In the following interview with ttvnews, producer Lizzie Jones explains how Piranha Bar blends linear storytelling with immersive elements, to create a deep, memorable, and long-lasting connection between the IP and its young audience.
In today’s entertainment industry, where options are abundant and audiences are scattered across multiple platforms, it’s more important than ever before to create content that can attract and keep viewers engaged, especially when it comes to younger generations.
Piranha Bar is a creative production studio that creates beautifully crafted creative content across a myriad of media, which people want to watch and share. Storytelling designed to entertain and engage effectively is at the heart of everything they create.
In the following interview with ttvnews, Lizzie Jones, Producer at Piranha Bar, talks about the importance of transmedia content, being able to develop interactive experiences, her outlook on the current media landscape, and her company’s mission to create characters and stories that resonate universally across multiple platforms and cultures.
What is your current outlook on the kids’ content industry? What do you believe will be the main trends in terms of genres and productions for 2025?
In 2025, as buyers cut back on commissions, brand and IP collaborations will rise. Producers are increasingly turning to these partnerships for financing, especially as kids engage more with platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and gaming apps, leaving linear TV behind. Piranha Bar’s latest project with Juventus Football Club’s Team Jay on YouTube is a prime example. This multilingual, short-form IP is designed for multiple devices and targets a brand’s pre-engaged young audience. Piranha Bar tapped into this audience with bite-sized content, digital characters, and live interactive experiences, deepening fan connections through online streaming and live events.
Audience loyalty is built through experiences, and we’ll see a lot more of these interactive activations in 2025. As creators, we must tap into the zeitgeist and engage with real-time cultural trends. Today’s kids consume content interactively, so linear episodes alone no longer cut it. To stay relevant, we must also leverage IP through interactive experiences. With AniMotion Live, Piranha Bar’s motion capture pipeline, we can bring our animated characters to life at events, live stream them on platforms like Twitch and TikTok, engage audiences through punditry, digital influencing or personalised fan interactions—delivering real-time, dynamic experiences that keep audiences coming back to the IP time and time again. By blending our linear storytelling with these immersive elements, we create a deep, memorable, and long-lasting connection between the IP and its young audience.
What are the main challenges of producing kids’ content today? What do you look for when it comes to selecting projects for your catalog?
Producers today face the challenge of balancing tighter budgets with rising production costs while still delivering premium, innovative storytelling. Piranha Bar has adapted by producing quick-turnaround, reactive content using our AniMotion pipeline and the power of Unreal Engine. As a character-driven studio passionate about technology, we focus on developing stylised and humanoid characters that resonate universally across multiple platforms and cultures, while feeling authentic. With the demand for short-form digital IP growing in 2025, finding ways to balance the budget on these fast-paced projects will be our biggest challenge.
Which are the star titles from your current catalog for the international market?
In 2025, Piranha Bar will continue producing high-quality digital IP for global brands, while also bringing a slate of projects to market. Hybrid content, a staple of our catalog, will be a key trend to watch. Our series In Real Life is a six-part comedy where CG characters live in a live-action world. Using our motion capture pipeline, AniMotion, we bring gaming avatars into linear storytelling, offering something fresh for audiences and blending fan communities from gaming and TV. The show follows characters trapped in real life as their game avatars, navigating relationships, careers, and flat-pack furniture—discovering it’s what’s inside that counts.
Unlike older generations, who accessed content solely on linear TV, having content available whenever-wherever they want is the norm for kids today. How do you think the streaming evolution has changed the business of how kids content is distributed?
Streamers have unlocked new ways to keep kids engaged without relying on broadcast schedules. On-demand content has reshaped the entertainment industry and we’ve all had to adapt to changing viewing habits. Multi-device accessibility is key, and we now deliver shows in various aspect ratios without hesitation. Algorithms have become the guiding force for content. A great idea alone isn’t enough to get a show distributed; content must fit and feed the algorithm, which at times dominates over creativity.
In this regard, which platforms and territories do you currently work with? Which regions do you believe have the biggest potential for your content to grow in?
2025 will be another big year for YouTube, driven by its “snackable content” model that fuels the algorithm, along with its influence on platforms like TikTok and Roblox. As a producer who worked predominantly on series for Youtube’s platform last year, it’s key to partner with companies that can maximize distribution and turn digital engagement into real value. With multiple language channels for your IP, you can also expand globally, as AI now makes dubbing series into multiple languages easier than ever.
How do you see kids’ content and younger audiences evolving in the coming years?
Transmedia-driven content is the future. Developing your IP across multiple platforms and formats using digital tech is just getting started. At Piranha Bar, our ongoing R&D ensures we constantly look for more efficient ways to create high-quality content that meets kid’s expectations. Brands are increasingly entering the content space, building massive audiences, and kids’ content must keep up to stay relevant.
