Blue Ant International's EVP, Solange Atwood, 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?
"Blue Ant International has always employed a 360-degree content windowing strategy, which takes into account strategies for discoverability. It is our practice that each kids title is assessed and the editorial of the content drives a bespoke windowing strategy with the ultimate goal of finding the right platforms to drive viewership and returns for creators and owners of IP."

Is there anything you wish platforms would do to improve discoverability?
"We pride ourselves on customer service and working closely with our partners. The ultimate goal being success for all. One key aspect of our operations group offering is our ability to support our partners with the creation of marketing collateral as well as other added value that could aid in promotion and publicity, that varies from additional short form to gaming apps."

If kids, as is commonly thought, live mostly on YouTube, what’s your approach to streaming video? Do you have a YouTube-first policy? If you do, can you say why? If not, can you also say why.
"Regarding our approach to streaming video, the emergence of global SVODs has increased the number of buyers. That increase in buyers has further fueled a very vibrant and competitive content business. We always approach each series individually and pay tribute to editorial, demographics and where that audience lives."

Are you seeing any significant changes in the way kids buyers are acquiring content in/for Asia?
"In the past 12 months our edutainment catalogue has resonated with buyers in Asia.

Did monetising kids content in Asia become more difficult in 2019? Why?
"The kids business has continued to grow for us year over year whether it is our ‘edutainment’ fare or co-viewing family-friendly series."

Do you think it will become easier to monetise kids content in 2020?
"It’s tough to accurately predict the future but we continue to see growth across our kids and family offering."

What industry sector in Asia acquires the most from you (free-TV, pay-TV, streaming, other)?
"We’ve seen a diversified set of buyers acquire our new kids properties."

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