Tiny Pop Channel returns!

Narrative Entertainment’s pre-school channel, Tiny Pop, is available once again on linear playout on Sky, complementing Pop (aimed 5-8) and Pop max (8-11).

MD, Paul Dunthorne said “a big part of our success is our willingness to try new things and make audience led decisions quickly. We learn and act fast. And as we approach Autumn, it’s clear that we’ll better serve our audiences by increasing Tiny Pop’s distribution on linear.”

The channel returns in time for the ‘back-to-school’ season, the period when school summer holidays end, and where we see more structured viewing patterns. It will feature popular shows from well-known kids’ programs such as Hello Kitty: Super Style, Masha and the Bear and Cookie Monster’s Foodie Truck.

Tiny POP can be found on Sky 618 and Sky Glass 214, and Tiny Pop+ 1 is on 629. And also on Freeview Channel 208.

Petits Filous renews partnership with Channel 5’s Milkshake! following successful TV sponsorship debut

Research reveals brand’s first foray into TV sponsorship delivers

Sky Media has announced the renewal of Yoplait’s sponsorship of Channel 5’s daily children’s programme strand Milkshake! to cement Petits Filous into the heart of the everyday lives of families with young children. Following on from the success of its sponsorship of Milkshake! last year – Petits Filous’ first ever, the number one kids yoghurt brand* is once again joining forces with the UK’s leading commercial destination for kids aged 4-15 and home to some of the world’s favourite pre-school characters.

Launched on the 1^st of April 2024 and running until the end of June, the sponsorship comes at a time when the weather is getting warmer and aims to encourage parents and kids to reach for Petits Filous’ healthy and nutritious yoghurts.

The creative will feature across weekday slots from 6.00am until 09.15am and weekends from 6.00am until 8.45am – a key time for shared viewing moments when children and parents are together.

Post-campaign research, conducted by Savanta, from the 2023 partnership revealed some tasty results for Petits Filous, which has led to the brand’s appetite for a second serving. Some of those results include**:

• +33% uplift in spontaneous brand awareness
• +15% increase in purchase intent
• +8% uplift in brand advocacy among viewers

Yoplait’s tried and tested 10” animated idents, which were created and produced by Recipe, proved effective in 2023 and return this year. Featuring voiceovers from young talent, the creative was designed to communicate the nutritional credentials of the product through the incorporation of real fruit as well as the playful and mischievous personality of the brand – Petits Filous means ‘Little Rascals’. Post-campaign research proved the creative effectiveness with over 50% of viewers able to recall the idents and more than 32% of the viewers’ spontaneous key takeouts being that Petits Filous is “healthy”, “nutritional”, “good for you” and “good for kids”.**

Nicole Gommans, Petits Filous Brand Manager at Yoplait said: “As the UK’s number one kids’ yoghurt brand, we are delighted to embark on our second year of sponsorship with the number one commercial kids’ destination in the UK. This partnership with Milkshake! is a natural fit for both brands, and we are excited to continue this partnership into year two.”

Olivia Noorani, Invention Business Director, Mindshare UK said: “The Petits Filous Milkshake! sponsorship is an example of great brand synergy. The playful nature of the idents perfectly marries Petits Filous’ Mischief Makes Us brand platform with Milkshake!’s values of adventure, discovery and fun which further strengthens the partnership and offers an authentic way to reach both parents and children at a key co-viewing moment. We’re excited for Petits Filous’ second burst of the sponsorship and to see how this partnership can evolve.”

Peter Dale, Vice President, Ad Sales & Commercial Development, UK, at Paramount, said: “Channel 5 is the only PSB to air children’s content every day of the week through Milkshake! which is much-loved by kids and trusted by adults, providing the perfect environment and a unique opportunity to showcase the Petits Filous brand.”

Petits Filous is available across grocery, convenience, and e-commerce channels in the UK.

*Total Value Sales. Source: Nielsen ScanTrack, total Coverage incl. Discounters to WE:28.01.23.

**Research Source: Savanta Brand Uplift Study 2023

SEA LIFE Makes a Splash on Sky Media’s Kids Portfolio as First-Ever Exclusive Morning Sponsor

Merlin Entertainments’ SEA LIFE is set to become the first-ever exclusive sponsor of Mornings on Sky Media’s kids channels, with the aim of driving national brand awareness amongst its target audience of families.

The multi-channel sponsorship deal has been facilitated by Wavemaker UK, Sky Media and its media partners – Narrative Entertainment, Paramount UK and Warner Bros. Discovery – and will see the creative play out across Sky Media’s nine dedicated commercial kids’ channels every morning from 06:00-09:00. Targeting the 1.4m parents and 2.7m children watching those channels, the campaign launches going into the Easter weekend and aims to drive awareness amongst families of SEA LIFE’s 11 centres across the UK, in Birmingham, Blackpool, Brighton, Great Yarmouth, Gweek, Hunstanton, Loch Lomond, London, Manchester, Scarborough and Weymouth.

SEA LIFE’s sponsorship will debut on 29 March for the Easter holidays and will run until the end of 2024 – showing up when families need inspiration for activities to do together. During this time, the sponsorship will run on the following linear channels: Nickelodeon, Nick Toons, Nick Jr, Nick Jr Too, POP, POP MAX, Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Cartoonito. The partnership will use Sky Media’s breadth of first-party data and Sky AdVance targeting tool to reach and connect with parents, in a brand safe environment.

