Cynopsis: Kids!
06.19.13

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, June 19, 2013, and this is your first early morning briefing.

TODAY’S TOP HEADLINES

Netflix’s new multiyear deal with DreamWorks Animation puts the companies’ partnership into, shall we say, Turbo mode. DreamWorks plans to produce more than 300 hours of new programming based on the studio’s feature franchises like Shrek, Madagascar, and Kung Fu Panda and, per the new deal, Netflix will have worldwide first-run rights for shows and exclusively offer the original series. The two already were partnered up for Netflix to exclusively offer new DreamWorks original series Turbo F.A.S.T., based on the upcoming DreamWorks animated feature Turbo, about a small snail with big NASCAR dreams. Although the companies did not reveal which DreamWorks properties will get a serialized treatment, they said the programming will be “inspired by characters from DreamWorks Animation’s hit franchises and upcoming feature films.” The deal has the makings of a win for both sides: DreamWorks gets to refresh some of its biggest brands via a needed digital boost, and Netflix gets an infusion of top-line kids content now that the expiration of its deal with Viacom vaporized Dora the Explorer and SpongeBob SquarePants and other key Nick titles.

In Licensing Expo news, Saban Brands is merging its domestic and international licensing and merchandising teams to create its new Global Consumer Products division. The department is led by Kirk Bloomgarden, who now serves as SVP of global consumer products, and will focus on the global expansion of licensing programs for all Saban properties worldwide including Power Rangers, Paul Frank and upcoming Julius Jr. and Digimon Fusion properties. The new division is ushering in a company reorg: Nina Leong moves into a new role as SVP, strategic business development, and will spearhead efforts to expand the Saban portfolio with new brands, particularly in the lifestyle and fashion space. Mary Rafferty and Dan Wilson also have taken on new roles as VP, global consumer products, and VP, global retail, respectively. In addition, Brian Maeda joins the team as VP, licensing, and will focus on helping to grow Saban Brands’ business in Asia, with a focus on toys and video games. “Saban Brands is only three years old, and we’ve seen expanded growth and continued momentum in that short period of time. We have hundreds of licensees globally and our retail sales have increased exponentially year to year,” said Bloomgarden. In addition to the global team based in the States, Saban plans to open new offices in London, England and Shanghai, China later this year.

PROGRAMMING PICKS

Gender Equality… Disney Channel has ordered comedy series Girl Meets World, from executive producer Michael Jacobs, the man behind the popular Boy Meets World series. Slated to bow in 2014 and set in NY, the new series stars Rowan Blanchard (Spy Kids All the Time in World in 4D), Sabrina Carpenter (Sofia the First voice cast), and Danielle Fishel and Ben Savage reprising the “Cory” and “Topanga” roles they made famous Boy Meets World, which ran from 1993-2000 on ABC.

Cartoon Network is shifting Annoying Orange from its scheduled Thursday evening post to the 7p Wednesday slot, where it will pair with the network’s The Amazing World of Gumball for a potent evening of comedy. The new lineup debuts today.

Disney is enlisting some star power to boost its health-minded TRYit campaign. The Disney TRYathlon is returning to Disney XD as a two-part special airing on consecutive Mondays–Aug. 12 and Aug. 19 at 9p. Part of Disney’s campaign designed to inspire kids to try new foods, fun moves, and simple ways to be their best, TRYathlon will team Disney Channel and Disney XD stars Leo Howard and Olivia Holt (Kickin’ It), Calum Worthy (Austin & Ally), Jake Short (A.N.T. Farm), Spencer Boldman (Lab Rats) and Bradley Steven Perry (Good Luck Charlie) with three kid viewers who won an online video contest at DisneyXD.com/TRYit by showcasing ways they stay healthy including their sports skills. Beginning Aug. 13, NBA superstar Dwight Howard and White House chef Sam Kass will each host a series of interstitials that will air on Disney Channel and Disney XD. Howard will teach Disney Channel and Disney XD audiences new exercises they can try on their own to stay in shape, and Kass will give kids and families tips on healthy eating and prepare recipes. Then starting June 17, a new video featuring Disney TRYathlon talent will launch every week on DisneyXD.com/TRYit, where users can participate in the “TRYit Challenger” by tracking the new things they’ve tried to be their best. On July 29, DisneyXD.com/TRYit will also launch a themed web game where users can test their own abilities and prove their skills in three challenges.

