Animated series are rolling to new horizons of success all over the world in the lead up to MIPJunior and MIPCOM in Cannes.
New preschool series Ellie the Ellie (26 x 6′) has been acquired by three European pubcasters: NPO Zappelin (Netherlands), VRT Ketnet (Belgium) and SVT Barn (Sweden). Produced in the Netherlands and Belgium, each episode follows Ellie, a compassionate elephant who helps her friends navigate social challenges by coming up with creative solutions to ensure no one is left out. The show’s core themes of inclusivity, equality and fairness are presented in a way that is engaging and accessible to young children, reinforced by lively music, sing-along songs and a warm, relatable voice-over.
“We are thrilled to see the positive response from leading public broadcasters, and we can’t wait to showcase Ellie the Ellie at MIPJunior and MIPCOM,” said creator and producer Ellen Langendam. “Our goal has always been to create a heartwarming series that not only entertains but also promotes important values such as inclusion and friendship. The international interest confirms that these themes resonate across borders, and we look forward to building even more partnerships to bring Ellie to children around the world.”
Animaccord announced a series of strategic media partnerships across the globe for its flagship series, Masha and the Bear:
- Rai, Italy: Rai will broadcast new episodes from Season 6 and 7 on Rai Yoyo and showcase on Rai Play as well as extend the
rights for Nursery Rhymes starting Q4, 2024, across Italy, Vatican City, Republic of San Marino, Monaco and Malta. - AMC Networks International Southern Europe: Pay TV channel Enfamilia (Spain) is airing new episodes of Season 6 and 7, along with Shorties and the brand-new third Masha and the Bear Special, from Q3’24 to Q2’25.
- Dreamia, Portugal: Canal Panda will roll out new episodes from Seasons 6-7 and Specials Say Cheese and The Legend of
12 Months through 2024 and into 2025. - Mountain Road Entertainment Group BV: Zapp in the Netherlands will air Seasons 6-7 and two Specials from late 2024 to late 2025.
Banijay Kids & Family announced Warner Bros. Discovery in Asia Pacific has acquired Season 7 of Totally Spies! for Southeast Asia and South Korea to air on platforms including Cartoon Network. Produced by Zodiak Kids & Family France (part of Banijay Kids & Family) in collaboration with Gulli and Warner Bros. Discovery, LatAm, EMEA and U.S., the new 26 x 22’ season marks the return of the show, following an 11-year hiatus, and sees the trio embark on their biggest adventure yet, moving to a new city, Singapore. With fresh gadgets and a new WOOHP boss, they face their trickiest nemesis to-date, but they’re still the same butt-kicking, action-loving, girl-power spies.
Following its premiere in France on Gulli, and launch on Discovery Kids LatAm, the successful rebooted seventh season will also air around the world on Warner Bros. Discovery networks and platforms across EMEA and the U.S. An eighth season of Totally Spies! has also been confirmed with commissioning broadcasters Gulli and Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA. And a live-action adaptation is in development, produced by Banijay Kids & Family in partnership with Amazon MGM Studios and Gloria Sanchez Productions.
WildBrain is partnering with leading free streaming television service Pluto TV to launch the first-ever single-IP Pokémon FAST channel on October 22. The launch follows the recent announcement of WildBrain’s single-IP FAST agreement with The Pokémon Company International. Pluto TV’s channel will provide fans with an accessible and curated stream of episodes across 22 seasons of the iconic original animated Pokémon series, featuring Ash Ketchum and his partner Pokémon, Pikachu.
Additionally, October 22 will see the launch of two new FAST channels on Pluto TV, Strawberry Shortcake & Friends and Go Go Gadget! The channels will also feature other popular brands, including Rainbow Ruby, Madeline and more on Strawberry Shortcake & Friends, and Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, Archie, Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario Brothers and more on Go Go Gadget!
