Licensing International’s Young Professionals Network 2020 breakfast cancelled over coronavirus outbreak

Licensing International has announced the cancellation of this week’s Young Professionals Network 2020 breakfast event in London due to the escalating coronavirus outbreak and the latest Government advice.

The event was due to be held at the Club at the Ivy on Covent Garden this Friday, March 20th, but has since been cancelled in accordance to the latest Government advice concerning travel, public gathering and social distancing issued in an attempt to flatten the curve of the outbreak of Covid-19.

The breakfast event was organised to help young professionals in the licensing industry network and learn more about the popular and ever-growing video game licensing sector. The event has since been postponed indefinitely, with no word of a new date.

Kelvyn Gardner, managing director a Licensing International, said: “We had been very much looking forward to kicking off our Young Professionals Network 2020 programme at the Club at the Ivy this coming Friday. Very sadly, the latest advice from the Government concerning travel and public gatherings during the continuing pandemic have left us with no choice but to postpone the event indefinitely.

“All those who have booked to attend will receive refunds of their ticket prices, and I would like to place on record my thanks to all who planned to attend, our splendid line up of speakers, and the LI UK YPN committee for their work and dedication in the planning of this event.”

How has GDPR, YouTube FTC, or sustainability affected you? – The Insights People survey

The Insights People and SuperAwesome are calling for final participants in its industry wide research programme into the topics and trends most impacting business in recent years, before the survey closes next week.

The report, which will be published across The Insights People’s own platform, via SuperAwesome and media partners such as Licensing.biz and ToyNews, as well as handed to each of the participants, will take a look at topics such as the impact of GDPR, YouTube FTC legislation, sustainability, and the confidence levels among the industry.

Nick Richardson, CEO, The Insights People, said: “There is no doubt that all aspects of the kid’s industry are going through fundamental changes at the moment. The comforting news for you is no matter if you are in Entertainment, FMCG, Policy, Publishing, Retail, Sports or even Toy industry, the feedback is the same.

“We are in a state of flux – these will no doubt be challenging times for some, and exciting times for others. By taking part in this study it will enable individuals to share their opinions and see how they compare and contrast with their peers.”

SuperAwesome is supporting The Insights People in producing the industry’s first annual report that will be based on results of surveying professionals who work across the kids’ industry.

Industry colleagues are invited to take part in this survey which will explore individual’s confidence levels and analyse how the business is changing, with all respondents receiving a complimentary copy of the report.

The survey will take approximately five to eight minutes to complete.

To complete the survey, please visit: https://qweq.co.uk/index.php/129748?lang=en

Universal Pictures will make new releases available for On Demand immediately

Current movies from the Universal Pictures stable, including the upcoming family film, Trolls World Tour, will be made available on demand at the same time they hit the theatres that remain open during the coronavirus pandemic, NBCUniversal has confirmed.

The new policy collapses the traditional theatrical window as the film industry grapples with unprecedented circumstances. Cinemas are entirely closed in 32 or more markets overseas and partially closed in another 15 territories, while more countries are expected to follow suit.

Most, if not all, cinemas are likely to ‘go dark’ this week in the US, where theatres have already been ordered to go dark in New York City and Los Angeles. Other locales are also seeing closures, while circuits staying open are starting to limit capacity to 50 people per auditorium per new CDC guidelines.

Movies will be made available on a wide variety of on-demand services for a 48-hour rental period at a suggested retail price of $19.99 in the US and the price equivalent in international markets. The announcement was made by NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell. Insiders say it isn’t a blanket policy for the studio’s entire 2020 calendar and that decisions regarding other titles and the duration of the policy haven’t been made yet.

The studio is hoping to provide options for consumers who cannot or should not go to cinemas.

“Given the rapidly evolving and unprecedented changes to consumers’ daily lives during this difficult time, the company felt that now was the right time to provide this option in the home as well as in theatres. NBCUniversal will continue to evaluate the environment as conditions evolve and will determine the best distribution strategy in each market when the current unique situation changes,” read the company’s release.

“Universal Pictures has a broad and diverse range of movies with 2020 being no exception. Rather than delaying these films or releasing them into a challenged distribution landscape, we wanted to provide an option for people to view these titles in the home that is both accessible and affordable.

“We hope and believe that people will still go to the movies in theatres where available, but we understand that for people in different areas of the world that is increasingly becoming less possible.”

