Nuno I, Allspark’s sales director for Asia Pacific, talks about surfacing content, improving discoverability, YouTube, IP and rights, Asia's acquisition habits, monetising kids content and what the biggest influences in 2020...

Discoverability is as much an issue among kids programmers as among any other genre in the streaming universe. Do you have a preferred strategy for surfacing content?
"AtAllspark, our mission is to use immersive, cross-platform storytelling to bring our beloved brands to life for kids, fans and families. By rapidly building our expansive, multiscreen storytelling capabilities globally, we are able to reach kids and families everywhere that they are consuming content, in many forms and formats, across films, television, and new media. We see our brands as story-led consumer franchises that we bring to life through compelling content across a multitude of platforms and media, with a wide variety of digital experiences, music, publishing, and location-based entertainment, and an impressive array of consumer products, spanning a broad range of diverse categories. This 360-approach to our franchises in combination with offline marketing across multiple touch points drives discoverability and demand for our content from Transformers, My Little Pony, Micronauts and more."

Is there anything you wish platforms would do to improve discoverability?
"We are fortunate not to have concerns about the discoverability of our content. We do find that consumers are looking for platforms to curate content for them, ratherthan leaving it to the algorithms to choose for them."

If kids, as is commonly thought, live mostly on YouTube, what’s your approach to streaming video? Do you have a YouTube-first policy?
"The simple answer is it depends on the show and the brand strategy. We create content for broadcast that can be used for YouTube and YouTube content that can stitched for broadcast purposes. For us YouTube is always a part of our cross-platform omnichannel storytelling strategy and is an essential ingredient in our overall approach to launching shows on linear and digital platforms."

Are you seeing any significant changes in the way kids buyers are acquiring content in/for Asia?
"We are seeing that kids’ buyers in Asia continue to look for well-known shows and established brands that have a good track record, but they are also very interested in new shows from trusted partners, like Allspark, who are able to help drive awareness of the shows offline."

Did monetising kids content in Asia become more difficult in 2019? Why?
"Our shows are well known worldwide, and because of this, platforms and broadcasters have been somewhat dependent on us helping them drive viewers and awareness to their platforms or channel - so our strategy in monetising our shows has not changed."

Do you think it will become easier to monetise kids content in 2020?
"Yes"

What do you think will have the biggest influence on kids programming (production and distribution) in Asia in 2020?
"Two elements that we think will have the biggest influence on kids programming in Asia in 2020 are localised production and the importance of stories that are supported by offline consumer touch points such as consumer products, location based experiences and more."

What industry sector in Asia acquires the most from you (free-TV, pay-TV, streaming, other)?
"We invest equal efforts across all industry sectors. Streaming services are very aggressive at the moment in terms of content acquisition, but TV is now starting to make moves for new titles we have in our slate for 2020."

How have rights negotiations for kids content changed in the past year or so?
"Rights negotiations for kids’ content haven’t changed for us; we are lucky to have such well-known and powerful shows that perform day in day out, and the platforms and broadcasters that we work with recognise this."

How critical is licensing and merchandising to your business in Asia? Will this change in 2020?
"Licensing and merchandising is a very important part of our business in Asia and around the world. Consumer products is an important part of maximizing the value of our brands by igniting the full Brand Blueprint but the focus for our franchises is always story first."

Excerpts of this interview were published in ContentAsia's print magazine for the ATF 2019