The Adventures of Paddington coming to MENA

Paddington, the lovable bear who stole the show at the recent star-studded Platinum Jubilee concert in London, is coming to MENA, thanks to family entertainment media company Spacetoon.

In collaboration with STUDIOCANAL, Spacetoon will broadcast season 1 of 3D animation series The Adventures of Paddington on its Spacetoon TV Channel and Spacetoon GO online streaming service, in September this year. The series will be available with Arabic dubbing.

STUDIOCANAL’s Beatriz Campos, SVP Global Sales and Production, Financing, says: “We are delighted that Paddington, the world’s favourite bear, will be travelling to the Middle East to embark on exciting overseas adventures thanks to our friends at Spacetoon. He is adored by millions, both young and adult audiences, and we are sure his kind, optimistic and easy-going stories will charm all viewers throughout the region.”

 

CoCoMelon comes to Riyadh Winter Wonderland

Spacetoon Event and Moonbug Entertainment have collaborated with the Saudi General Entertainment Authority to bring a CoComelon Town to Saudi Arabia for the first-time during Riyadh Season.

For three months, kids and parents will be able to visit the CoComelon Town while at the Riyadh Winter Wonderland. This new experience, inspired by the number-one most-watched brand on YouTube – with over 3.5 billion monthly views – has been created by the Spacetoon Event team.

“Our audience has always been at the core of our work and we’re really proud to present this first-of-a-kind experience for all kids and parents of the region to enjoy,” says Ahmad Weiss, the General Manager of Spacetoon. “The CoComelon Town takes us one step closer to achieving our goal of expanding the presence of the brand in MENA through our on-the-ground family-friendly experiences.”

Adam Steel, International Licensing at Moonbug Entertainment, adds: “Our beloved CoComelon is the most-watched kids’ show in the world right now and bringing the town to life was no easy task, but the team at Spacetoon have delivered above and beyond our expectations, it’s going to blow kids’ minds! We look forward to the continued expansion of both our live entertainment and licensed goods, giving our fans across the region more chances to interact with the brand.”

The CoComelon Town will feature five locations, including: a replica of CoComelon’s famous house; Melon Patch Academy, a place where kids can learn 
about art, careers, animals and the world around them; Melon Patch Academy Playground; JJ’s Grandparent’s Farm, featuring planting, playing with sand, camping and other activities, and the CoComelon Musical Bus.

Additionally, kids will have the chance to meet JJ and take photos capturing that special moment. A range of CoComelon toys will also be available to purchase on-site.

Spacetoon and Moonbug Entertainment’s partnership goes back to the beginning of 2021, when the two parties signed a deal that named Spacetoon the master licensee of the CoComelon franchise in MENA, which resulted in the content being distributed across multiple Spacetoon platforms. Last August, they held a successful on-ground event at the Mall of Emirates in Dubai.

Spacetoon named master licensing agent and toy partner for Love, Diana across MENA

The family edutainment content producer, Spacetoon, has been named the new master consumer product licensing agent for Pocket.Watch’s Love, Diana brand across the MENA territory.

Under the deal, Spacetoon will launch a new line of toys and products, bringing Love,Diana items to shelf across the MENA toy market, appealing directly to Pocket.Watch’s growing audience base across the region as it build its global standing.

On top of this, Spacetoon has also secured the rights to localise, dub, and broadcast two of the most successful shows for Diana across Spacetoon free-to-air TV channel and Spacetoon GO online streaming service.

The first will be Love, Diana Adventures – a series that follows Diana into a new world – the Land of Play – where she is transformed from live action into an animated Princess of Play as she acts to protect her friends and family from Boris the Baron of Boredom. Love, Diana Adventures gained more than 10 millions views globally within five of the launch of the first episode.

The second show will be Kids Diana Show Ultimate Mishmash; a mashup of highlights from the Kids Diana Show YouTube channel starring Diana together with her brother, Roma. Diana and Roma take the audience through all of their family-friendly pretend play adventures; including dress up, role-play, and many other scenarios that spark the imagination of little kids.

Collectively, Diana has nearly 5 billion monthly views on her 14 YouTube channels, which provide audiences with family-friendly content in 9 different languages.

Ahmad Weiss, commercial director of Spacetoon, said: “We are thrilled to announce this collaboration with pocket.watch, to bring top-rated, family and kid-friendly content to the region, along with opening the doors for new merchandise related to the Love, Diana brand.

“Love, Diana is very popular among families around the world and the MENA region is no exception. People love this show for being adventurous and taking edutainment content to the next level. We are always open to this type of opportunity that results in bringing purposeful, values-based content and products to Arab families and presenting it in a unique way.”

Danny Sprongz, managing director, EMEA, Pocket.Watch, added: “Pocket.Watch is thrilled to enter into this licensing opportunity with Spacetoon to expand the Love, Diana Franchise in the Middle East.

“The Spacetoon audience, coupled with Spacetoon’s licensing capabilities will be critical to accelerating the Love, Diana brand and continuing to deliver fun and inspiration to young audiences within the region.”

Other Pocket.Watch titles to be made available on the Spacetoon TV channel and Spacetoon GO online streaming service, include the Emmy-nominated series Ryan’s Mystery Playdate and Ryan’s World Specials.

The shows will be dubbed into Arabic and broadcasted on Spacetoon TV Channel, while being made available on Spacetoon GO online streaming service. This will offer a chance to more than 100 million viewers around MENA to spend hours of joy and amusement with their favorite characters.

Spacetoon to develop consumer product programme for YouTube’s The Moshaya Family across MENA

Spacetoon, one of the MENA region’s largest family content providers, has signed a new partnership with The Moshaya Family – the top rated family friendly content creator in the Arab world – to roll out a consumer products and digital media programme that will encompass a new animated series.

Through the agreement, Spacetoon will work to transform the hit YouTube channel into a lifestyle franchise across a variety of consumer products including toys, animation series, video games, and FMCG specially designed to targeting and entertain kids and families.

In developing the consumer products programme for the channel, Spacetoon will introduce the franchise to the toy industry for the first time. The official announcement coincides with the unveiling of a new brand identity for The Moshaya Family, including a new logo reflective of the connection the family has established with its fan base across MENA.

The new brand identity is considered to be the first action towards building a strong brand positioning in the market for The Moshaya Family. As a result, this will pave the way for companies which look for partnership opportunities to boost their businesses through products for children and families.

Ahmad Weiss, commercial director of Spacetoon, said: “This is truly one of the most exciting partnerships that we have ever involved with. We’re so thrilled to be collaborating with the pioneer in the family content creation in the region to provide new experiences for kids and families throughout a variety of consumer products.

“Being in the family entertainment industry for over 20 years has made us closer to the consumers especially parents in a way that helps us win their trust. This couldn’t have been done without the massive support of our global and local partners.”

Muhammed Moshaya, the founder of The Moshaya Family YouTube channel, added: “We are so thrilled for this opportunity with Spacetoon. We have always been interested in enlarging our work throughout in many fields such as toys and licensing, but it was difficult to find the right partner. Now with this alliance we are so excited to finally see the results coming to light.”

Spacetoon has already partnered with Toy Pro, a Dubai-based company specialised in toy distribution and licensing, to launch the first toy line for The Moshaya Family brand in the markets alongside working on wide range of consumer products.