The on-demand release of Trolls World Tour will benefit from the full arsenal of a marketing campaign already underway, including Comcast, NBCUniversal and Sky’s cross-company Symphony support, which will be in full effect, according to the studio.

Shaun the Sheep and The Snail and the Whale among winners at British Animation Awards 2020

The talent behind some of Britain’s best animation over the past year, including The Snail and the Whale, The Tiger Who Came to Tea, The Adventures of Paddington, and A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon were celebrated at the British Animation Awards 2020 this week.

Held at London’s BFI Southbank, the BAAs was hosted by comedian and actor Miles Jupp who kicked off a ceremony dedicated to recognising all forms of animation and honour the achievements of the British animation scene from the past two years.

Top awards went to Sally Hawkins for her work on the animated adaptation of the Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler book, The Snail and the Whale, David Arnold for Best Original Music for The Tiger Who Came to Tea, and to Nick Jr for its pre-school series, The Adventures of Paddington.

Hawkins scooped up the award for Best Voice Performance for her portrayal of Snail in Snail and the Whale, Magic Light Pictures’ festive animation about a mollusc on an epic adventure.

Meanwhile there were three major awards for acclaimed studio Aardman Animations, which picked up the prestigious award for Best Long Form Animation for its hugely successful madcap caper A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmaggedon (directed by Will Becher and Richard Phelan), the Children’s Choice Award for an episode from its CBBC series Shaun The Sheep: Squirreled Away(directed by Carmen Bromfield-Mason), and Best Music Video for Coldplay’s “Daddy” (directed by Asa Lucanda).

Staying in the children’s TV categories, Adam Shaw and Chris Drew picked up the Best Children’s Pre-School Series award for their charming Nick Jr. series The Adventures of Paddington – which features the voice of Ben Wishaw as Paddington and a song written and performed by Gary Barlow.

Erstwhile awards and audience favourite The Amazing Adventures of Gumball added another two BAAs to its collection picking up Best Use of Sound and the Writers Award for Richard Overall, Mic Graves and Tony Hull.

Meanwhile, the Best Children’s Series was awarded to Gutsy Animations’ Sky One series Moominvalley (directed by Steve Box), which was praised by the judges for its “undeniable beauty” and “top-notch vocal performances”.

The Best Original Music Award went to multi award-winning duo David Arnold and Don Black for Lupus Films’ The Tiger Who Came to Tea.

 Some of the leading British animation courses were represented in both Best Undergraduate and Best Postgraduate Student film categories including nominees from Falmouth University School of Film and Television, University of Creative Arts in Farnham, Arts University Bournemouth and the Royal College of Arts London.

The winner of the all-female nominated Best Undergraduate Student Film category was Megan Earls from UCA, Farnham for Border/Line and the victor of the Best Postgraduate Student Film was Alex Widdowson, also from RCA, for his film Music and Clowns.

 In other categories: The Best Short Film was awarded to Jonathan Hodgson for Roughhouse, which the judges described as a “masterful piece of short form storytelling”. The Best Animation in a Commercial award went to Thomas Harnett O’Meara and Matthew Day for their charming take on The Wind in the Willows for The Wildlife Trusts; The Best Film or TV Graphic, Motion Design was awarded to Second Home Studios for its “varied and imaginative idents” for DaVinci Learning.

The Best Commissioned Animation was picked up by Moth Studio for the “beautifully delicate animation” in Conception: Catie & Jen: The Best Immersive Category was won by Marshmallow Laser Feast for We Live in an Ocean of Air, which was praised for “inspiring us to think about nature in a different way”.

Finally, in a new category for 2020, the Best Social Good Award rewarded Danny Capozzi for his animation for United for Global Mental Health – New Mindset.

BAA Director, Helen Brunsdon, said: “This is my first year at the helm of the BAAs and I was blown away by the quality of the entries this year. The BAAs are a brilliant way to showcase the incredible talent we have here in the UK and help cement Britain’s position as one of the leading countries in the world for animation.”

Held every two years, the British Animation Awards (BAAs) reward the very best new and established British animators across a variety of categories including short films, animated graphics for film and television, children’s series, music videos and commercials.

The awards themselves (the BAAs) are unique artworks, featuring sheep, created especially for the occasion by a range of leading international and UK animation artists: a measure of the world-wide respect felt for British animation.

