I’ve heard good things about Phineas and Ferb, but I didn’t realize the Disney show was part of a strategy to break out of their girl-orientation and target boys:
“We definitely set out to create a boy’s franchise. That was our goal. That group was underserved,” says Adam Sanderson, senior vice president, franchise management, at Disney-ABC Television Group. A nationwide live stadium show set for 85 cities, “Disney’s Phineas and Ferb: The Best Live Tour Ever!,” kicks off this summer.
Disney has put its licensing heft behind Phineas and Ferb, who have appeared on Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, Johnson & Johnson’s Band-Aid bandages and Kellogg’s Fruit Snacks, among other products. Skateboards, guitars and raincoats sold at stores like Wal-Mart, Kohl’s and Target are geared to young adults, so little boys will aspire to have them, too. “Disney’s whole thing was to develop a boy’s brand because it’s always been about princesses,” says Griffin Bentley, vice president of licensing for Mad Engine Inc., of San Diego, which has sold more than two million “Phineas and Ferb” T-shirts since 2008.
The approach seems to be working. Of the series’ 1.3 million viewers ages 6 to 11, roughly 48% are boys, compared with 39% for the Disney Channel overall. In May, a “Phineas and Ferb” show launched at Disney World. A feature film is in development.
The 6-to-11 age range is television programmers’ sweet spot. TV for kids under 6 can be controversial, and shows aimed at preschoolers generally have an educational or an emotional lesson, which appeases parents and cuts down on criticism from advocacy groups looking to curb TV-watching among young children. But there’s no need for tricky educational story lines for older kids. Shows can be purely entertaining.
Starting somewhere around 6, kids start exercising more independence in their TV viewing. A 2010 study from ad-buying firm Horizon Media found 55% of 6- to 11-year-olds have a TV in their rooms. Advertisers, led by fast food and movie studios, spent $121 million last year to reach kids via network and cable TV, according to Kantar Media.
It’s also the age when boys’ viewing takes a sharp turn away from girls’. “Kids watch the same stuff until age 5 or 6, and then they start to diverge,” says Linda Simensky, vice president of children’s programming at PBS, which in January came out with “Wild Kratts,” an animated show about brothers who travel the world looking for animals and acquiring their characteristics.
Some time after viewers hit age 6, story lines that appeal to girls—about friendship, romance, gossiping—start to make boys cringe. Boys like TV shows about robots and action. They prefer shows with male leads.
And according to recent research, they also prefer animation. Cartoons have dominated preschool programming, but few recent animated shows have had the boy-only appeal of “Transformers,” “G.I. Joe” and other retro classics. Meanwhile, live-action shows, with few exceptions, have tended to feature female leads, whether it’s Disney shows with stars like Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato and Miley Cyrus, or Nickelodeon’s “iCarly” (about girl with a Web show) and “Victorious” (about a girl at a performing-arts high school).
I’m still baffled that a media empire that has had so much success with princesses hasn’t found a way to work in a few masculine knights.