As High School Musical has shown, tweens can be loyal fans, avid viewers and significant purchasers of merchandise.
Tweens went crazy over the musical made just for them. High School Musical products could reach $650 million in retail sales in the coming year. All High School Musical images © Disney.
The success of Disney Channel's High School Musical franchise has confirmed the power of tweens, a market that has been on the radar screens of the children's cable networks for at least five years.
The first High School Musical movie, which premiered in January 2006, has been seen by 250 million viewers worldwide, according to Disney, and the sequel by 69.4 million since its debut in August. Meanwhile, product sales have been robust: 7.5 million units of the original soundtrack and 3.9 million of the sequels; 8.2 million DVDs of the first film; and 9.3 million books, to name a few. Disney forecasts HSM products could reach $650 million in retail sales in the coming year.
"It made a huge impact because it was giving [tweens] something they never had -- a musical made just for them," says Adam Bonnett, SVP of original series for Disney Channel and Jetix. "It certainly raised the stakes for everybody, including us and our competition. It showed what an impact you can make."
Disney's competitors all agree that HSM hit on a formula that not only worked, but will have a lasting effect on tween programming. Above, a scene from the sequel High School Musical 2.
"For anyone in the children's space, High School Musical is going to affect everything, just as SpongeBob did," says Michael Ouweleen, Cartoon Network's SVP of development and current series. But he notes that Cartoon Network has no intention of creating a musical, and doesn't plan to move away from its core audience of kids 6-11. "It's more about how well they rolled it out," he says. "Tweens are a secondary part of our strategy. We don't focus on them, but we're happy to have them."
While the network hasn't developed any programming for tweens, it has acquired properties that appeal to tween boys, such as Naruto and other shows in the Toonami block. And its expansion into long-form and live-action programming also has resonated with tweens, although that hasn't been the intent. The network's new live-action show Out of Jimmy's Head, for example, attracts roughly the same number of tweens as it does 6-11 kids.
"[With HSM, Disney] had a formula that worked," says Marjorie Cohn, Nickelodeon's executive VP of development and original programming. "We never want to imitate that, because it wouldn't have the same impact. We want to put our own stamp on it." Nickelodeon's core demo also is 6-11. Tweens represent a significant part of that, according to Cohn, who notes that there is a big overlap between 9-14 tweens and kids 6-11.
The children's cable networks have been going after the tween market for years, to varying degrees. Disney Channel launched Lizzie McGuire in 2001. "We made the decision to target this demographic that was under-targeted at the time," Bonnett says. "That was the first scripted show that really had laser focus with this demographic." Other Disney Channel properties for tweens have included the Cheetah Girls franchise, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, That's So Raven and the current sensation, Hannah Montana.
Cartoon Network doesn't plan to create a musical, and tweens aren't paramount in the network's strategy; yet new show Out of Jimmy's Head attracts roughly the same number of tweens as it does 6-11 kids. © Cartoon Network.
Similarly, Nickelodeon has long had programs such as Drake & Josh, Zoey 101, Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, Unfabulous, and Just Jordan, and its TEENick block has a strong tween audience. "That's been a mainstay for five years," says Cohn.
Live-Action versus Animation
To date, many of the most successful shows among tweens have been live-action. But animation can attract tween viewers as well. "Animation can work, too; they're not mutually exclusive," Ouweleen says. On Cartoon Network, the most popular shows for tweens 9-14, season-to-date, include the live-action Goosebumps, but also four animated series, Bobobo-bo bo-bobo (a short-term fill-in that no longer airs), Naruto, One Piece, and Courage the Cowardly Dog.
"Tweens are probably drawn a little more to live-action," Cohn reports. But she notes that Nickelodeon animated series such as SpongeBob, The Fairly OddParents and Avatar all have large tween audiences. "Live-action has always been a very big part of our schedule. But animation and live-action are equally important," she says.
The Disney Channel's animated shows for tweens over the years have included Kim Possible and The Proud Family, and it has high hopes for a new show, Phineas & Ferb, debuting in February. "We're hoping this is our breakthrough [in animation for tweens]," Bonnett says. It was given a sneak peak after High School Musical and before Hannah Montana and attracted high ratings.
Bonnett believes sophisticated humor is key when it comes to reaching tweens with animation. "We need to make it clever and hip enough, without crossing the line to something that doesn't fit the Disney brand. It's kids feeling like they're watching something that's challenging them."
