After Cartoon Forum, NFTVF caught up with Yle’s Vicky Schroderus, NRK’s Irene Pothecary Huse, DR’s Julie Lind-Holm Hansen, and SVT’s Linda Granath.

A few weeks after this year’s edition of Cartoon Forum (16-19 September), NFTVF caught up with the commissioning editors of the four Nordic pubcasters who attended the Toulouse-based gathering – Yle’s Vicky Schroderus, NRK’s Irene Pothecary Huse, DR’s Julie Lind-Holm Hansen, and SVT’s Linda Granath. During our chats, we delved into the main commissioning trends in animation and focused on the type of audience these networks aim to reach.

We spoke first to Schroderus, who highlighted the importance of attending Cartoon Forum. She said the European pitching and co-production event “sets the tone for the next couple of years”, finding “its attendance vital”. At the French gathering, Yle sought animated series and specials for pre-schoolers, aiming to reach an audience “starting with babies and ending with school kids, aged up to 12”.

Zooming in on the peculiarities of these target audiences, Schroderus told us: “The pre-school audience is a very solid target group for all the pubcasters, although the competition is getting tougher. The school kids are harder to reach, although they do find the shows they are interested in. Moreover, financing a show is harder, and it takes longer than before, so good and solid partners are in high demand.”

Some of the most successful shows recently aired by Yle are Paw Patrol, Rubble and Crew, Bluey, Peppa Pig, and Barbapapa. “These are our top pre-school animation shows alongside our in-house magazine programme Pikku Kakkonen.”

Other hits aired by Yle include Mystery Lane, The Loud House, Moominvalley, Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese, and 100% Wolf.

Currently, Schroderus is involved in acquisitions, pre-buys, and co-productions “in line with the pubcaster’s editorial needs”. In addition, she can produce animated specials.

The executive also touched on the pubcaster’s activities in the realm of streaming. “Yle Areena is an ad-free free video-on-demand (FVOD) platform that offers shows for all genres and audiences. Alongside the live streams, there is both video and audio content.”

“In the kids' space, the content is divided into two age groups: pre-schoolers and school kids. The pre-school target groups are kids aged 0-6. Pikku Kakkonen speaks Finnish, Buu Klubben speaks Swedish (a national language in Finland), and Unna Junna speaks the various Sámi languages. Meanwhile, the school kids' programming is targeted at children aged 7 and up to 13. Galaxi speaks Finnish, and Watt Swedish.”

“Our offering consists of content across all genres: entertainment, factual, wildlife, drama, music, science, animation, edutainment, and reality shows. Overall, Yle Areena is very popular among Finnish kids. We get over 5.5 million ‘content starts’ per week,” Schroderus concluded.

NRK, Norway’s pubcaster, is also on the lookout for “exciting new animated series”. Pothecary Huse reaffirmed the importance of attending Cartoon Forum in order to get a taste of new projects and market trends.

“We love shows that are story-driven and boast a variety of styles. At the moment, we are specifically looking for humour and action tales for 6-8-year-olds, and these can be both animated and live-action projects,” she explained.

“Furthermore, we typically acquire FVOD rights, with additional linear rights. We are flexible when it comes to formats, and while we are open to all kinds, having a good number of episodes is a plus. Music & Effects (M&E) tracks are essential, as the majority of our acquired shows are dubbed.”

During our conversation, Pothecary Huse underscored NRK’s participation in the brand-new Co-Development Initiative, launched one year ago. NRK is taking part in the initiative alongside the other three Nordic players and eleven European pubcasters. “We’re keen to find fantastic shows both locally and from around the world. NRK is part of the European Exchange and the European Broadcasting Union, so we’re also involved in developing new projects through those networks,” she added.

Next, Lind-Holm Hansen, of DR, billed Cartoon Forum as “a great opportunity to support DR projects” and discover international content that could be an ideal fit for the pubcaster’s streaming channel DRTV and their linear TV animation slot, FredagsTamTam, a children’s programme airing every Friday at 7 PM on DR1.

“Children love humour, animation, and stories they can relate to. They enjoy laughing together, and we want to create content that contributes to that joy. This is why we are specifically seeking projects with strong comedy elements. Our primary target group is children aged 6-10, but we are dreaming of series that can engage the entire family,” she further explained.

DR is seeking series with episode lengths of 7, 11, or 22 minutes. Ideally, the network would like these series to extend to 52 episodes and boast “content that is entertaining, fun, and relevant to families”. “Think of it as a ‘recess’ – a time to relax, laugh, and enjoy a moment free from worries,” Lind-Holm Hansen added.

In terms of market and audience shifts, the DR executive noted that there is an increasing demand for diversity in animation, with a greater emphasis on inclusive characters and stories: “A lot of parents expect to see characters representing a range of races, genders, abilities, and cultures. Our experience, particularly within the Danish market, shows that the animation industry is continuously evolving, with shifting supply and demand.”

“Currently, we are seeing shows move away from gender-specific content and target a broader audience, appealing to both boys and girls. This aligns with the growing trend of focusing on universal themes such as friendship, problem-solving, and adventure, which resonate across all genders.”

One of DR’s recent hits is Monster Loving Maniacs, labelled as “a beautiful 2D-animated series about three siblings training to be monster hunters”, and “a funny animated show that guarantees a great adventure for the whole family – children and adults alike”.

Another animated series worth mentioning is Team Nuggets, described by Lind-Holm Hansen as “a very charming series about social relationships and real emotions”.

Currently, DR is open to various forms of collaboration. “Whether it is acquiring content or co-producing, we are flexible as long as it makes sense for both the project and us as a broadcaster. This includes rights, financing, and creative involvement. And, with the right set-up, we’re also open to pre-buys.”

Finally, we caught up with Linda Granath. For the SVT executive, Cartoon Forum is a platform that allows her team to follow buzzy projects from an early stage, provide them with feedback, and support those the pubcaster believes in through acquisitions and pre-buys.

“We are looking for all kinds of genres within animation – for example, comedy and adventure – targeting 2-8-year-olds,” Granath disclosed.

The most successful productions aired by SVT include usual suspects such as Bluey, Mystery Lane, and Rubble & Crew.

Talking about the Swedish audience, Granath said that “animation works really well for pre-schoolers, but less so in the older target groups”. Finally, she noted that the relationship with VOD players remains “open”. “We don’t have a problem with sharing the same content with other streaming platforms. Popular series tend to be successful with us as well.”