Karin Seymour, Director of Client and Marketing at Sky Media, commented: “Parents trust TV more than any other platform. Combining that with those important shared sofa moments that drive conversation, SEA LIFE will connect and engage with families up and down the country across our entire kids’ portfolio.”

Sue Stephenson, Merlin Entertainments, Midway UK Marketing Director, added: “We are delighted to be partnering with Sky Media to explore uncharted waters as the exclusive sponsor of mornings between 6 and 9am across all of the commercial kids TV channels. Not only is this sponsorship a first for us, but it’s the first time all of these channels are collaborating too. Easter usually marks the beginning of warmer months, and we are looking forward to building awareness and inspiring families to spend their quality family time at our 11 SEA LIFE attractions this summer.”

Molly Exley-Kidd, Content Director at Wavemaker added: “The morning programming across Sky Media’s kids’ channels has captured the hearts and minds of families up and down the country. Through this sponsorship, Merlin will be able to further engage with its key audience, connecting with families looking for inspirational and educational outings everyone can enjoy. It’s been a true collaboration between the Wavemaker, Merlin and Sky Media teams, helping to drive visitation for SEA LIFE via a full takeover of much-loved channels during breakfast – a key moment in the day. We look forward to seeing the results it will deliver.”

Warner Bros. Discovery Kids’ Channels join Sky Media

Warner Bros. Discovery U.K. & Ireland and Sky Media, the advertising sales arm of Sky, have announced an expansion of their long-running partnership.

From 1^st of July 2023, iconic kids’ channels Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Cartoonito will be joining the Sky Media advertising portfolio. The partnership means Sky Media enhances its position as the home of children’s TV in the UK, with the three channels joining a strong line-up which already includes the Milkshake, Nickelodeon and POP brands from Narrative Entertainment and Paramount.

Sky Media will be the exclusive sales house for Spot and On Demand advertising across Sky platforms and will sell sponsorship alongside Warner Bros. Discovery for Brands, the advertising sales arm of WBD.

To further support the Kids’ advertising industry, Sky Media will be launching a new Kids Upfronts event in Q3 2023. Bringing together key players across the agency, client and creative industries, the event will showcase and explore how to deliver the best experience and impact for brands across a range of screens.

The extended sales representation deal with Warner Bros. Discovery U.K. & Ireland builds on a long-standing and successful ad sales partnership, which has been in place since 2002. Sky Media currently sell for channels including Quest, Discovery, TLC, Food Network as well as BT Sport, soon to become TNT Sports, the joint venture with BT.

Brett Aumuller, Managing Director Sky Media, said: “We’ve always had a fantastic partnership with the Warner Bros. Discovery team and it’s great to enhance this further through addition of their Kids channels within our advertising portfolio. As both our businesses evolve at pace, we continue to work together, so that audiences and advertisers have exciting content and platforms to watch and engage with.”

Katie Coteman, GVP, Head of Advertising and Partnerships Warner Bros. Discovery UK & Ireland, said: “We’re really excited our fantastic portfolio of Warner Bros. Discovery kids’ content will be soon coming under the Sky Media advertising umbrella, growing our successful partnership further. Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Cartoonito are some of the most-loved kids’ channels in the UK & Ireland and this partnership with Sky Media will unlock opportunities to connect them with relevant brands.

Sky launches Learning From Home collections on Sky Kids

Sky has made some educational collections available on Sky Kids, with the aim of helping families who will be spending more time together at home in the coming weeks.

Sky has made some educational collections available on Sky Kids, with the aim of helping families who will be spending more time together at home in the coming weeks and supporting their little ones during school closures.  The Learning From Home collections are now available to Sky Kids’ customers in three key curriculum stages as follows:

Foundation: Early Years – under 5s

Featured content includes Numberblocks which focuses on numeracy, Labuntina for educational songs, alongside shows such as Ryan’s Mystery Playdate, Rusty Rivets and Octonauts.

Key Stage 1 – 5-7 year-olds

Featured content includes natural history and science programming such as Ocean Rescue: Dive In & Do It and Maddie’s Do You Know? alongside dance tutorials from Kidz Bop and Sky Sports’ Kids Fit in 5.

Key Stage 2 – 8-11 year-olds  

Featured content includes current affairs and factual shows such as Braydon Meets plus Horrible Histories and Operation Ouch.  A special episode of weekly news show FYI focusing on Coronavirus will be available from 28 March.

Alongside this Sky Kids also has new shows for kids like The Adventures of Paddington from Nick Jr and DreamWorks Animation’s Where’s Wally?.  This Easter Sky Kids will launch all-new episodes of Moominvalley, plus a new Sky original, Bad Nature that brings disgusting animal facts to life with comedy. 

As well as these new collections, Sky Kids also has 11 kids’ channels and 5000 episodes of on demand content for under 12s including Mr Bean, Peppa Pig, Henry Danger and Morph.  Sky Kids’ customers can also download our Kids app which has all of this plus an interactive art studio – so the little ones can get creative – and over 80 games including learning games such as Phonics, Coding, Maths and quizzes to make Learning From Home easy.