Content Exclusive: Jetix Europe CEO Looks At Broadband Opportunities.

Jetix Europe has been encouraged so far by the performance of its advertiser-supported broadband video service launched in the Netherlands earlier this year. The channel provider now is looking at how this could be extended to other territories.

Paul Taylor, CEO of Jetix Europe, tells Inside Digital TV in an exclusive interview, "As of the year end, we had had four million downloads. I think the Netherlands is unique within our overall portfolio of businesses, because we are in 100 percent of the homes there. It is a FTA TV channel, and we can promote across media very easily."

He continues, "We are looking at variety of options for our other territories. I do believe a sophisticated broadband site is an important element within our portfolio. We just want to make sure we get it right when we launch it into other territories. I think it will evolve. It is important that we create the content people want in the way they want."

The company, which provides a number of channels to kid and youth markets across Europe, also is looking to be more of an influence on such platforms as IPTV and mobile. "They treat things like the PC, mobile phone, games consoles and PSPs, etc., as being another delivery form alongside TV. They want to consume content, which is normally content created around strong properties and brands, and aggregated under powerful media brands via the available media they have," Taylor comments. "In terms of how that impacts our strategy, I think we have to have two key competencies within the business. First, we have to understand our target audience completely. Second, we must have the ability to create content that is going to attract them to our brand via those various media."

Mobile-TV Formats

Certainly, Jetix Europe is beginning to use some of its strongest brands as a way of gaining eyeballs on mobile. Taylor explains what the company is doing: "We've got a couple of shows, 'Pucca' and 'Captain Flamingo,' that have been developed as shorter formats. 'Pucca' consists of seven-minute episodes that can be played back to back in a traditional 30-minute format. If we choose to, we can schedule those shows on TV as commercial 30-minute shows. But, equally, we could run them as seven-minute shows for mobile."

He adds, "I think to get kids watching TV programs on mobile for longer than that is not the way forward. We can take content like, 'Pucca' and 'Power Rangers,' and adjust the type of content for mobile delivery. For example, you might have the 30-minute show for 'Power Rangers' on Jetix the TV channel, and on mobile you might be able to get profiles of the red, yellow or green 'Power Ranger' etc."