy overall. Our content is now live on many digital platforms, reaching a bigger audience throughout the pandemic. The watch time on Super Toons TV’s animation content grew by 110 per cent in 2020.
How does Super Toons plan to leverage the partnership with Samsung TV plus?
Our goal is to accompany Samsung on their expansion and reach new markets within Europe as well as Asia and Latin America. We are also very excited to see the integration of the Samsung TV Plus service on more smartphone devices in the coming months!
For us it is a great opportunity to share our high-quality animation shows to new audiences. We’ll look to continually deliver new and exciting, child-safe content throughout the year, with the addition of more fun programs and to Super Toons TV for children around the world to enjoy in 2021.
Impact of the pandemic on the kids streaming sector? What worked well for Super Toons? Shifts in viewing patterns witnessed during the lockdown?
During the pandemic we have seen overall content consumption on Super Toons TV rise across different platforms and different markets countries. With children spending more time at home, parents began seeking educational content from the start of lockdown measures. Since then the demand also shifted towards nursery rhymes and children’s entertainment content. Both parents and children need a break from home-schooling, they want to ensure their children are safe online, watching content appropriate for their age range.
In order to face the demand, we reached out to our current partners to secure more content and shows via new license agreements. Popular programmes such as The Day Henry Met, Earth to Luna, Antiks, Be-be-bears, and Heroes of Envell have been added to the portfolio and more partners will be joining in 2021.
What challenges did you face to create or curate content during this period of time? What are the things you considered while acquiring content for the platform?
Super Toons TV’s shows align with the channel’s aim to teach preschool to pre-teen children empathy and resilience, through fun and entertaining shows. So, when looking at acquiring new shows for the channel, we make sure that they have the qualities that can captivate and engage audiences of the relevant age groups, and ultimately bring fun to young viewers.
Some shows will be recognisable mainstream brands, familiar to many parents, but we also look to acquire new properties that would work well on digital and streaming platforms.
To ensure we maintain the same high calibre of quality content, we focus on animated content, as opposed to live action shows. We also partner with premium content studios and broadcasters such as One Animation, Fantawild, IMPS, Monster Entertainment, DTR and others, that can fulfil a great line-up of quality programmes. We also continue to connect with independent studios to create our own original shows, such as Booba from 3D Sparrow, which we intend to continue worldwide.
Is the platform accessible in India? Are you looking towards any market-specific strategy to expand in the country and acquire Indian homegrown content?
In 2020 we looked at Indian animated produced content and found a thriving industry and welcomed the show Beo n Peno from Animantz into our catalogue. We are keen to continue acquiring new entertaining Indian animations to channel.
What’s the pricing model of Super Toons – AVoD or SVoD? How are you looking to expand the platform further?
Super Toons TV is currently an AVoD proposal, and we prefer to remain free and accessible to all children wherever they are in the world. As such, we have partnered with special advertising agencies as well as a technical provider that fulfil COPPA regulations to match our kid’s safe environment pledge.
Plans and Outlooks for 2021?
For 2021, we aim to continue our expansion and find new partnerships, specifically with OTT linear platforms and new digital videos proposals. We have begun discussions with several of these new platforms and look to continue development in Europe, Asian and LATAM.
Kedoo will be attending a number of global digital conferences this year while hoping for a positive way forward through this pandemic – not only for the animation industry but for the families of the children who enjoy our content around the world.