Egmont sees record revenue of €1.7bn but warns of challenging year ahead amid coronavirus pandemic

The international media group, Egmont – home of Egmont Publishing and subsidiaries including Norway’s TV 2 and Nordisk Film, has reported a revenue growth of €79 million in its full year 2019 financials, driven by TV, streaming, video gaming, and e-commerce.

The media group hit a revenue record of €1.7bn for the full year, built on its solid foundation of publishing, journalism, and storytelling. Meanwhile the firm is driving increased growth through emerging platforms including video gaming and e-commerce, and marketing services.

Egmont has, however, posted expectations of 2020 to be a ‘challenging year’ due to the Coronavirus pandemic and its crisis across the Nordic countries.

President and CEO, Steffen Kragh stated that looking into 2020 “we are, like the rest of society, very affected by the present COVID-19 crisis and concerned by the well-being of our employees, and that society and we as a company get well through this crisis.”

Three quarters of Egmont’s business is now in film, TV, streaming, computer games, digital media and e-commerce. Increasing the use of technology to optimise the media products and consumer experiences is an important element in the media group’s development.

Egmont’s total business activity, including its share of non-consolidated companies, generated revenue of €2bn.

Egmont Publishing’s magazine titles outperforming the general print market, fuelled by strong growth at the marketing services agencies, numerous bestsellers, and digital growth at Egmont’s book publishers.

At the same time, TV2 Norway increased its stake in TV distributor RiksTV to 50 per cent while its result reflect a strong year with higher viewing shares and marked growth in subscribers to the streaming service TV 2 Sumo. Meanwhile, Nordisk Film saw success with the release of a string of films and video games.

Egmont is a commercial foundation which in 2020 celebrates its centenary. The foundation has a dual purpose: to develop modern media and to support vulnerable children, young people and families. In 2019, Egmont made charitable donations of €13m to vulnerable children and young people in Denmark and Norway and to film talents through the Nordisk Film Foundation. T

he Egmont Report 2019 focused on helping children make a good start at school, and Egmont entered into a new five-year partnership with charity Børns Vilkår during the year to work on school absenteeism. Egmont also supported 12 new projects focusing on dyslexia. Since 1920, Egmont has made total donations of €410m.

Kids Insights: Exploring Gen Z and Alpha’s girls views on gender

International Women’s Day may now have to wait another year before trending on media platforms across the globe once again, but that doesn’t mean the conversation has to stop there. To help fuel the momentum around the topic, Kids Insights – the kids market intelligence specialist -has presented its latest study on children’s views and perception on gender.

The study is based on its quarterly on-track reports, with a depth and breadth of data obtained through surveying over 5,000 British children between October and December 2019, though it also utilises data collected since May 2017.

With continuing wider societal trends of inclusivity and gender equality, there is a drive among brands to make toys follow suit and be more inclusive of gender, race, and diversity.

While developments have occurred at a brand and product level, they are yet to filter through and be reflected in the toy’s children choose to play with day to day. When Kids Insights looked at the favourite toys of three to five year olds, only three toys from the top 10 list for boys also feature on the top 10 list for girls.

Currently, there are only a few toys to bridge the gender gap between pre-school age fans within the top 10, illustrating the challenges of creating toys that appeal to both genders equally.

The report also demonstrates major changes in children’s interests and hobbies that shaping traditional expectations of masculinity and femininity. According to Kids Insights data, the number of girls who are playing football has increased by 12 per cent since Q1 2018. Tween girls are the most likely to play football at 22 per cent.

The number of young ladies who game is also on the rise. From Q2 2019 to Q4 2019 there was a 9 per cent increase in teenage girl gamers. As well as this, while girls are more likely to own tablets and smartphones than a console, since Q4 2018 there has been a 14 per cent increase in girls gaming on their tablet and 10 per cent increase in girls gaming on their smartphones. Although the number of girl gamers is expanding, there are still only a small number of female characters represented in games.

Jenny Kieras, COO Kids Insights, commented: “Our methodology enables us to track the entire inter-connected kids’ ecosystem, examining areas such as how kids spend their time, what they enjoy doing and what they are currently consuming.

