Disney’s in the ‘Tween’ Crowd With Lizzie

Lizzie McGuire is an awkward 13-year-old kid just trying to survive the seventh grade, but for Walt Disney Co. she’s pure gold.

An obscure cable TV character on the Disney Channel a year ago, Lizzie McGuire is suddenly a valuable franchise for Disney, one that the entertainment giant is aggressively marketing to the lucrative “tween” market of children between the ages of 8 and 14.

Disney is in a frenzy of cross promotion for the hit cable show and this week unveiled a Lizzie McGuire fashion doll and gift line at a toy fair in New York; its publishing arm is releasing two Lizzie McGuire novels in April, to be followed by a book series. Lizzie already is featured on 50 million packages of Oscar Mayer Lunchables in grocery shelves. And in spring 2003, 14-year-old actress Hilary Duff, who stars in the TV show, will take to the big screen in a Lizzie McGuire feature film.

Disney is fiercely competing with other media conglomerates for the tween market by spinning movies out of hit television shows.

Viacom Inc.’s Nickelodeon and Paramount studios already have scored big with “Rugrats” and “Jimmy Neutron” feature films after the characters first appeared on cable TV. And AOL Time Warner Inc. is leveraging its popular “Powerpuff Girls” and “Scooby-Doo” shows on Cartoon Network with upcoming feature films.

“We’re creating a franchise,” said Rich Ross, the new president of entertainment of the Disney Channel. “What ‘Rugrats’ has done for Nickelodeon ... ‘Lizzie McGuire’ has done for us.”

“Everyone is trying to find their way into that [tween] market,” said Ira Mayer, publisher of the Entertainment Marketing Letter in New York. “People are trying to get to these kids to build a relationship with different properties so they can build on their brands.”

Children age 8 to 14 account for about 25 million consumers in the U.S. who will spend more than $30 billion on all manner of goods in 2002, analysts say. That’s why a whole range of companies, from wireless carriers to clothing manufacturers, are jumping into the tween market.

Disney has previously developed direct-to-video and merchandise spinoffs from television shows, such as the “Bear in the Big Blue House” and “Rolie Polie Olie” targeted to preschoolers. Not since the 1950s had Disney launched a feature film based on a live-action television character.

“We’re looking to develop merchandising around characters that really strike a chord among consumers,” said Andy Mooney, head of Disney’s consumer products division. “If you look at the last five to 10 years, the properties that have emerged in the marketplace ... have come predominantly from the world of TV or from publishing.”

The 18-year-old Disney Channel, which has 79 million subscribers, has traditionally catered to younger children. But over the last four years the channel has made inroads into the tween market with such series as “Bug Juice,” a reality show based on a summer camp, and the animated sitcom “The Proud Family.” In the fourth quarter, Disney’s “The Proud Family,” “Lizzie McGuire” and Nickelodeon’s “Fairly Odd Parents” tied for the highest-rated tween program on basic cable TV, according to Nielsen Media Research.

But overall, the Disney Channel placed a distant third in January, with an average of 951,000 viewers, well behind Nickelodeon, which had 1.7 million viewers, and Cartoon Network with 1.3 million, according to Nielsen.

The “Lizzie McGuire” show, created by Terri Minsky and produced by Susan Jansen, premiered in January 2001 on the Disney Channel and joined ABC’s Saturday morning lineup in September.

The show quickly became one of the top-rated kids shows on basic cable, drawing 24.9 million viewers in November from airings on the Disney Channel and ABC.

The comedy-drama details the pre-adolescent adventures of a blond-haired girl and her relationship with her brother and parents. Lizzie also has an cartoon alter ego who pops up on screen and gives her advice.

To further leverage the character, Disney recently signed a four-year licensing deal with Los Angeles-based Applause, which has created a new line of Lizzie toys and gifts, from dolls to key chains and frame pillows. An undisclosed retailer will debut a Lizzie clothing line in August.