Nickelodeon Tests IP With Digital Shorts
Nickelodeon is continuing its digital-first strategy to validate intellectual property by releasing content in short-form and pilot formats across various platforms. Recent premieres include animated *Rugrats Shorts* and the return of shows like *Bucket & Skinner’s Epic Adventures*. This approach allows the studio to gauge audience engagement with new and legacy characters before committing to a full series investment.
- Nickelodeon's Intergalactic Shorts Program, first launched in 2019, is a key initiative for sourcing and developing new animated IP. The program targets comedy-driven concepts for kids 6-11 with co-viewing potential for adults 18-49 and has already yielded a greenlit series, *Rock, Paper, Scissors*. - A major component of Nickelodeon's franchise strategy is the establishment of dedicated studios for its biggest IPs, such as Avatar Studios, which is headed by the original creators and develops content for multiple platforms including Paramount+, linear television, and theaters. - Generative AI is being integrated into animation workflows to increase efficiency, with potential to reduce production time by up to 50%. AI tools are utilized for tasks like automating in-between frames, generating background variations, and refining character designs, which allows smaller studios to compete with larger ones by lowering costs and shortening timelines. - Toy companies are increasingly moving into content creation and IP acquisition to build franchises. MGA Entertainment, for instance, formed MGA Studios with over half a billion in funding and acquired the animation studio Pixel Zoo. Similarly, Hasbro acquired Entertainment One to gain control of properties like *Peppa Pig*. - Parents are a key target for co-viewing strategies, with 73% of parents co-viewing content with their children at least half the time. Marketers are leveraging this trend, as ads seen across multiple platforms are more likely to be noticed by parents and lead to product requests from kids. - There is a growing trend of "co-commissioning" in the kids' content space, where multiple broadcasters, like France Télévisions, BBC, and ZDF, partner from the initial stages of development to pool resources for new shows. - While immersive storytelling on devices like the Apple Vision Pro presents future opportunities for kids' entertainment, Apple has set a usage guideline for individuals 13 years and older, and advises adult supervision for teens. - Independent animation studios are finding success by first building an audience on YouTube before engaging with major distributors. Glitch Productions, for example, retained creative control and its "YouTube-first" release strategy even after licensing its hit *The Amazing Digital Circus* to Netflix.