9 Story Distribution announced several new sales for its animated comedy Open Season: Call of Nature(52 x 11 min) based on characters from the Sony Pictures Animation motion pictures. New licenses include DRTV (Denmark), RTS (Switzerland), AMC Networks (CEE) Canal Panda (Portugal), RTÉ (Ireland), Paramount Media Networks (U.K., Italy), Tubi TV (U.S.), Roku (U.S.), XUMO (U.S.), ETV (South Africa) and PCCW (Hong Kong and Macau). The series premiered on ABC Australia, WildBrain (Canada), Discovery Kids (Latin America), Disney Channel (Germany) and France Télévisions earlier this year.
Produced by 9 Story Media Group and Brown Bag Films with Sony Pictures Animation, Open Season: Call of Nature is created for kids 6-11, and follows best friends Boog, a lovable, risk-averse grizzly bear, and Elliot, a fast-talking, ‘act-first, think-later’ deer. When the pair discover an abandoned summer camp in the middle of nowhere, they embark on a brave and hilarious adventure to create a new place to live where animals get to embrace their inner wild! 9 Story Distribution International has worldwide distribution rights for the series and 9 Story Brands has worldwide merchandising rights. 9 Story has licensed home entertainment rights in the U.S. and master toy rights worldwide to Sony Pictures Animation.
In the leadup to The Creature Cases Chapter Four premiere on Netflix on December 2, Sony Pictures Television – Kids (SPT – Kids) finalizes a raft of free-to-air licensing deals, expanding the global footprint of its preschool animation series around the world.
Chapter One of The Creature Cases has been picked up by TV Azteca (Mexico), TV Cultura (Brazil), Hop (Israel), TF1 (France), and JEI TV (Korea), which complement the studio’s previously announced broadcast on Nickelodeon in the U.S.
Additionally, The Creature Cases recently joined PMI Kids’ World’s expanding portfolio of IP-based toy lines, marking the company’s first preschool license for both girls and boys. In collaboration with Sony Pictures Television – Kids, PMI will launch a new toy line including vehicles, figures and playsets in Fall 2025.
U.K.-based kids’ content and feature film distributor The Media Pioneers (TMP) has acquired the global distribution rights (excluding Singapore, Great China and Korea) for the action-adventure-comedy Codename X (26 x 13’), adding the first anime show in its growing catalog and securing several international deals.
The company has sold Codename X to broadcasters and streaming platforms including Junior Channel in Israel, MBC in MENA, SVOD language learning platform Lingopie for Europe and Ceska Televise in the Czech Republic.
The show follows Blue, a boy who unexpectedly time travels back to the past when his mum, Violet, was just 11 years old. He was shocked to learn that his mum he thought he knew was totally different in her youth. She was not a typical, boring mum at all but a senior officer at M.S.G. and one of the world’s top spies. Now Blue has become a new M.S.G agent and is working with his mum. Together they tackle and finish seemingly impossible missions, but can they change the future, or will they become trapped in the past?
The 2D series is produced by South Korean animation studio SIDE9. TMP has developed the English version of Codename X, collaborating with popular voice talents to perform the anime’s opening song. TMP has also introduced short recap clips at the start of each episode to help viewers catch up on previous storylines.
The Pinkfong Company, the global entertainment company behind the cultural phenomenon Baby Shark, announced a content partnership with MentariTV, Indonesia’s national private TV channel (owned by Emtek). Starting from October 2024, MentariTV will broadcast a range of The Pinkfong Company’s content featuring Pinkfong, Baby Shark, Hogi and Bebefinn. This marks Bebefinn’s first entry into the national free-to-air TV in Indonesia.
The partnership includes nine series and two movies, totaling 870 minutes of content, which will be dubbed into Indonesian. The deal also extends beyond Emtek’s OTT platforms to free-to-air TV channels, marking a milestone in Pinkfong’s content distribution. Since 2022, Pinkfong’s English-language content catalog has aired on Vidio, Indonesia’s largest OTT platform and Emtek subsidiary. The catalog includes hit series such as Bebefinn and Pinkfong Wonderstar.
