[13 July 2017] – On Saturday July 8th, FUN Union’s pre-school programme “BabyRiki” hit the main Chinese digital platforms and, in just 7 days, the episodes have totalled 25 million views. 30 out of 52 episodes have been published on Tencent Video, iQiyi, Youku, Mango TV and Beva.
BabyRiki is an animated series with content that covers all aspects of a child’s life. From physical wellbeing to social-emotional wellbeing and soft skills, the musical stories are based around age-appropriate experiences with educational concepts introduced in familiar surroundings and context for infants. It is produced in mixed technique using 3D CGI and live-action video.
FUN Union aims to bring uplifting, entertaining and educational content to children all over China. For CEO Christine Brendle, this success is no surprise. “BabyRiki resonates with toddlers and parents due to its appealing characters and beautiful setting. The series was developed alongside child psychologists to ensure that children would learn through fun and engaging storylines. It has no violence or evil characters and focuses strongly on developing social-emotional skills.”
According to Zijing Wu, China Director: “This is a testament to the success of high-quality content with strong educational values in China. Following our recent announcement about our co-production with CCTV Animation, we’re very pleased with these initial results.”
BabyRiki will launch across all digital platforms in China by the end of the summer (additional 20 platforms) as a secondary round of digital distribution. Its licensing business in the region will kick off as well, with a strong focus on premium children’s products.
The co-production deal with CCTV Animation is for a new children’s animation series “Krash and Hehe” which is scheduled to premiere in 2019.
FUN Union has been building communities in China through its proprietary edutainment platforms. Riki.cn is a tailor-made learning journey for parents and kids to enjoy together. For the little ones, there is carefully designed content such as interactive games, light-hearted songs and engaging animations that helps develop key life skills. There’s also plenty of great content designed for young parents – all delivered through associated WeChat accounts.
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About FUN Union
FUN Union is an educational content creator and global distributor with a focus on children of pre-school and primary school ages. Their community of brands is centered on the award-winning Riki universe, with high-quality, positive and uplifting animations that help to develop key life skills, including communication, cooperation, creativity and critical thinking. With a digital ecosystem that leverages technology to gather valuable insights, FUN Union believes in learning from audiences to continually improve market reach and create entertaining and high-quality educational content. For more information, visit www.fununion.net.
For media enquiries or further information, please contact:
Christine Brendle
CEO, FUN Union
Zijing Wu
China Director, FUN Union
Carina Ferreira
Marketing Director, FUN Union