Tag Archives: UYoung

China’s UYoung brings Magic Light Pictures’ The Gruffalo and more to its UKids app

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China’s children’s and family entertainment media company, UYoung, has acquired six family favourite films from Magic Light Pictures to broadcast across its educational UKids app and SVOD service.

The new deal will see Magic Light’s hit features The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo’s Child, Room on the Broom, Stick Man, The Highway Rat, and Zog all land on the platform, China’s only dedicated content English learning platform for pre-schoolers.

Based on the much-loved children’s picture books written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler, the films were first broadcast to audiences of millions on the BBC as an integral part of its Christmas schedules, for which Magic Light has produced a new festive treat each year for the last seven years.

Ukids is UYoung’s recently launched one-stop service of global children’s programming for Chinese families aimed at helping children to speak English through high-quality developmental content. Available on OTT, iOS, Android mobile and tablet, the dedicated kids’ app contains a wealth of specially curated content chosen for its educational value, ranging from STEM, arts and crafts and nature through to socio-emotional programming.

The English language learning elements of the app have been developed in partnership with the British Council.

Clara Yang, vice president international business and newly appointed general manager for Ukids, said: “We are delighted to have added these wonderful films from Magic Light to our UKids portfolio. They are perfect for the platform’s aim of providing educational and entertaining content in a safe and happy environment to help children grow and develop, and are yet another example of our ability to acquire top-class content from leading international production companies.”

Muriel Thomas, Magic Light Pictures’ head of international distribution, said: “The Gruffalo’s films and subsequent TV specials have a huge international appeal and we are thrilled to have signed our first deal with UYoung to bring these wonderful stories to a whole new audience.”

Boat Rocker Studios secures raft of global TV partners for Love Monster

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Boat Rocker Studios, a division of global media company Boat Rocker Media, has secured a raft of TV sales for its quirky new pre-school series, Love Monster. The new slate follows the series successful launch on CBeebies in late January this year.

Love Monster has achieved over six million views on iPlayer to date, and has now secured a suite of international broadcast partners, including ABC Australia, CBC Gem Canada, RTE Ireland, YLE Finland, and TVNZ New Zealand. These partners are joined by MBC, the largest private media company in the Middle East, and the Iberian kids’ subscription channel Canal Panda for Spain as well as the free-to-air channel Viu TV in Hong Kong.

The international roll out started with ABC Australia in June 2020.

Love Monster is a 2D animated series that follows the adventures of the one-of-a-kind, huggable hero Love Monster and his friends in Fluffytown. Full of heart and helping pre-schoolers understand different emotions, Love Monster showcases the importance of kindness, empathy, connection and instinct.

The series is based on the bestselling pre-school books by Rachel Bright, published by HarperCollins Children’s Books.  The production is a ground-breaking collaboration between BBC Children’s In-House Productions, Boat Rocker Studios and the Chinese kids’ entertainment company UYoung.

Love Monster is executive produced by Tony Reed for the BBC, Chapman Maddox for Boat Rocker and James Chen Gu for UYoung. The UK share of the animation for the series is produced by Karrot Animation and A Productions, whilst a proportion of pre-production on scripts, storyboards and design is provided by UYoung’s studio in China.

Boat Rocker Studios is managing the global content distribution and consumer products program for the franchise, excluding China and South East Asia which is managed by UYoung.