8 December 2014: Taiwan's animation houses are all over second screens, digital, manga characters and games.Taiwan's animation houses are all over second screens and digital delivery, and looking to a future filled with stories (many of which are based on comic books), games, merchandising, video on demand, short films... and co-productions partners.The general sentiment is that the domestic market, although definitely not short of talent, is small, fragmented and viciously competitive, and that local producers and rights holders need to think bigger and broader and look more globally."Taiwan is a great country for the creative industry," says Vincent Lee, Next Media Animation's brand and licensing director. "We're also very competitive in terms of costs... it's one of Asian content production's best kept secrets," he adds.Next Media Animation, well known for its news-based animation, is tapping comic book and manga habits to drive its screen-based creative business. Lee says the company's new animation style Tomotoon bridges the gap between diehard fans of manga/comic books and those who favour screen-based manga.Xanthus Animation was also at Mipcom this year talking about new title, Origami-Fighters World, based on the international comic book, and looking for co-production partners. Merchandising is key, says Xanthus' chief executive, Bruce Yao, pointing to the success of 2011 title Yameme, which has become an official mascot – an "endorsement character" – for Taiwan government campaigns against, for instance, drugs and corruption.Yao also highlights the rising importance of apps as a vehicle to promote visibility. This is driving demand for short-form content. "The shorter the content the better," he says.Next Media Animation's short-form global ambitions centre around versioning its manga as well as expanding the reach of its CG animated news clips, distributed under the TomoNews brand. Lee says the Taiwan based team can turn around a one-minute animated news clip in just 90 minutes. If there is one big challenge in expanding the international business, it's that Next Media Animation's original series and 3D co-production capabilities have perhaps been overshadowed by its animated news features. Lee says one of the goals for 2015 is to gain traction for the Tomotoon style of motion manga and "introduce this to more markets here in Asia and around the world", along with growing the Mad Box Zombies, Spy Penguins and Karen Senki brands. Taiwan remains a key centre in the regional networks being established by children's entertainment producers. Ming H. Chan, chief executive and producer of four-year-old Children's Playground Entertainment, has set up an office in Taipei, adding the city's creative angle to a regional network that also includes Japan and mainland China. The Taipei entity, Children's Playground Creative Inc, specialises in mobile games and CGI production. "We're trying to give our IP different spices by integrating the creative minds from these places while developing each market," he says. Children's Playground Entertainment is based in Tokyo.Chan was at Mipcom this year driving exposure for the company's 2D animated Nano Invaders. The series follows ordinary kid Hikaru, who stumbles upon a device that transforms him into a being with extraordinary strength and the ability to control the five elements – Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth. But are these enough to save the world from vicious Nano-beasts? Nano Invaders, has aired in Japan and China, and will air in Europe (Spain, Turkey, France, Portugal, Italy) from next Spring. In China, the series attracted 140 million views on VOD platform Sohu in less than six months after its launch in May 2014. Chan says this has driven a second season, planned for 2016.Chan's priority is to build broad brand awareness for his made-in-Asia IP. His biggest challenge is competing with other strong anime titles with a limited production budget, as well as co-ordinating distribution and broadcasting. "It's certainly not an easy task," he says. – Reporting by CJ YongContentAsia Issue 6, 2014