Into the swing of copros

German pubcaster WDR has begun its push into the global coproduction market, the company’s head of content and international TV sales tells Nico Franks.

Bobo

Stefanie Fischer arrived at WDR Media Group (WDRMG) in August, signalling the intentions of the Cologne-based group to step up its investment in children’s content at home and abroad.

“I’ve been brought into the role to build up international sales in the kids’ genre as well as international coproductions,” says Fischer, who came to WDRMG after a short stint at German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1, prior to which she was at Sony Pictures TV and ZDF Enterprises (ZDFE).

Currently heading WDRMG’s copro slate is Bobo (26×7’), a preschool series being made with Cologne’s Egenolf Productions and Les Films de la Perrine in France for WDR. The series is based on the books of the same name from Markus Osterwalder, which follow the titular character, a doormouse, as he explores and discovers the world.

The toon has already been commissioned for a second season by WDR and Fischer is keen to see Bobo joined by more IP from the global animation community, so attending Cartoon Forum in September was a priority.

Original productions like Bobo form only a small part of WDR’s offering for kids at the moment, sitting alongside international acquisitions such as Shaun the Sheep and Peppa Pig.

Fischer is adamant that standards should remain up there with the best, saying that, above all, the scripts and production values of projects WDR is looking to come onboard must be of the highest quality.

WDR’s slate is already strong in terms of preschool content, so series aimed at kids aged six and above are high up the agenda, while interactive, edutainment projects that “go beyond linear television” are key.

Stefanie Fischer

“We noticed our content targets girls slightly more at the moment, so we are looking for something that is more appealing to boys, to even out our audience,” adds Fischer.

WDRMG is looking to establish long-term relationships with partners and is open to working with “pretty much any territory,” while English-language live-action projects, as well as animation, are on the broadcaster’s shopping list.

Fischer spent three years working in sales at German distributor ZDFE and is eager to see WDRMG take up a similar position to the bigger pubcaster on the international marketplace.

She admits German broadcasting is “rather complicated,” which is something of an understatement. For example, KiKa, one of Germany’s most popular children’s channels, is owned and operated by public broadcasters ZDF and ARD. The latter is a federal broadcaster with eight regional channels, of which WDR is one. WDR reaches millions of viewers each day by supplying shows to national channel Das Erste as well as its own regional net, WDR Fernsehen.

With international sales also part of Fischer’s remit at WDRMG, she has high hopes for the international potential of some of WDR’s children’s programmes. The Show With The Mouse has been on air since 1971 and is popular with both kids and parents, says Fischer, not just because the parents enjoy watching something they remember from when they were young, but because it’s “real edutainment.”

The programme sees the mouse introduce and narrate mini-documentaries and answer questions from the audience, in between episodes of acquisitions such as Shaun the Sheep.

However, it’s the show’s spin-off, The Show With The Elephant, that Fischer sees as having real potential in the international marketplace. First shown in 2007, the younger-skewing series follows a “very cute and very popular” little blue elephant.

The Show With the Mouse

“It’s modern and colourful,” while the format can be localised, with a broadcaster’s own mini-docs easily put in to replace the German ones, making it an attractive proposition, Fischer believes.

Meanwhile, tongues in Germany have been set wagging by the arrival of US video-on-demand (VoD) giant Netflix, something Fischer says “everybody is talking about.”

Having made a point of commissioning local series in the new territories it enters, Netflix could be seen as both a potential partner for WDR and a competitor. However, Fischer observes that levels of VoD viewing are “a lot smaller” than those for linear TV in Germany.

Nevertheless, seeing so many new players emerge in the local market potentially willing to invest in original content must give German producers – if not broadcasters – cause for celebration.