Nelvana Enterprises and d-rights Inc. are under way on production of three new series based around the Beyblade franchise. Beginning this fall, Beyblade: Shogun Steel will launch with 26 half-hour episodes. BeyRaiderz Shogun (working title) will launch with 13 half-hours next spring, and BeyWarriors Cyborg (working title) will follow in fall 2014 with 26 half-hour episodes and two one-hour specials. New licensing partners are on board to help extend the brand, including Paris Geneve in Canada, Mad Dog Concepts in the U.S., Eugene Textiles in the U.S. and Canada and Black & White Shoes, which will be expanding into the U.S.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM LITTLE AIRPLANE

Little Airplane Productions is accepting applications for a unique workshop taught by accomplished preschool TV veterans on each step of creating a high-quality preschool series. Topics include Writing, Pitching, Legal, Design, Music, Directing, Producing, Distribution and more. A panel of noteworthy Children’s TV broadcasters will be on hand to discuss pitching to a network. 

MORE LICENSING EXPO NEWS

The licensing deals are flying in Las Vegas this week at the annual International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association’s  Licensing Expo, where this year kids brands have a presence like never before. Here are the highlights you need to know about…

It’s another brand cross-dressing collaboration for Hello Kitty. Warner Bros. Consumer Products, in partnership with DC Entertainment, and Kitty creator Sanrio are partnering to license merchandise featuring Hello Kitty dressed as DC Comics superheroes including Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman.

Rabbit Ears: Nickelodeon is in a multiyear partnership with Cartwheel Kids to manufacture, distribute and market a line of toys and products based on the hit preschool series Peter Rabbit.  Bowing in fall 2014, the product line will span plush toys, figures and playsets, role play items and seasonal products. Nick is also teaming with Gund for a plush collection based on Peter Rabbit. Additionally, show creator Silvergate Media signed Vivid as toy partner for the show in U.K., Europe and Australia. New toys in those lines will also bow in 2014.

AG Properties is rolling out a licensing program to accompany Disney XD series Packages from Planet X. Packages from Planet X, which debuted on Disney XD on Saturday, July 13 at 8:30a, features 15-year-old Dan Zembrosky, whose ordinary life changes forever the day that strange and wildly powerful packages begin showing up at his front door. Are the packages from another time, planet or dimension?

Beginning this fall, PBS Kids series Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood will roll exclusively into Toys R Us with a line of toys as part of its new agreement with brand owner The Fred Rogers Company and licensing agency Out of the Blue Enterprises. Merch includes plush, playsets and collectible figures featuring the star of the animated TV series and his friends, Katerina Kittycat, Miss Elaina, Prince Wednesday and O the Owl, from JAKKS Pacific, the North American Master Toy Licensee for the popular property.

London-based Entertainment One (eOne) is expanding its U.S. presence in film, television, music and family across media, with the acquisition of licensing agency Art Impressions. eOne Family and eOne Licensing have been active in States since launching Peppa Pig on Nick Jr. in 2010, and subsequently securing esteemed licensing and merchandising partnerships, including Fisher Price and Scholastic. Launched in 1992, Art Impressions specializes in lifestyle brand including SO SO Happy and Skelanimals, both catapulted to success through innovative marketing campaigns and social media fandom. Additionally, eOne signed Mattel subsidiary Fisher-Price  as the master toy partner for Peppa Pig in Canada.

Hey Riverdale, King Features Syndicate is leading a new licensing strategy for Archie Comics’ Betty and Veronica that will bring the characters into a new retail era. The news comes on the heels of Archie Comics’ recent live-action deal with Warner Bros. King Features is home to iconic characters including Popeye, Betty Boop, and Hagar The Horrible.

