Fox Kids LatAM Growth.

As it celebrates its 5-year anniversary in November, Fox Kids Latin America (Fox Kids), the pan-regional kids’ entertainment network, boasts tremendous growth in an incredible tale of success and achievement that has made the 24-hour network the 2nd most watched kids channel in the region¹, with a distribution of 13.1 million homes in 19 different countries.² A further testament to its phenomenal rise is the fact that most recently the channel took the number one spot in Brazil in July and September of this year among kids 4-11, defeating all of its competitors in primetime³ (5pm – 12pm).

“The successes we have garnered in the past five years have placed us at a distinct advantage, further strengthening our position in the marketplace,” said Emiliano Calemzuk, Vice President and General Manager, Fox Kids Latin America. “We have a deep commitment to making the channel the preeminent Latin American children’s network, and our experienced management team, which I believe is one of the best in Latin America, has the leadership and creative vision needed to reach this goal.”

What began as a programming block on Canal Fox became an independent channel on November 9, 1996, when Fox Kids launched with a distribution of 131,000 subscribers, ranking 6th among the primary children’s networks. In the last five years, the network has risen to the number two kids channel in the market, increased its distribution 100 fold, attracted more than 50 advertisers across the region, and increased revenue by 138% (FY’98-FY’01). Its success can be highly attributed to its re-branding, and the programming and marketing strategies it has implemented in recent years.

Upon entering Latin America, the channel went up against well-established children’s networks, which unlike Fox Kids, had the support of their US counterparts who provided a well defined and well packaged brand and programming strategy. In order to counter this competitive disadvantage, Fox Kids hired Lee Hunt & Associates in 1999 to work with the channel’s management team to clearly define the brand and create the channel’s on-air and off-air look. The network launched an award-winning re-branding campaign in December 1999 that defined the channel’s on-air, off-air, and online look as cool, innovative and on-the-edge and, thus, an original brand produced specifically for Latin America was created.

With a new, clear vision of its target market and brand, Fox Kids focused on acquiring programs that would truly connect with its audience. Programming, which had already been stripped horizontally to create viewer loyalty, was divided vertically into blocks according to genres such as Action, Adventure, Futuristic, Comedy, Mystery and Mini Fox Kids. Subsequently, Fox Kids, together with Saban, perceived the rising popularity of Japanese animation and jointly purchased “Digimon.” Within a month of its July 2000 launch, the ratings for the daypart increased by 20%, allowing Fox Kids to begin taking viewers away from the competition.4 The overwhelming success led to the creation of the Anime block, which has grown into a 5-hour afternoon lineup of Japanese Animation, and increased the channel’s performance in this time slot by 83.5%.5

Also, Fox Kids made a breakthrough in kids programming by creating a programming block that caters to an adult audience. Ratings indicated that adults were watching Fox Kids and, in an unprecedented move, the kids’ channel launched Insomnio, a late-night programming block targeting the adult audience by airing well-known classic comics as well as the latest in animation. The block, launched in June 2001, created a new Ad Sales opportunity and a positive impact on late-night ratings, which, in less than three months, increased by 153% among the 18-34 audience in Argentina.6 In fact, the Insomnio block is ranked in the top-three when compared to General Entertainment channels in Argentina for viewers 18 – 34.7 Fox Kids Latin America continues to solidify its position as a strong global brand by acquiring programs such as “Braceface,” “Medabots” and “Totally Spies” at a worldwide level, exclusively on Fox Kids.

Simultaneously, the Marketing team focused its efforts on the Fox Kids Cup, a grassroots sports tournament launched in April 1999 that has become a true reflection of the network’s growth. Fox Kids Cup links the Fox Kids brand and its partners to the world’s most popular sport, soccer, and is the only mega sports event for kids that is globally televised. During the last three years, the award-winning tournament has expanded to reach over 100,000,000 viewers on Fox Kids channels throughout Latin America, Europe, North America and the Middle East, increased the number of participating countries from 4 to 20, landed in more than 65 cities and increased the participating kids 3,800 to 70,000. Fox Kids Cup, which is free and open to boys and girls ages 10 to 12, has over 20 top-brand sponsors, is supported by UNICEF and CSF (Confederacion Sudamericana de Futbol), and has become a profitable event in its third year.

Fox Kids also implemented a marketing strategy that introduced multimedia initiatives so young viewers could “experience” the channel and its characters on different platforms. This strategy included the launch of two websites: www.foxkidstv.com and www.foxkids.com.br., which achieved over 16,000,000 page views in August 2001.8 In addition, the network launched Fox Kids Magazine in Mexico featuring news, games, comics and entertainment themed around the Fox Kids brand with a distribution of 15,000. Numerous pan-regional contests and local events in region were held to further the awareness and familiarity of the channel and it’s new look.