Market research firm launches specialist TV-focused service

A new service has been launched by Manchester-based children and parents research specialist, The Insights People, to help TV producers secure investment and broadcasting deals by using research among key audiences.

And the first client to benefit is a project linked to legendary children’s TV guru Gerry Anderson, famous for iconic programmes such as Thunderbirds, Stingray and Captain Scarlet.

The Audience in Focus service is designed to assist independent TV producers, providing them with access to the most comprehensive data and insights into the attitudes, behaviour and media consumption of children, parents and families.

Producers can then use this data to inform development of both the show and tie-in merchandise, entice broadcasters, engage investors and develop marketing strategies.

The first to benefit from this new service is Jamie Anderson, the son of Gerry Anderson.

Jamie is continuing his late father’s legacy by bringing a new TV series that Gerry was working on at the time of his passing – Gerry Anderson’s Firestorm – to fruition.

This research comes from The Insights People, the award-winning tech company behind Kids Insights and Parents Insights which surveys more than 40,000 children and 10,000 expecting and new parents every year, collecting more than 20 million data points every year on children and parent’s attitudes, behaviour and consumption.

This means The Insights People can produce bespoke reports for independent TV production companies based on their data and experience to help identify audience demand for their concepts and inform their content, licensing and promotional strategies.

Jamie Anderson, chief executive of Anderson Entertainment, said: “In an ever-changing market we found that, increasingly, a creative pitch alone was not sufficient to get our desired level of engagement from commissioners and acquisitions executives.

Jamie Anderson

“The Insights People data has proved invaluable to us at the pitching and financing stage.

“In fact, it is, in part, thanks to the data from The Insights People that Gerry Anderson’s Firestorm is going into production in 2019.”

Nick Richardson, chief executive of The Insights People, said: “We work closely with organisations such as The Children’s Media Conference, The Children’s Media Foundation and PACT and it became apparent that we could really help independent TV production companies both prove the demand of a show, inspire their creative and content strategy for their new show, and provide them with insights to help shape their promotional and licensing strategies.

Nick Richardson

“We met with Jamie at Kidscreen earlier this year, and it was apparent that we could really help him.

“Having seen how useful the data and report we provided to Jamie was in helping him to secure both investment and a broadcasting deal for Firestorm, we are delighted to officially launch this service to other producers who are creating shows, based on our UK and US data.”