Music has been key to many Disney Channel shows, including the upcoming J.O.N.A.S, a comedy/spy series set to debut in 2008. Camp Rock (above), a Jonas Brothers movie original, will debut prior to the series premiere. © Disney.
Making Music
Not all shows that succeed with tweens are pure musicals like HSM, but most have music as a key component. "Both High School Musical and Hannah Montana have reminded us of the importance of music with this demographic," Bonnett says.
Music has been key to many Disney Channel properties over time. In Lizzie McGuire the network incorporated "needle drops" of acquired music; in That's So Raven, lead actress Raven Simone sang in some episodes; The Cheetah Girls was all about singing and dancing; Cory in the House is about a boy in the White House, but there's a band in the show and its quest for fame is a major part of this season. In a new show, Wizards of Waverly Place, lead actress Selena Gomez sings the theme song.
J.O.N.A.S, a Disney Channel comedy/spy series that will debut in 2008, stars the singing Jonas Brothers as three siblings who are spies; their cover is that they're a rock band. "It definitely has an organic music component," Bonnett says. In addition, a Jonas Brothers movie original, Camp Rock, will debut on the channel prior to the series premiere. "It's a movie with musical performances in it, but not a musical per se."
Nickelodeon's The Naked Brothers Band, which has wide age appeal, stars the singing Wolff brothers, who released their first album this month. The show averages 1.6 million live viewers and often reaches 10 million total viewers during a seven-day period. The Naked Brothers album marks the first release from Nickelodeon's joint venture with Sony Music.
Disney's Phineas & Ferb will feature elements of a true musical, with each episode having an original number where the characters break out in song and dance. "I can definitely give props to High School Musical for that," Bonnett says.
Hannah Montana premiered shortly after the original HSM and benefited from the musical's popularity in a big way. © Disney.
Building Relationships
"A lot of people talk about the success of the music, and you can see how successful the music has been," Bonnett continues. "But what gets overlooked is the relationship between the audience and these characters. You can't underestimate that. That's what's driving the tween appeal."
One way Disney builds that relationship is by promoting its actors across the channel, including "seeding" them in other shows. Ashley Tisdale, one of the stars of HSM, was already familiar to viewers of Zack & Cody. Similarly, with Wizards of Waverly Place, the channel first put Gomez, a new face, on Hannah Montana. Viewers are already familiar with the Jonas Brothers from their albums, many on-air appearances since 2005, and their live performances (including in this summer's Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus tour). "That cross-pollination is really, really important," explains Bonnett.
Hannah Montana premiered shortly after the original HSM. "The fervor of High School Musical trickled down and helped us launch in a big way," Bonnett says. But he points out that the show has a life of its own. It delivers 2.2 million viewers per episode, on average; three DVDs have sold 2 million copies; a junior novel series has sold over 3 million copies; and the soundtrack has passed 3 million units.
"We don't create the hysteria, it just sort of happens," says Bonnett. "It all goes back to the audience's relationship with this show, with this character and with this actress."
Multiplatform Marketing
As HSM showed, tween programming benefits from a marketing and distribution plan that hits all media and promotional channels.
The Naked Brothers Band's mulit-platform strategy included a TV movie, album release, launch event, DVD and online game, all in support of the series' premiere. Credit: Ben Watts/Nickelodeon.
Cartoon Network's Ouweleen notes that a multiplatform strategy is important for any show, whether tweens or 6-11s. "The audience doesn't delineate between different platforms; they're on all of them," he says.
The Naked Brothers Band illustrates the multiplatform nature of today's kids' properties. The series premiered in January 2007, preceded by a TV movie. The band released an album in October, when a launch event at New York's Virgin Megastore attracted 2,000 fans. A one-hour TV movie coincided with the release and ranked as the number-one show on TV for the week of October 1 among all kids, with 3.8 million total viewers; the DVD became available immediately. Nick.com message boards generated 22,000 visitors during the week of October 1, while the online site for the movie generated 1.6 million streams that week and 2.8 million in the first few weeks. An online game had 299,000 game plays in its first weeks.
Tweens also love events -- such as live shows or on-air movie premieres -- and look forward to them for months. "These are like major holidays for them," Ouweleen explains.
But he cautions that tweens are not a homogeneous group. "This is a very wide range of kids. There's a wide range of things they're going through, psychologically and emotionally. They're very different from each other within the age range, and the gender differences are astronomical. Developing for that is a real challenge."
Karen Raugust is a Minneapolis-based freelance business writer specializing in animation, publishing, licensing and art. She is the author of The Licensing Business Handbook (EPM Communications).