Wonder Forge has secured game licensing rights to hit Nick Jr. series Tickety Toc through a multiyear partnership with Zodiak Kids, brokered by U.S. licensing agent Established Brands. Wonder Forge will debut its Tickety Toc Matching Game this fall through an exclusive retail partnership with Toys R Us, and will launch additional signature games in 2014. A multi-category consumer products program will launch in North America in the fall led by master toy partner Just Play, and home entertainment partner Anchor Bay Entertainment.

Minions of licensing companies are coming out to support the upcoming theatrical sequel Despicable Me 2. Among the goods are Despicable Me 2 editions of two board games from Hasbro: The Monopoly Despicable Me 2 Edition, with a Spin the Minion feature, and chance to collect Banana Bucks, and Operation game where players try to extract some unicorn fluff Stuart accidentally swallowed. Additionally Ceaco created a line of Despicable Me 2 100-piece puzzles.
 
The VeggieTales harvest is growing. Big Idea Entertainment and parent company DreamWorks Animation have signed a field of new partners for the brand as it celebrates its 20th anniversary. Round 2 and LightUpToys.com are on board for novelty toys, and other licensees include Zydeco Studios, Nuby, Group Publishing, and Mardel.

Evolution won the bid to become global licensing agent for children’s property This One ‘N That One, created by actress and author Jane Seymour and James Keach. Based on Seymour and Keach’s own twin sons, the property features comical twin kittens featured in books originally published by Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers. Keach’s PCH Films has partnered with Cosmic Toast Studios on the development, production and distribution of the animated series This One’N That One for launch in fall 2014.

Time flies… It’s been 45 years since Suzy’s Zoo bowed as a line of greeting cards created by artist Suzy Spafford in 1968. The brand has grown to include more than 200 characters, a television series and other social media properties. Lawless Entertainment and Suzy’s Zoo is debuting a special 45th anniversary SZ video at Expo.

New venture CHF Carterbench Licensing appointed Lisle International as master agent for its new animated TV series PiP, an animated preschool property that follows the adventures of a mischievous pup and his friends in the colorful seaside town of Salty Cove.
 
MORE KIDS NEWS

Music and movement go together like peanut butter and jelly. Kids physical development center The Little Gym International is teaming with Razor & Tie to distribute The Little Gym music to major retailers throughout North America for the first time. The new CD collection will include classic The Little Gym songs, all compsed and recorded by founder Robin Wes, designed to get kids moving, learning and having fun. First two releases, “25 Move-Along Fun Songs” and “25 Sing-Along Fun Songs,” debut Aug. 6 at 500 Wal-Mart location, with digital albums available on iTunes and Amazon.com. Additional titles will roll out to retail throughout 2013-2014.

It’s show time: A new production of the stage show Dora Live! Dora’s Pirate Adventure, based on the Nick series, will launching in Australia this September in partnership with Life Like Touring.

DIGITAL UPDATE

Verizon FiOS has launched the free kids on-demand network Kabillion. Moonscoop’s Kabillion and sister net Kabillion Girls Rule! rack up 6 million views per month. The FiOs deal will bring the networks, currently available to 45 million viewers, an additional 5 million FiOS customers… And speaking of Kabillion, the service will host the exclusive premiere June 19 of The Meeps, a new musical TV kids’ project created and exec-produced by American Idol creator Simon Fuller. The Meeps features an ensemble cast of CGI characters in 3D, each with a unique, personality performing the classic tune Do Wah Diddy Diddy. The Meeps is produced by Moonscoop and directed by Moonscoop’s Trevor Wall who also designed the characters, at the company’s Los Angeles animation studios.

Online kids destination Poptropica is launching an online shop where fans can customize merchandise with their Poptropica avatars. Developed in collaboration with Custom Personalization Solutions, the Poptropica Shop will feature items including T-shirts a and hoodies To date, kids have created more than 500 million individual avatars on Poptropica.