“We can see how this generation of children is like no others; inspired and motivated to make positive changes by sharing pure empathy and respect. We believe that companies should invest in product development programmes to make valuable and responsible contributions to inclusivity and gender equality in kids’ space that also make business sense.”

Kids Insights, part of The Insights People, is the global leader in kids’ market intelligence. The company currently surveys more than 2,500 children every week, across 4 continents and 8 countries, or more than 125,000 children a year, and has gained a reputation as the most comprehensive and dynamic market intelligence specialist in kids, tweens and teens; and whose market intelligence is used by companies such as the BBC, Disney, Pokémon, SEGA, Turner and Warner Bros.

Acamar Films and HarperCollins celebrate strong start for Bing following World Book Day success

Acamar Films’ award-winning pre-school property Bing and its global publishing partner, HarperCollins Children’s Books, are celebrating a strong start to the year, thanks to the success of this year’s World Book Day.

The popular published title, Bing’s Splashy Story has now reached number three in the overall children’s book charts and is also the third bestselling World Book Day 2020 title. Bing was the only licensed character to have a title for World Book Day this year.

Following the popularity of its pre-school publishing range, Bing’s Splashy Story was created specifically for World Book Day to encourage parents and little ones to Share a Million Stories as reading together leads to long term benefits for early years literacy.

More than 15 million £1 National Book Tokens featuring Bing as a selected title were distributed in the UK and Ireland ahead of celebrations on March 5th this year.

Bing’s Splashy Story is currently available in leading retailers including Waterstones, WHSmith, Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Amazon. The audiobook, narrated by British actress Anne-Marie Duff, is available through Audible, Google Audiobooks and Kobo.

Promotional activity included Bing meet and greets at Waterstones in Bluewater shopping centre and on Kensington High Street, along with special in-store live readings of Bing’s Splashy Story by CBeebies presenter Cat Sandion to a delighted crowd of Bingsters.

“Bing’s World Book Day success is a matter of great pride for us,” said Etta Saunders Bingham, senior publishing manager, at Acamar Films. “Reading to children is such a wonderful, shared experience and HarperCollins’ innovative list of Bing titles offers opportunities galore to engage with our preschool audience in a meaningful way.”

Juliet Matthews, publisher, media and brands, HarperCollins Children’s Books, added: “Bing’s Splashy Story is the perfect book for World Book Day as it highlights the joy of sharing stories for pre-schoolers in a delightfully entertaining story where Bing wants to read his favourite story in the bath.”

HarperCollins Children’s Books are the exclusive global publishing partner for Bing. They also recently released Bing My Reward Chart Book which rewards little ones with Bing stickers for completing everyday tasks such as tidying up, sharing, brushing their teeth and toilet training.

Keith Chapman’s new Netflix pre-school series Buddi brings in licensing big guns

Keith Chapman – the much-loved name behind the likes of PAW Patrol and Bob the Builder, has turned his attention to the early pre-school audience, having joined forces with Unanico Studios and creator, Jason Jameson to develop a new animated pre-school series for Netflix.

Called Buddi, the show is aimed at the early pre-school audience. It will launch on Netflix worldwide on March 20 this year, delivering youngsters a sensory world of imagination and exploration.

Raydar Media, led by managing director Alison Rayson, is managing all rights to Buddi in collaboration with Unanico, Keith Chapman, GCI Film, FroG-Land Productions, Shanghai Motion Magic, and Spider Eye Studios. 

Raydar believes the show’s stunning visual style, coupled with it being non-verbal and early pre-school sets it completely apart from other pre-school series.

A consumer products programme – managed by broadcast licensing expert Valerie Fry – is already in the early stages of development and will be introduced to potential licensees over the coming months; the expectation is that it will deliver a vibrant range of lines where there is currently a gap in the younger preschool market.

Buddi features five friends or Buddis, called Iso, Cini, Vihi, Puna, and Kelta, each distinctively bright and colourful in their own way. The Buddis rejoice in their differences as friends, and explore the nuances of their natural world, caring for their environment as they go along. Together, they discover the wonder of snow, sand, rainbows and mud-fights, and meet many fascinating creatures that test their senses and inhabit the landscape of their home, Buddi Kotti.

Buddi aims to emphasise emotional intelligence and feelings through the imaginative use of music and sound. The melodies of Buddi showcase homemade instruments, so kids can play along to their favourite song. The Buddis express themselves with giggles, squeaks, and coos, which transcend nationalities and cultures, allowing the characters to connect instantly with everyone.

