With all the discussion about the expanding number of digital platforms through which children’s properties reach their audiences, there’s been a marked increase in the use of a decidedly non-digital one – live shows and tours.

And we are seeing the effort to extend a brand through licensing live tours becoming increasingly diverse.

Licensees who work with IP owners to develop live shows are drawn to properties that have two primary assets — well-established storylines and a fan base of both parents and kids. Licensors, on the other hand, want to hook up with production companies who have shown an ability to apply their own creative touch and business acumen to other properties with similar age targets. For example, Feld Entertainment, which launched the new Sesame Street Live Let’s Party! tour earlier this month, has a long history of working on other family fare such as Disney On Ice and Disney Live!

As in the rest of licensing, properties that serve as the basis for live shows are coming from an increasingly broad array of sources, whether traditional animated series and films, toy collections, dance or other “reality” competitions.

“We are having to broaden to our horizons for live tour content because there is so much competition for a consumer’s attention now,” says Koba Entertainment’s Gilles Paquin, whose company launched a Shopkins Live tour in September. “Live is different from TV and film, but you have to remain true to a brand while also making sure you have your own story line. Within in a minute or two of a show starting, an audience has to believe you have captured the brand accurately. Otherwise you have lost them.”

To insure brands translate accurately to a live tour, creative development typically starts 18-24 months in advance of the launch date with a script drafted by the production company taking about a year to get final approval.

There are lots of basic decisions that need to be made as potential partners begin their discussions, including whether the show is to be primarily a revenue generator (as opposed to a marketing vehicle); the target venue size; the number of stops on a tour; and the show’s running time, among many others.

Early on, the licensor and production company also establish the size of the venue that will be targeted for the tour, with much depending on the popularity of the property and the markets involved. For example, in the U.S., where audiences can be larger, theaters with capacity for 1,000-4,000 people are common. In Europe, where live tours typically draw smaller crowds, seating capacities may be under 1,000.

The size of the venue can weigh on how a deal for a live event is structured. The contracts can range from five years for a show that costs less than $500,000 to produce to 10 years for shows that cost $1 million or more and will target larger theaters, says one industry executive. The length of the agreement takes into account an 18-24-month period for developing a production for what can be a two-year run with several tours. For example, Koba Entertainment’s Shopkins Live tour that began in September, initially was slated for 70 stops run on tour that was to run into spring 2018, says Paquin.  But it was recently extended to add another 40 stops and also will have a run in Canada, says Paquin.

Royalties can range from 5-10% of box office receipts for large venues. But for smaller regional and local theaters, where capacities may be 600 or less and the box office will be smaller, the payments more typically are a flat payment instead of a ticket-based royalty.

In addition to box office receipts, another portion of touring revenue comes from merchandise sales. The larger touring companies typically pay 5-10% royalties on the sale of merchandise related to the show. Most of those products are developed and sourced by the touring companies themselves with an eye toward creating show souvenirs that can’t be purchased at retail. In contrast, smaller companies draw from a licensor’s roster of licensees, who are then responsible for royalty payments.

The keys to filling those theaters are having tours that can appeal to both children and their parents. In the case of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, the show’s production companies, Sinking Ship Entertainment and Fred Rogers Co., knew from Nielsen data that many of the three-to-six-year old years were watching the PBS series alongside their parents. That so-called “co-viewing”, coupled with broader viewership and other market data, spurred the companies to strike a deal with Mills Entertainment for a touring show that began in September, says Fred Rogers’ CEO Paul Siefken.

In the case of properties such as Sesame Street, whose appeal extends across generations, some elements were beefed up to more fully engage the adults.

“New choreography was added because we wanted parents to be engaged because when the parents are involved it really helps reinforce the educational messages for the children that we wanted to get across,” says Sesame Workshop’s Jennifer Ahearn.

For the kids, music and easily recognizable characters are the keys, say industry executives. The shows typically run for a little over an hour with an intermission in order to keep an audience’s attention.

The weaving of interactivity into the live shows is tied to changing expectations for the performances, say industry officials. While Feld hasn’t implemented it yet, the entertainment company is considering using interactivity, be it on a mobile device or another means, to allow the audience to potentially change story lines, says Feld’s J Vaught.

“You have to respond to the changes in your audience and they are accustomed to interacting with stories on their devices and making choices about who is going to be in a story,” says Vaught. “These are changes we have to look at and it is really changing our approach to producing entertainment for the families.”

The new approach to producing live entertainment is also causing some licensors to consider shorter shows – 20 minutes in a mall common area versus 60 minutes or more on a stage – as means for giving brands exposure in markets where they aren’t as well known. For example, Nickelodeon has licensees throughout Asia and Australia to operate mall tours in regions where their channels have less distribution, according to Nickelodeon’s Ron Johnson. That is in addition to having tour operator producing revenue-generating shows for larger venues.

“These mall events can be more marketing than revenue generating, but it keeps the brands front and center,” says Johnson.

Among recent and ongoing developments:

• Cartoon Network and licensee Live Nation will launch Cartoon Network Live! in December in Dubai and Dammam, Riyadh and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The show blends Cartoon Network’s “Ben 10,” “The Amazing World of Gumball,” “Powerpuff Girls,” and “Adventure Time” into a single 90-minute show. The show, which took 18 months produce, is the first to tie together multiple properties as Cartoon Network seeks to raise the profile of its brand, says Cartoon Network’s Johanne Broadfield. The tour will include stops in South Africa and Europe.

• Sesame Street Live is Sesame Workshop’s first tour with Feld Entertainment since parting in 2016 with VStar Entertainment, whose predecessor Vee Entertainment had produced the shows for 35 years. The tour began this month in Orlando; a second one is expected to launch in September to run concurrently with the first production. The show includes a puppet – Maya – created by Feld exclusively for the tour.

• Shopkins Live debuted in September, joining several other toy properties such as My Little Pony that have been licensed for live tours. The show combines Moose Toys’ “fashionista” collectible characters – Jessicake, Bubbleisha and others, with grocery store-themed mini figures – Apple Blossom, Strawberry Kiss, Lippy Lips and Kooky Cookie. With more than 1,000 characters to draw from, Koba picked the top-sellers for the show and blended them with the music Moose Toys’ YouTube-based Shopkins series, says Paquin.

• Rovio Entertainment is weighing a live tour for Angry Birds as it seeks to extend the reach of the brand to families, says Rovio’s Simo Hamalainen. “The games have typically attracted an older audience but the licensed products have been for the kids so a live show would cater to both,” says Hamalainen.

“We are looking many different places for content for live events,” says Mills’ Simone Gianfrancesco, whose firm also handled a live tour for A&E Network’s “Bring It” dance competition. “We like to see properties [that have been] in the market for a couple years to generate awareness, but with all the competition now, that is starting to change.”

Contacts:

Cartoon Network, Johanne Broadfield, VP,  +44 207 693 1281, johanne.Broadfield@turner.com

Feld Entertainment, J Vaught, SVP Production and Operations, 941-721-1200, jvaught@feldentertainment.com

Koba Entertainment, Gilles Paquin, Executive Producer, 204-480-2213, gilles@paquinentertainment.com

Mills Entertainment, Simone Gianfrancesco, Associate Producer,323-741-5200, simone.gianfrancesco@millsentertainment.com

Fred Rogers Co., Paul Siefken, CEO, 412-605-3119, siefken@fredrogers,com

Rovio Entertainment, Simo Hamalainen, SVP Brand Licensing, +358 50 585 9757

Sesame Workshop, Jennifer Ahearn, VP Strategic Partner Relations, 212-595-3456, jennifer.ahearn@sesame.org