WBD looks for more African toons
Ana González, Warner Bros Discovery’s kids editorial lead for Southern Europe and Africa (SEA), says local relevance and broad-skewing fare are increasingly important when it comes to reaching young viewers in her territories.
She is prioritising broad-skewing comedy-driven fare across copros and acquisitions to serve local markets alongside the group’s successful slate of global originals.
González, who heads programming for WBD’s kids’ channels in SEA, covering brands like Cartoon Network, Cartoonito and Boomerang in Iberia, Italy, France and Africa, including linear pay TV and free-to-air (FTA) channels, digital services and SVoD and AVoD apps, was promoted to the role earlier this year and also added marketing, digital and PR activities to her brief.
“A key point of my responsibilities is making sure that global and local strategies are implemented across all these services,” says González.
July last year saw Cartoon Network launch its first African-produced animated original, Garbage Boy & Trash Can. The 10-part series, fronted by African talent and producers, comes from self-taught Nigerian animator Ridwan Moshood and won Cartoon Network Africa’s Creative Lab initiative as a short. It is made by start-up animation studio Pure Garbage, which is a partnership between Moshood and Mike de Seve of US’s Baboon Animation and Nick Wilson, founder of African Animation Network. In measurable countries like South Africa, the series landed within the top 10 series for 4-14s across all kids’ channels.
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