Doodle Jump developer Lima Sky unveiled a network of online-only shopping destinations for merchandise associated with the hit online game. The centerpiece of Lima Sky’s jump into the digital marketplace is a new joint venture with e-commerce design firm Delivery Agent to produce the first unified, Internet-based shopping portal devoted exclusively to the sale of Doodle Jump’s signature catalog. Lima Sky is also working with D3Publisher to bring the Doodler to videogame consoles with Doodle Jump for Xbox Kinect.

PBS Digital Studios has launched “Sing Together,” a video tribute to Mister Rogers created by John Boswell (Melody Sheep). The tribute is about inspiring children through music and dance, and it follows an initial Boswell Mister Rogers tribute that collected close to 9 million views on YouTube. That video, called “Garden of Your Mind,” also netted PBS Digital a Webby Award for Best Video Remix/Mashup.

GAMING & APPS

Cupcake Digital, Nelvana Enterprises and the Clifford Ross Company are partnering to create the firstever apps based on the TV series Babar and the Adventures of Badou. The enhanced story apps will be available this fall in the iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and Nook Apps stores.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Little Airplane Productions is bringing its animated TV film Meet the Small Potatoes Down Under, with an airing slated for Disney Junior Australia. Additionally, the Small Potatoes TV series will debut on free-to-air channel Once in Mexico, which brings to 24 the total number of countries the show airs in. 

FremantleMedia Kids & Family Entertainment sold its animated preschool series today Tree Fu Tom to Network Ten in Australia and MediaWorks in New Zealand. Tree Fu Tom is due to premiere in both territories in September 2013. In Australia, FremantleMedia also secured licensing deals for the property, signing Funtastic Ltd. as toy distribution partner and Roadshow for home entertainment.

Britain’s Channel 5 is acquiring a second season (26×11) of animated series Jelly Jamm, produced by Spanish independent production company Vodka. Season One of debuted on Channel 5’s Milkshake in December 2011 and fast became a hit for the preschool programming block.

Viacom Consumer Products is bringing merch associated with Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Bubble Guppies to new global markets. In Russia and CIS (including Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) ZAO Trading House Gulliver & Co. signed a two-year deal for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sporting goods including scooters, bicycles, snow saucers and snow-scooters. In the U.K., Fisher-Price is releasing toys and plush to support the launch of Bubble Guppies that includes musically themed toys and bath toys.

BY THE NUMBERS

We’ve changed the way we are listing our ratings and hope you find our new charts much easier to read. Bon appetit!

Top 10 Basic Cable Ratings for the week of June 10-June 16, 2013

K2-11 Total Programming Day

K2-11 Prime (Monday  Sunday 8-11p.m.)

K2-11  (Monday-Sunday 6 a.m.-11 p.m.)

K6-11 Total Programming Day

K6-11 Prime (Monday  Sunday 8-11p.m.)

K6-11  (Monday-Sunday 6 a.m.-11 p.m.)

K9-14 Total Programming Day

K9-14 Prime (Monday  Sunday 8-11p.m.)

K9-14  (Monday-Sunday 6 a.m.-11 p.m.)

Source: Disney from Nielsen Media Research National MIT, ranked on coverage ratings
Viewing Type: Live +SD

K2-11  Top 10 Programs for the week of June 10-June 16, 2013

K6-11  Top 10 Programs for the week of June 10-June 16, 2013

Source: Turner Research from the Nielsen Co. data, Preliminary Live + SD

Weekend box office estimates for the 10 top-grossing kids/tween/teen movies rated G, PG or PG-13, provided by Rentrak for June 14-16, 2013:

