Opinion: Paul Robinson on how virtual worlds can open up kids content opportunities

Stan Lee’s Superhero

Genius Brands International exec Paul Robinson surveys how the Metaverse can offer huge potential to those working in the kids content business but explains why a ‘dystopian’ future involving these virtual worlds is unlikely.

One of the highlights of my summer was being in the same room as friends and partners in the kid’s business to share and discuss ideas face-to-face at the Children’s Media Conference in Sheffield.

I’m sure that your working day, like mine over the past two years, has been back-to-back Zoom, Teams and Google Meets calls. We’ve learned how to use technology to continue working highly effectively. Indeed, in the global kid’s business it’s been possible to work more collaboratively, literally worldwide, even if early morning calls are made in pyjamas.

Yet whilst I value digital calls and tools such as Slack and Miro, there are some things that are more beneficial to do face-to-face. The age-old adage of “breaking bread with a customer” isn’t such a cliché, even though having a beer with a business colleague is probably closer to the mark.

So, when I read stories online about the Metaverse being a recipe to create a new generation unable to operate in the “real world,” such as with Neal Stephenson’s novel Snow Crash, a vision of a world dominated by computers in the desert, the ultimate nightmare, I struggle to believe that we are heading for this dystopian future.

The reality is that people need human contact in the real world. Kids are the same. They want to explore, learn and experience the world in ways that are logical for them and that means both online and in real life. Kids see the world through an “imaginative lens,” and technology can enhance and augment that for them.

If you ask a group of people in media what the Metaverse is, you’ll get different answers from each of them. That’s fine because it shouldn’t be some confining technological box, but an opportunity to be a powerful force for good. And it’s our job to create a safe and entertaining Metaverse experience for kids that we want and deserve, using technology as the enabler, not the driver.

In my opinion, we have a fantastic opportunity to create an experience that will help us connect as humans to each other and our planet via a storytelling medium like no other. The chance to experience a concert by a favourite artist in your kitchen or be in the midst of a major sporting event at field or track level is very powerful. These are events or places that you may never go to otherwise.

Consider too the therapeutic benefits to a patient who is recovering in the hospital and missing playing soccer. The Metaverse makes that a reality and think about the emotional benefits of such an experience to that patient’s recovery.

Paul Robinson

I said earlier that it’s up to us to decide what the Metaverse is. At Genius Brands International, that philosophy is central to our thinking and design of the Kartoon Channel! Kidaverse, which started it’s phased roll out as an SVOD service in North America earlier this year. Our goal is to create an exciting, special and unique place for kids that will stimulate their imaginations, engage, and entertain them.

Kidaverse includes all of the hit programs on Kartoon Channel! such as Stan Lee’s Superhero, Kindergarten, Rainbow Rangers, Peppa Pig, PJ Masks, Minecraft, My Little Pony and Yu-Gi-Oh! and will be the home for new, first-run and exclusive content, plus Genius Brands original productions such as the forthcoming Shaq’s Garage, starring Shaq O’Neal.

In addition to great content, the goal is to create a unique experience that kids can’t get elsewhere. So our metaversal content is exactly that and has been designed to enrich our audience in a totally safe environment whilst giving them a can’t get elsewhere entertainment experience.

In the Kidaverse you’ll find kid hosts that are guides, custom avatars, 3D content, gamified content, and in the pipeline are NFTs for kids, Messies (our own safe messaging), AR/VR content and Kidaverse branded VR goggles.

We believe that kids will have a wonderful time in the Kidaverse, but we also know they’ll want to go outside and kick a ball or ride on their bikes or go out for a family meal. I wish that the Kidaverse had been around when I was a child, but what I do know is that the “best of times,” whether kid or adult, is a balance of the real world and the digital world.

Paul Robinson is president of Genius Brands International’s Kartoon Channel! Worldwide.