Brand Research
In order to get a better idea of when our show could possibly air, we researched the approximate times at which High Schools and Primary Schools in the UK started and finished. We found that on average, these types of schools open between 8:30 and 9:00 and students finish between 3:00 and 4:00. This means that peak times for our show would be approximately between 7:30 and 8:00am, but more so after 3:30pm when most children will be home to catch up on their favourite shows. To gain a better understanding of how target audiences and peak times work, we decidced to look into some existing companies that are popular in the industry of children's TV.
CBBC
CBBC, (Children's BBC), was launched in 1960 as 'Children's Television', but has been known as CBBC since 1997. It is a digital channel that airs programmes aimed at 6-10 year olds, and runs from 7am to 7pm. This means that it is on air for the main peak times when children are home from school, as well as during the middle of the day.
In February 2008 the CBBC changed their schedule so that it went off air at 5:15pm, leading to viewing numbers of previously popular programmes such as Blue Peter and Newsround to drop significantly. This could imply that less children were watching TV or this channel in particular (possibly due to homework or watching more family-based programmes on the generic 1-5 channels) and therefore it would be best if we aimed for our TV show to cover a slot before this time.
Some of the most popular shows that are broadcasted on the CBBC channel include Deadly 60, Tracy Beaker, Dumping Ground, Horrible Histories and Dani's House. Not all of these programmes fit with our genre, however, they are all aimed at a similar audience, and this could mean that there is a space here for our production to air on this channel. Most of the programmes that air on this channel are also British, which would also be the case with our own production.
We have chosen the CBBC company to broadcast our own show because it is a popular children's channel that consists mostly of British programmes which means that our show would fit in well with the existing target audience for the CBBC, therefore making it more likely to be successful. We would show it within the peak time of around 3-4pm, which is just after school has finished and would be when our target audience (see Target Audience) would be more likely to be watching TV.
Here is some of the parents' feedback that the CBBC recieved on their channel. It is important to us that our show is not only enjoyable for children, but that parents approve of it too, meaning that we should avoid any taboo storylines or extreme controversy.
C itv
Citv, (also known as Children's ITV), was launched as its own channel in 2006, airing programmes between 6am and 6pm, which once again covers the peak times before and after children go to school, receiving 150,000 viewers everyday between 4pm and 6pm.
However, the majority of the productions that are shown on this channel are animated cartoons which could mean that our show won't really fit in with this theme, or appeal to the regular viewers. On the other hand, our show could be something different to bring to the table on this front, meaning that there is a gap in the market for us with Citv.
Citv has also had slots on ITV1 and ITV4 in the past which suggests that it is popular and could bring in more viewers, therefore it could still be a company to consider for the broadcasting of our show.
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is a kids and teen's entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland since 1 October 1995, with a target audience of 6-14 year olds. This is a wider range than previous channels that we have looked at, which could prove to be more practical when it comes to airing our show. This also covers a more popular age group of both children and young teens which would correlate well with our own target audience.
As of February 2015, Disney Channel is available to approximately 96.2 million pay television households (82.7% of households with at least one television set) in the United States, which would provide exceptional viewing oppurtunities for our production.
Disney Channel is one of the most popular channels when it comes to broadcasting children's TV Shows, and is in fact so successful that it has multiple sister channels such as Disney XD, Disney Junior and Disney Cinemagic. This emphasises the mass amount of viewers that the company has, therefore being most likely to guarantee success for our own show.
Due to the fact that this channel is aimed at a slightly older audience than various other channels that we have researched, it has more air time, starting at 6am and finishing at 12am. This covers the peak times, and means that it is more likely for their to be a slot for our show.
Disney also air a variety of different shows, from family shows to cartoons, including Phineas and Ferb. This could mean that there is a higher chance of our own production fitting in with what the channel already provides.
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (originally known as Pinwheel in 1977) is another popular children's TV channel with content aimed at children and adolescents ages 8-16. Similarly to Disney, this is quite a broad age range, and would cover our own target audience, however our production might not appeal to the higher end of this age range.
Its programming runs from Sunday-Wednesdays from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm, Thursdays and Fridays from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm and Saturdays from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm. Again, these all cover the peak times when children are home from school, and this channel runs for longer than the likes of CBBC or Citv, as it presumably has more viewers due to the fact that it is aimed at a broader age range. There could be a slot here for our show, however if the audience is mostly too old or if the broadcasting time is too late then we may not recieve enough viewers for success.
Nickelodeon's schedule currently consists largely of original series aimed at pre-teens and young teenagers, including animated series, to live-action comedy and action series,which could suggest that our English Children's TV Drama would be out of place among these other shows, and there would not be an audience it would appeal to. However, if properly advertised and promoted then it could still be successful on this channel because it is something different that Nickelodeon doesn't currently offer, and therefore it could bring in a new community of viewers for the channel.