Pathé Live md Caspar Nadaud on how the industry can benefit from showing kids’ content on the big screen.
Pathé Live Kids is, in essence, a way of introducing kids to the magic of cinema using brands they already know and love. What makes it unique is that all the content we are using is new and exclusive to the territories where it’s being shown – it hasn’t been broadcast before and isn’t available online.
This promises to be a great boost for the brands involved, with cinema exposure building on TV presence to create even more popularity. The fact that it’s exclusive content creates a massive talking point for kids and their parents – just as it would with a big new kids’ film. Also, we see a lot of social media activity – for instance, between mothers sharing our announcement and suggesting it to each other.
The knock-on effect of this is that it strengthens brand awareness because kids and their parents have an immersive experience in the cinema, which is a great bonding exercise with the brand involved. TV ratings and retail sales will get a boost because of this and everybody involved – licensors, licensees, broadcasters and cinema chains – stand to benefit thanks to the introduction of these popular brands into a new medium.
Pathé Live Kids has already started, with recordings of hit stage shows T’choupi and TroTro hitting cinema screens across France, Switzerland and Belgium, while Masha and the Bear is being shown in Sweden. Fireman Sam, Bob the Builder are set to follow next year.
With Masha and the Bear, audiences are being treated to six brand new Masha episodes, all brought together in a feature length show with a presenter introducing each episode and interacting with the audience. Bob the Builder and Fireman Sam get the movie treatment with two new 60-minute features – the global premiere of Bob the Builder: Mega Machines and the European premiere of Fireman Sam: Alien Alert. All content is exclusive to Pathé Live in Scandinavia, France, Switzerland and Belgium and has never been seen before.
We’ve put a lot of work into this to make sure it’s an exciting and engaging experience. With Masha, for example, we chose the presenter and décor for the set and co-wrote the presentation script. We oversee the production of this additional cinema exclusive interstitial content from A to Z.
We also ensure the cinemas themselves are creating a family-friendly environment – with affordable ticket prices, the show not being over 60 minutes, brighter lighting, child-friendly trailers and sound levels and an intermission. In addition, screenings are spread out over several days or weekends – providing flexibility for families and giving them more than one chance to catch the show.
To market Pathé Live Kids we’ve got strong partnerships with the broadcasters France TV and Canal Plus in France, who promote these cinema screenings through all their channels – including via TV adverts. It’s key for us to nurture strong relationships with broadcasters and have them onside and work hand in hand, as it’s a great way to promote this initiative.
We also developed a VIP Screening programme across France, where we give out tickets through competitions and raffles, as well as inviting journalists and prominent bloggers to attend along with their families.
And the result of all our efforts has been a success. Although it’s only just started, ticket sales are high and Pathé Live Kids has been one of the best attended morning screenings across France, which makes our cinema partners very happy and confident in the concept. We’re getting great feedback from parents and there’s a big buzz on social media – with lots of people sharing and telling their friends about it.
Pathé Live Kids is certainly here to stay. We’re already finalising a new line-up for release in October 2017, which will run until May 2018, and plans are in place to roll the programme out across the rest of Europe soon. And, of course, the bigger this gets the more content we’ll need, so we want to talk to any licensors who want to boost brand popularity by showing exclusive content on the big screen.