WWE expands its sponsorship partnership with Mars with new Snickers Fix the World campaign

WWE has expanded its long-standing partnership with Mars Inc in a new deal that will see its Snickers brand serve as the exclusive presenting partner for the upcoming WrestleMania event.

The 2020 partnership will mark the brand’s fifth consecutive year as the presenting sponsor of WrestleMania through which three pieces of custom creative will see WWE Superstars promote the new Snickers Fix the World campaign, each seeing their day to day annoyances solved through the power of Snickers.

WrestleMania will take place on Sunday, April 5 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. It will live stream around the world at 7pm on WWE Network, WWE’s award-winning streaming service.

The custom campaign spots will air in WWE’s flagship TV programmes beginning March 23rd on Monday Night Raw on USA Network and March 27th during Friday Night SmackDown on FOX. The third spot will air during WrestleMania on WWE Network.

“Our partnership has historically shown the power of Snickers to satisfy when WWE Superstars are hungry, and now we’re taking it to the next level by fixing things in their daily lives that are out of sorts,” said Josh Olken, brand director, Snickers. “We’re excited to be back for the fifth year as the presenting sponsor of WrestleMania as we find new and relevant ways to provide satisfaction to the WWE’s passionate fan base.”

John Brody, WWE Executive Vice President, global head of sales and partnerships, added: “We are proud to partner with Mars Wrigley for the fifth consecutive year and incorporate WWE Superstars’ larger-than-life personalities into the next evolution of the popular Snickers campaign.

“Our long-term partnership illustrates WWE’s unique ability to connect with fans across our global platforms and deliver valuable exposure for blue-chip brands.”

The partnership includes Snickers brand presence at WrestleMania Axxess, WWE’s five-day, interactive fan festival at the Tampa Convention Center, plus custom digital and social content sponsorships on WWE.com and WWE’s YouTube channel, which is the most-viewed sports channel and fifth most-viewed channel in the world.

Snickers will also serve as a promotional partner of WWE’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view event in July 2020, and for the third consecutive year will be supported by a nationwide retail program available at all Dollar General stores to support the sale of co-branded WWE Snickers bars.

WWE’s expanded partnership with Mars will also highlight Skittles as the presenting partner of WWE’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view event in October 2020. Skittles will be prominently featured as part of cross-platform media assets promoting “Hell in a Cell” and will collaborate with WWE on production of a co-branded custom integration that will air in the telecast.

Additional partnership activations will be unveiled in the coming months.

ZAG Studios signs new SVOD and broadcast deals for Power Players

The independent animation studio ZAG has signed multiple deals to bring the first two seasons of its 3D CGI animated-meets-live-action hybrid TV series, Power Players to SVOD and broadcast partners around the world.

ZAG has signed a non-exclusive global SVOD deal with Netflix that saw the series launch on the platform on March 5, 2020, while broadcast deals with Channel 9 in Australia, family/kids’ channel PlusPlus in Ukraine, Karusel in Russia, and Teletoon in Canada.

The new partners join a line-up of broadcast, cable and satellite TV partners including Cartoon Network US, EMEA, and Asia Pacific, France’s France Télévisions, Germany’s WDR, Brazil’s Gloob, and Discovery Latin America.

Power Players follows the adventures of Axel, a boy who transforms into a living action figure, and his unlikely team of toy heroes as they embark on the biggest “small” adventures a kid could ever imagine. Together with his team of toys brought to life, the Power Players fight the destructive fun of villainous robot Madcap and his followers.

Power Players was created by Jeremy Zag and developed in collaboration with ON Kids & Family (Mediawan Group) and Man of Action Entertainment.

“We are extremely proud of this new original creation that we developed alongside Man of Action, Cartoon Network, FTV, and Playmates Toys. It will be launching in 2020, worldwide, with the best international partners. So, now, Play on,”commented ZAG’s CEO, Jeremy Zag.

The 2020 Power Players toy collection includes an assortment of highly detailed and articulated five-inch action figures based on the TV show, as well as nine-inch deluxe action figures that are packed with electronics and sound effects.

The line also features a variety of vehicles, allowing kids to send their favourite Power Players on heroic adventures, as well as role play gear which allows kids to transform into Axel, the leader of the Power Players.