Preschool video comes of age; parents want learning, kids want fun - and their getting it

Discount Store News, Sept 4, 1995

NATIONWIDE DSN REPORT -- The preschool video market, once only the stomping ground of characters like Barney, the gang from Sesame Street and Thomas the Tank Engine, has experienced a growth spurt over the past year with some companies stepping up introductions and others producing product for the first time.

Barney, Kermit and Thomas were entertaining their core audience of kids aged 9 months to 5 years without much interference until recently when the industry got a shot of new releases.

Some credit a new crop of age-appropriate programming by the major networks like Fox with its Fox Kid's Club programming block and cable operators such as PBS and Nickelodeon with Nick Jr. Others point to aging Baby Boomers with strong purchasing power. Still others see it as a missed opportunity finally capitalized on by manufacturers.

Whatever the reason for the shakeup in preschool video, nearly four million new consumers are born into the target audience every year. Add to that the fact that 15 million homes have VCRs as well as children under the age of six, according to Video Scan, a New York-based research company that tracks the video business.

These 15 million VCR users are also buying a lot of prerecorded videos. In fact, of the more than half (54%) of all the videos sold during the first quarter of 1995 ended April 14, 63% were in the preschool category, according to Video Scan data.

"The preschool market is a viable one," said Jim Felt, executive vp and gmm at Canton, Mass-based Hills. "To date, most have been standard releases, but there is lots of potential to bring in very specific programming for this age group."

Several of the major studios have reacted with more age-specific programming. Disney, for example, debuted three preschool collections this summer. Its most recent entry, "Disney Presents Bright Beginnings," which hit the shelves Aug. 11, is the most comprehensive and includes 14 titles (12 new and two existing titles) featuring Mickey Mouse, the Muppets and Spot under one banner. Similarly, Warner Home Video came into the fold for the first time. And Jim Henson Productions recently introduced "Jim Henson's Preschool Collection," a three-title group of videos featuring Kermit and the gang along with real kids.

"There was definitely a void in the business for preschoolers. What existed were videos with loud music, hard-to-understand social issues and characters that were not for the toddler and might prove frightening to kids," said Gail Becker, director of publicity,

Warner Home Video. Warner kept this in mind when developing its Babies at Play line of three videos, which show babies and toddlers involved in everyday activities. "Babies enjoy watching other babies play and they can learn from what they see on the screen," said Becker.

Reality-based programming that features catchy music, colorful graphics and easy-to-understand themes are key when targeting this highly impressionable audience. It is also important to include themes that go beyond teaching ABCs and 1-2-3s that parents want their kids to learn while watching their favorite characters.

"Children in this age group want entertainment that contains music so they can sing and dance and be participatory with all the action going on. At the same time, parents want it to be fun for their kids, but they also want it to have a learning slant," said Wendy Moss, vp, marketing, Sony Wonder, a division of Sony Music and Epic Records.

"Children want characters they can relate to. They also want programming in short segments since they have less of an attention span," agreed Laura Smith, director of marketing for Polygram. "It's also important to incorporate catchy music and animation that will capture the attention of these kids."

What's gotten the attention of parents are characters they know from childhood or ones they feel have the attributes they want their children to be exposed to.

Book-based characters like Richard Scarry, Spot, Dr. Seuss and Papa Beaver's Story Time are gaining a dedicated audience along with licensed perennial characters like Hello Kitty, old-established favorites such as Barney and Sesame Street and newcomers like "The Puzzle Place" and "Animal Show Starring Stinky and Jake."

"Retailers have been incredibly responsive to the preschool genre because so much of it is created from well-known, pre-established names that they can take in and sell well," said Smith.

"When deciding what to highlight in our store, we are more sales-driven than age-driven. We will give space to any genre as long as we see its potential as we did with the Olsen Twins videos and The Power Rangers," said Joe Pagano, merchandise manager, Best Buy, noting that the CE chain does "a handsome business in children's sell-through, and [we] stock over 10,000 skus of preschool product."

While these hot titles certainly are top performers for retailers, there are several companies producing alternative programming for preschoolers.

At Kideo, for instance, the company uses digital video technology to take a child's photograph and incorporate it into the video, thereby making the child the star of the show. Once in the video, the child appears in every scene and sees his or her name on the screen and spoken by the characters in the program.