"I remember going to a Duggee rave at the Ministry of Sound — nine o’clock on a Sunday morning, all these parents there with their kids having the best time ever."

Simon Clark has spent over 20 years in digital, 17 of them at BBC Studios. He started at BBC Public Service on the BBC Two and BBC Three websites in the early iPlayer era — a time when, as he recalls, people were genuinely nervous about putting full-length content on a website rather than a television. His first step into kids and family came roughly a decade ago with Hey Duggee, working with Grant Orchard and Studio AKA.

Then, in 2018, a commissioner sent him a show from Brisbane: "Can you take a look at it?" It was Bluey.

He knew straight away it was different — Joe Brumm’s writing, Ludo Studio’s animation, and a warmth that clearly reached beyond preschoolers. The moment it landed as a global franchise, he says, was the 2022 Macy’s parade: a Bluey balloon over New York, with crowds who knew her name and the show’s references.

On strategy, Simon is emphatic that digital is no longer an add-on at the end of the process. His team commissions content for digital from the start, runs a dedicated audience engagement function that feeds fan insight back into the wider business, and treats platform-native differences seriously — YouTube is not TikTok is not web. Fandom shapes the output: Muffin now has her own YouTube channel, and collaborations (Sesame Street book reads, a Mickey intro mashup, dance creators) often begin by noticing fans doing it organically first.

He is candid about restraint too — "just because you can do something doesn’t mean that you should" — and about the risk of building on platforms you don’t own, arguing for investment in owned channels and CRM alongside them.

On leadership: ownership, room to make mistakes, and getting out to meet people. And his single best piece of advice for anyone starting out — keep everything. Every animatic, doodle, script and deleted scene. You will need it in five years.

“The best fandom starts when a character helps a child understand themselves.”

In this Sandbox Sessions episode, Rachel Bardill chats with kids media consultant Pete Robinson about how to build children’s IP that can actually survive the current media jungle — algorithms, platforms, fan communities, budget headaches and all.

Pete kicks off by challenging the idea that linear TV is dead. It may no longer be the only game in town, but it is still very much alive, wearing sensible shoes and doing useful work: building trust, creating family viewing habits and giving brands a strong place to grow.

A big theme is audience understanding. Pete argues that great IP often starts by doing one thing brilliantly for one specific audience before trying to conquer the universe. He points to Bluey and Phineas and Ferb as examples of shows that create shared moments between kids and parents — the holy grail where the joke flies over the child’s head, hits the adult, and somehow everyone wins.

Pete also digs into fandom, saying children connect with characters and worlds that help them understand themselves. His advice to creators: start with an idea you genuinely love, build a world bigger than the story, then test whether anyone else wants to move in.

On growth, Pete suggests thinking less about vanity metrics and more about retention, organic discovery and “cost per fan.” His practical survival tips: write everything down, build proper processes, and talk to interesting people before your brain turns into spreadsheet soup.

In this episode of the Festivus Sandbox Sessions, Rachel Bardill sits down with Chitra Soundar - award-winning author, storyteller, and screenwriter - for a rich and inspiring conversation about what it really takes to build a career in children's media.

Chitra shares her remarkable journey: from oral storytelling as a child in Chennai's film-making heartland, through a career in computer science and multinational business, to quitting her day job in 2018 to write full-time. She opens up about the unconventional choices that defined her path.

We hear about her research process, the UCLA vs. NFTS dilemma, a timely COVID refund, and the Manimation 2019 conference that helped her zero in on her passion: preschool storytelling. All roads led to Nikhil & Jay - her groundbreaking animated series about two brothers growing up in a dual-heritage UK family.

Chitra also tackles the big question of global storytelling — why Western markets resist stories from the rest of the world, and why that needs to change.

A must-listen for anyone building a career in children's media.

More at fstvs.net

Jon Mason is the owner of digital agency Jollywise with nearly 30 years’ experience.

After leaving school at 17 to join the Navy, he later studied journalism and got into the early internet, landing a role at Disney in 1999 as a creative producer. That experience shaped his commercial and creative instincts, leading him to launch Jollywise, where he has built digital content and games for major global kids’ brands.

After decades working on other people’s IP, Jon felt compelled to create his own. That ambition became Stan & Gran, a preschool animated series that took 12 years to bring to screen. The journey was emotionally intense—full of near-misses, funding challenges, and persistence. But securing a co-producer, landing a Milkshake! commission, and finally closing the funding gap (helped by increased UK animation tax relief) meant the dream was a reality and getting the call to say the show had been greenlit, while he was on the same beach where he’d first imagined the show, was a moment of beautiful serendipity.

Driven by a personal passion for nature and getting children outdoors, Jon secured a partnership with the RSPB, reinforcing the show’s purpose-led positioning.

Jon's IP journey emphasises that great ideas alone aren’t enough; timing, persistence, understanding commissioners’ needs, and flexibility (while staying true to your show) are crucial. Although a digital expert, he took a traditional broadcast-first route with Stan & Gran, but applied digital thinking by banking assets during production to support long-term ecosystem growth.

Jon views modern IP as a brand flywheel, not TV-centric. Broadcast is vital but no longer the sole engine. He’s building a broader strategy including YouTube, direct-to-consumer retail, apps, and potentially Roblox.

Looking ahead, Jon plans to deliver remaining episodes of Stan & Gran, expand his digital channels, test new revenue streams, and continue evolving Jollywise —balancing creativity, commercial realism, and long-term brand building.

Enjoy the chat.