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For production companies making content for kids, the world is shrinking… and fast. Screen sizes are getting smaller and episodes are getting shorter in duration, and content creators are responding with snacks that can be easily eaten on pocket-sized devices.
The reason is simple: smartphone ownership is aging at an alarming rate, leading to higher demand than ever for short-form children’s programming, according to new figures from UK-based researcher and consultancy Dubit.
Long before the pandemic turned the world upside down, kids’ eyeballs were moving to smartphone screens.But quarantine conditions have accelerated fundamental changes in how kids consume content, say David Kleeman, Senior Vice President of Global Trends at Dubit. “We knew we were going to get here sooner or later, but it might be a little bit sooner than we expected,” he noted.
Due to ubiquitous lockdowns, online learning and shelter-in-place mandates during the pandemic, more and more parents around the world are allowing their children to have mobile phones at an early age.
“A lot of parents want their kids to have the freedom that a smartphone brings,” Kleeman said. “Even if they can’t be with their friends or go out, they want to be with [their friends]”
According to Dubit’s latest trend study, 57 percent of 9- to 12-year-olds surveyed in the US now own their own smartphone. In some European countries, such as Germany, that number jumps to around 77%.
Smartphone ownership among younger demographics is also growing. “In the past, we’ve found that tablets are a rite of passage for 6- to 8-year-olds,” Kleeman said. “But now kids are starting to feel like tablets are for babies. It’s a shift from push to pull — young kids now want to control their engagement.”
Kleeman added that the current revolution in smartphone ownership promises to bring about “a complete revision of the mindset of content creators.”
But a company trying to capitalize on the growing demand for smartphone-exclusive short-form programming among seniors offers a cautionary tale — one by former Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg in 2020. The startup, which commissioned hundreds of millions of dollars in content, shut down operations after just seven months.
Kleeman acknowledged that the timing of Quibi’s launch couldn’t have been worse. It debuted in April 2020 and is, to put it mildly, DOA. “The little moments they planned, like waiting for the bus or a short break at work, just disappeared in a flash,” he said. “It was clearly out of their control, but there was a major miscalculation beyond that.”
The key error, according to Kleeman, is a potential inconsistency between the programming that Quibi is debugging and the way it consumes it.
“The content has to fit the platform,” he said. “[The series that they were commissioning] So much like traditional TV. For something big budget, people want to enjoy it, watch it on the big screen and be immersed in it. I think people might have watched it and said, ‘I don’t want to watch it in five minutes on my phone. ‘”
Integrating mediums and messages is said to be as important in children’s spaces as it is in adult spaces Antuhalin, CEO of Gigglebug.in fact, helsinki, finland-based prodco has taken this idea to the extreme with its new original collection tadpolewhich was created for viewing vertically rather than horizontally.
Fittingly set in a pond, Harlin emphasized that the cartoon was designed for viewing on smartphones. “exist host lord of the rings, the character is on a mission, moving from left to right across the screen,” he said. “That was designed for widescreen.we think since tadpole Will primarily be viewed on smartphones, we need to flip it [and make the action vertical]”
Just as the physical design of a series has to fit into the specific size and shape of a smartphone, so too does the duration. This is where the concept of “snackability” comes into play. “We know shorter content works better on mobile,” Kleeman said. “Consider the rise of TikTok as the clearest example.”
On smartphones, consumption cadence and other factors like FOMO (the dreaded “fear of missing out”) place unprecedented weight on any bite-sized show between 10 seconds and two minutes.
“If kids aren’t looking at something that really appeals to them, at least they won’t miss out on something else that might,” he explained. “It doesn’t mean a lot of time is invested, and if they’re interrupted, it’s no big deal.”
Part of the challenge of creating short-term content is that it’s counterintuitive to everything we know about branding in entertainment.
And that consideration was paramount to Haring. “I do not think so [short-form content] Allows you to make that same deep commitment to the character on an emotional level,” he said, adding that revenue from ancillary streams like licensing and merchandising is only possible when that critical connection is cemented. “We Think of micro-content on digital platforms as a starting point; building a monetization model based solely on mobile revenue is risky. “
Finally, while the changing technological landscape is changing what and how long kids watch, production companies will want to make sure their bottom line doesn’t shrink as screen sizes shrink.
This is why Haring insists that the age-old principles of storytelling must be applied.
“Regardless of the format, we still need people to walk away saying, ‘Wow, these characters are amazing’ and ‘I want to hear more of this story!'”
This story originally appeared on kids screenOctober/November 2022 issue.
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