Interactive Kids Recycling Adventures for CBS Kidshow Online

Selling to Kids, Nov 25, 1998

An award winning Toronto-based Internet content and interactive program developer found a way to leverage its original content to partner with a major US TV network and develop an online site for kids. The firm, I. Hoffmann associates signed a two-year, $6 million deal in October to develop the CBS [CBS] Kidshow Online area. In addition to securing advertising placement during the Saturday morning lineup, H a has its own character, Nikolai, based on its Nikolai Adventure CD ROM series, present throughout the site. It produces and manages the site, which targets kids ages 2-12 and their parents. Mitsubishi International Corporation [MSBHY], one of H a's shareholders, who has worked with CBS introduced the two. The deal allows H a to sell its CD ROMs and merchandise, some of which are based on Nikolai, in an online store at Kidshow. This winter H a will launch an online store (CBS Kidstore) with more than 2,000 products. Visitors can purchase CBS Kidshow merchandise and other items like Teletubbies, says Isabel Hoffmann, Pres. and CEO. "We are trying to do for children what amazon.com does for books," Hoffmann says. H a is looking to lengthen the two-year contract.

Driving Traffic The deal guarantees on-air promotional advertisements and 30 second TV spots for CBS Kidshow Online, one of the way H a is driving traffic. Three 30-second ads are currently running during the CBS Saturday morning lineup. One ad has Neow-Neow walking on boxes talking to Nikolai (who is off screen). The cat asks, "What's inside these boxes." And Nikolai responds, "Stuff for my Web site. Visit us at cbs.nikolai.com." The other spots promote the site's "Get Animated" and "Meet Neow- Neow in New York" sweepstakes. In the first contest entrants have a chance to win a trip to Toronto, where Nelvana Productions Studios, creators of CBS Kidshow programs, will create an animated character modeled after the winner, which will appear on TV. Additional sweepstakes are in the works. The next one will involve the "Mythic Warriors" toon. H a also is using online partnerships to increase traffic. It recently partnered with Netscape's [NSCP] KidZone, a dedicated portal site for kids (S2K, 10/28/98) where it offers kids Nikolai games and presents a link to its Kidshow page. Hoffmann says the company has registered with popular search engines and is in negotiating a deal with two "large" Internet portals similar to Netscape. Additionally the site is supported by print ads in magazines such as Parents and has a link on several kids' Web sites. The numbers The tactics seem to be working. When the CBS Kidshow Online launched in October it recorded 22,000 unique visitors the first week. By week three that number increased to 186,000. The clubhouse has nearly 100,000 registered users. The site registered 1.5 million page impressions the second week in November, up from 625,000 during the launch week in October. The site's peak times are Friday night, Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Advertising Banners Aside from product sales, the site is generating revenue through ad banners. Headbone Interactive has an ad banner on the CBS Kidshow site, as does Educorp ( offers multimedia, CD ROMs, and software), and Cyberkids.com (ad supported online community for kids) among others. Banner rates average $35 CPM (cost per thousands) of page impressions, a standard rate. Hoffmann says H a is very active in selling ad banners while working with DoubleClick, a company which tracks online traffic and creates profiles for advertisers to gauge a campaign's effectiveness. Two gateways Prior to the partnership Nikolai, a young boy, and his toy cat, Neow-Neow, had their own site which earned more than 20 international awards for excellence in children's online content. H a wanted to maintain the integrity of the content, so it opted to design two gateways per se into the Kidshow Online area. Visitors to Nikolai's previous site are routed to www.cbs.nikolai.com. The other portal exists via the Kidshow button at www.cbs.com. The gateways are unique in design and promote different contests. However, they offer visitors access to the same content. Hoffmann says there are more page views coming from the www.cbs.nikolai.com doorway. (Isabel Hoffmann, I. Hoffmann associates, 416/977-6732) Award Winner Prior to its partnership with CBS, Hoffmann Associates' Nikolai.com site, won more than 20 international awards for excellence in children's online content. They include: * Silver world medal for consumer targeted Web sites in informational category at the 1998 New York Festivals competition * A finalist within consumer entertainment information/instruction interactive game for children, October 1998 NY Festivals for Nikolai's Pirates CD-ROM * Parents.com Site of the Week, April 1998 * Currently one of Netmom.com's top 10 Pre-School sites * HomePC Magazine's site of the day, Oct. 29, 1997 * Voted a "Hot Site" by Starting Point users on Nov. 9, 1997 Source: H a