Man of Steel (Warner Bros.) PG-13 $113.1 million (weekend) $125.1 (1-week cume)
Now You See Me (Lionsgate) PG-13  $10.3 million (weekend) $80 million (3-week cume)
The Internship (20th Century Fox) PG-13 $7 million (weekend) $30.95 million (2-week cume)
Epic (20th Century Fox) PG  $6 million (weekend) $95.4 million (4-week cume)
Star Trek Into Darkness (Paramount)  PG-13  $5.7 million (weekend)  $210.5 million (5-week cume)
After Earth (Sony) PG-13  $3.8 million (weekend) $54.2 million (3-week cume)
Iron Man 3 (Disney) PG-13  $2.9 million (weekend) $399.6 million (7-week cume)
The Great Gatsby (Warner Bros.) PG-13  $1.6 million (weekend)  $139.9 million (6-week cume)
42 (Warner Bros.) PG-13  $639,000 (weekend)  $93.7 (10-week cume)
The Croods (20th Century Fox) PG  $570,000 (weekend)  $182.7 million (13-week cume)
GI Joe: Retaliation (Paramount) PG-13  $103,000 million (weekend)  $122.1 million (12-week cume)

CYNKIDS SPOTLIGHT

Would you like some sprinkles with your Smurfs? Beginning July 1, Menchie’s self-serve frozen yogurt franchise will becoming “Smenchie’s” in celebration of the July 31 release of Sony Pictures Animation’s The Smurfs 2. The franchise’s first-ever promotion centered on an entertainment property will include the limited-edition Smurfberry Blast flavor and special toppings, including chocolate Smurfettes, Smurfberry gummies and Smurfy sprinkles, served in a special mushroom-capped reusable cup; Smurf-themed activities, special promotions and more.

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Saban Brands appoints Janet Scardino as the company’s COO, overseeing the company’s media operations across television, digital and games, as well as content distribution and ad sales for all properties worldwide. Scardino previously built television, online and mobile businesses for brands including Disney, MTV, AOL, Reuters and American Idol.

Sean Gorman moves up the ranks to become president of American Greetings Properties. Gorman previously served as VP, entertainment production and development, at the AG Properties (AGP) offices in Los Angeles.

K’NEX Brands priming the January 2014 opening of its U.K. sales and marketing division with the appointment of the division’s first two executives. Paul Fogarty, formerly of Mattel, Radica and TOMY Europe, will head up the U.K. office, Tim Ives, formerly of TOMY Europe and MGA, will run the K’NEX UK sales division.

Turner CN Enterprises is restructuring its EMEA business with primarily a series of internal appointments. Maria Rosaria Milone, senior commercial director reporting to VP Alan Fenwick, will lead a team responsible for developing licensing strategies in line with local and regional market trends. Appointed to head of category of Apparel, Accessories & Footwear EMEA is Leila Loumi, who joins from The Beanstalk Group. Additional head of category promotions include Jason Rice for Toys and Sports, Annabel Rochfort for Themed Entertainment, Victoria Saint for Publishing, Videogames and Music and Sandra Selva-Abril for Stationery and Home. David Berry will continue his consulting role for Turner by also acting as head of Food and Promotions. Also, Graham Saltmarsh has been appointed to head of retail for the U.K., Italy, France and Nordics, and Kathrin Schenk as head of retail for GAS, CEE, Russia and Benelux and Mar Romera for Spain and Portugal. Additional retail appointments include Amir Demian as Retail Business Development for Middle East, North Africa, Greece and Cyprus and Archana Keskar as Retail Business Development, Africa and Israel.

ITV Studios Global Entertainment promotes Natalie Harvey to head of European retail, promotions and digital. In her new role, Harvey will lead the strategy and execution of European retail and the promotions and digital categories, working closely with agents and the U.K. sales team. She joined the as head of retail last spring.

Discovery Education, provider of digital content for K-12 classrooms, named Stephen Wakefield VP, public affairs. Wakefield joins Discovery Education from ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development), where he served as director of communications. Before that, he held another post at Discovery Education.

Indie distribution company Echo Bridge Entertainment, whose business includes children’s feature films and documentaries, promoted Nathan Hart to president. Hart joined the company in 2002 as CFO.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question: Which girl/doll was featured in the first American Girl movie? Samantha. Kudos to: Chris Devine Dailey, Simply Devine Marketing Group, Deposit, N.Y.; Sabrina Sparlin; Meredith Wayne, CoxReps, NY.