Hit series BabyRiki to launch in the UK with ITV, and in North America with Kabillion and PlayKids
Hong Kong, 20th August, 2018 – FUN Union, a global children’s animation content creator & rights owner, today announces new deals with ITV, Kabillion, PlayKids, and Hong Kong-based Now TV, for three of its animated series – BabyRiki, KikoRiki and PinCode.
BabyRiki to premiere in the UK
FUN Union has signed an exclusive deal with broadcaster ITV, the most popular commercial television network in the UK, for pre-school animation series BabyRiki. BabyRiki is a 5-min animated show, combining 3D CGI and live video, where preschoolers are entertained, and learn through play. Each episode introduces an age-appropriate learning concept, illustrated with a song, helping the young child absorb and process through kinaesthetic learning. Seasons 1 and 2 (total of 104 episodes), will form part of ITVBe’s newly created weekday morning zone and will premiere on 3 September 2018.
“We are thrilled to be bringing BabyRiki to preschoolers in the UK. It is a fun and visually outstanding show, and an excellent addition to our growing slate of new pre-school content on littleBe,” said Darren Nartey, ITV’s Programme Acquisitions Executive.
BabyRiki on demand in the US
FUN Union’s deal with Kabillion, (the only independently owned company ranked among the U.S. Top 10 Kids Free On Demand TV Networks) will bring BabyRiki Seasons 1 and 2 to viewers of its VOD services from mid-September 2018. The Kabillion network reaches 60 million homes.
David Di Lorenzo, President of Kabillion, has welcomed the agreement, stating “We are excited to be working with FUN Union as both a broadcaster and a distributor for BabyRiki for North America and believe that U.S. audiences are going to love this wonderful series!”
BabyRiki, KikoRiki and PinCode to feature on educational SVOD app in North America
PlayKids, the worldwide educational SVOD app launched in 2013 by Brazil-based Movile, will offer BabyRiki, KikoRiki and PinCode to its North American viewers from 23 August 2018. PlayKids has accumulated a global reach of 10 million monthly average users.
“PlayKids is committed to contributing to children’s education and development by offering curated content and helping families to use technology in the favor of kids’ education. The new titles have been selected by our team of curators, and will provide content aligned with the concepts of cognitive development, education and learning that we advocate across all platform products,” says Fernando Collaço, head of content management for PlayKids.
Deals in Asia with PCCW AND POPS Worldwide
These new agreements are the latest in a series of international distribution deals for FUN Union. In Asia, FUN Union has signed an agreement with NOW TV (HK-based PCCW Media’s Pay-TV platform, and one of the world’s largest commercial deployments of IPTV and Hong Kong’s largest pay-TV provider) for BabyRiki to be part of its SVOD service “Watch & Learn” programming targeting kids, with launch on 9 August 2018. Recently, FUN Union also partnered with POPS Worldwide to launch BabyRiki, KikoRiki and PinCode in Vietnamese language on its POPS Kids channel, with launch slated for 17, 18 and 19 August 2018, respectively.
“Our series are celebrated for bringing entertaining and educational content to children worldwide,” shares FUN Union CEO, Christine Brendle. “These latest deals, from North America to the UK and Asia, are testament to the series’ global appeal, resulting from the close cooperation with education experts, child psychologists, parents and an exceptional team of creative talents.”
About FUN Union
FUN Union is an animation content creator and global distributor with a focus on children of pre-school and primary school ages. FUN Union’s community of brands is centered on the award-winning Riki Universe, with positive and uplifting cartoons that help develop key life skills, including communication, cooperation, creativity and critical thinking. With a digital ecosystem leveraging technology to gather valuable insights, FUN Union believes in learning from audiences to continually improve market reach and create high quality entertaining content. For more information, visit www.fununion.net.
For further information, please contact:
Manuela Burki, Director of Marketing
Tel: +852 36117840
Email: [email protected]
37/F, 41 Heung Yip Road, Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong
www.fununion.net
About littleBe:
littleBe is a brand new dedicated pre-school block on ITVBe targeting children aged 2-4 in the UK during key broadcast hours (09:00-12:00). ITV’s home for younger viewers, the block has been acquiring a range of animated and live action programmes.
ITV is an integrated producer broadcaster and the largest commercial television network in the UK. It operates a family of channels including ITV, ITVBe, ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 and CITV, which are broadcast free-to-air. ITV is also focused on delivering its programming via the ITV Hub, mobile devices, video on demand and third-party platforms. For more information: www.itv.com
About Kabillion
Kabillion® and Kabillion Girls Rule™!, a subsidiary of US based Splash Entertainment, is a ranked Top Ten U.S. Kids Free On Demand TV Networks, reaching over 60 million US households and available on Comcast, Time Warner & Charter, among others. Kabillion is an ad supported network with pre-roll ads geared to kids and their families offering advertisers benefits such as increased ad durations, longer campaign flights and interstitials in a 24/7 On Demand Network. Kabillion’s reach extends across their multiple platforms, including Kabillion, Kabillion Girls Rule!, and the Kabillion OTT app available on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV, along with its YouTube channel which operates in direct partnership with YouTube.
About PlayKids
PlayKids is a platform created to strengthen the bond between parents and their children through fun and educational digital content. Created in 2013, PlayKids offers products to help children learn through play using the online and offline universe. The platform also offers parents and educators the ability to follow their children’s development. The PlayKids platform includes the PlayKids app (the #1 children’s app in the world); PlayKids Explorer – a personalized kit for children that delivers the world to your door (through stories, crafts, games and augmented reality activities), and Leiturinha (Brazil’s largest children’s book club). For more information: www.playkids.com
About PlayKids app
With more than 5 million active users per month, the PlayKids app is distributed in more than 180 countries. PlayKids was chosen as one of the best apps for iOS and Apple TV in 2016. Created in 2013, the app offers more than 4,000 cartoons, books, games, and activities selected by children’s specialists to help stimulate physical, intellectual, and social development.
About Now TV
Now TV is one of the world’s largest commercial deployments of IPTV and Hong Kong’s largest pay-TV provider. It is delivered by PCCW Media Limited, the multimedia and entertainment subsidiary of PCCW Limited. PCCW also holds interests in telecommunications, IT solutions, property development and investment, and other businesses.
Now TV offers the widest range of local and international content on its platform in Hong Kong. Its quality self-produced content includes two news channels and a diverse line up of sports and entertainment programmes. This is complemented by leading Asian and international content and brands across news, sports, movie, drama, entertainment, information and kids’ genres.
Now TV’s premium content can be accessed through linear TV channels, on-demand and via OTT (over-the-top) companion apps. Now TV can also be enjoyed on the eye devices provided by HKT, the telecommunications business of PCCW. To learn more about Now TV, please visit http://nowtv.now.com/
About POPS Worldwide
POPS Worldwide is the leading digital entertainment in Southeast Asia with over 3.5 billion monthly views and works with over 2,700 international and domestic content partners. POPS Kids is an online entertainment channel that produces educational and entertaining content for children. POPS Kids consists of carefully produced content dedicated to young children, featuring the music show “Mam Choi La” and animated series from Boomerang and most-loved Japanese series like Doraemon, Pokémon, One Piece, POPS Kids distributes many children music videos with the views ranging from tens to hundreds. POPS Kids earned its YouTube Gold Play Button in 2016 and now serves over 4.3 million subscribers and more than 5 billion views. POPS Kids TV for iOS and Android are mobile applications for smartphones and tablets that provide a human-curated and safe content environment for children. POPS Kids: www.popskids.tv POPS Kids on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/popskids