Preschool entertainment/education platform Hopster has struck a deal with Aardman for global distribution of its originally produced content, including animated projects Clever Brenda (5 x 2’), Two Minute Tales (10 x 2’), The Little Toymaker (1 x 6’) and original music video series Hopster Jam (5 x 2’), which are all geared to provide educational value to young viewers in line with Hopster’s core mission. The agreement includes free and pay TV broadcast, VOD and home entertainment.
“Aardman are content distribution legends in the UK and we couldn’t be more excited to partner with them. This agreement is a huge milestone in the evolution of Hopster that will help establish us as a vibrant creative hub focused on the development of new IPs that kids can discover and fall in love with,” said Nick Walters, Founder and CEO of Hopster. “Already we see that over half of our engagement comes from our original content, including games and videos, and with the experience of Aardman now behind us, we hope to introduce our beautiful shows and music to even more families around the world.”
Bristol-based Aardman, known for bringing delightful stop-motion titles such as Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Chicken Run to the world, specializes in realizing the commercial potential of properties in a way that celebrates their creative values. The company’s distribution rights portfolio includes Digby Dragon (Blue Zoo Animation) and Munki and Trunk (Sunrise Productions).
“We’ve been fans of Hopster since it first launched its service, and were really excited to hear about their Original Programming plans,” said Alison Taylor, Head of Sales & Acquisitions at Aardman. “When we saw their original animated content for the first time, we were instantly entertained and thought it would be the perfect fit for our portfolio of third party productions – such quality, funny and entertaining shows, that we will look forward to taking to Kidscreen in February for the first time to show to prospective buyers”.