Asia TV Forum & Market 2026: Animation, IP and Young Audiences at the Centre of the Programme.
The animation and kids’ entertainment business in Asia is changing, driven by new audience behaviours, new IP models, international collaboration and AI.
ATF 2026, taking place from 1 to 4 December, addresses these changes through a programme aimed at those who create, acquire, finance and commercialise entertainment content.
A central part of the programme is the ATF x TTB Animation Pitch, which presents new animation projects from Asia and Europe to producers, buyers, distributors, investors and industry professionals.
The focus continues at ATF’s Leaders Dialogue on 1 December, where Adam Woodgate, Head of Research at The Insights Family, will look at how APAC’s youngest audiences are changing the entertainment business.
Drawing on The Insights Family‘s youth and family data, Woodgate will examine how young audiences in the region are increasingly looking to participate rather than simply watch, a shift from an Attention Economy to a Participation Economy, and how Gen Alpha is already creating, influencing and shaping the entertainment it consumes. The session will cover creator-led communities, gaming, fandom, social commerce and AI-powered creativity, analysing the behaviours and expectations that are changing how entertainment is discovered, experienced and monetised.
For companies working in kids’ content, animation, licensing, media, gaming and brands, the focus shifts from capturing young audiences to giving them an active role.
The discussion continues with the keynote panel Raising the Algorithmic Generation: Who Will Win the Future of Attention?, which looks at how Gen Z is changing content discovery, fandom and engagement, and what this may mean for Gen Alpha.
The panel brings together Jennifer Kotler, Content Strategy Lead (Kids & Family Team), Google; Sydney Bright, Head of Global Animation, WEBTOON Productions; and Ming Hsien Chan, VP, Animation Production & Acquisition, Bilibili, representing platforms, animation and IP.
The session will examine the role of AI, algorithms, creators, gaming and commerce in the relationship between audiences, content and IP. For the animation and licensing sector, it also raises the question of what will happen when Gen Alpha reaches the same life stage as Gen Z today and begins to influence the workforce, culture and consumer spending.
AI
These changes in audience behaviour are taking place alongside a broader structural shift linked to AI.
ATF’s first AI Summit will look at how artificial intelligence is moving beyond experimentation into the entertainment value chain, from development and production to discovery, recommendation, rights and monetisation.
For animation and licensing professionals, AI opens new possibilities for developing, extending and experiencing IP, while raising questions about ownership, authorship, authenticity and the economics of content.
Together, the animation pitch, the kids’ programming and the AI Summit reflect three trends in the industry:
- New IP emerging from new markets;
- Young audiences taking a more active role;
- AI changing how IP is created, discovered and commercialised.
