Superights

French distributor Superights has inked two new international broadcast deals for Le Regard Sonore’s hybrid 2D-animated and live-action series Koumi’s Animated Picture Book (pictured). The 52 x five-minuter was picked up by ABC Commercial Group (Australia), public broadcasters LTV (Latvia) and RTVS (Slovenia), Israeli pay-TV channel HOP! and VOD Now TV (Hong Kong). Originally ordered by French broadcasters Piwi+ and TV5Monde, the educational series introduces the audience to different animals and encourages kids to learn more about them.

Hopster

Preschool SVOD Hopster is diving into offline content through a partnership with subscription box provider One Third Stories that will see the companies launch a monthly subscription box based on Hopster’s Saturday Club series.

The boxes focus on teaching kids ages three to seven about empathy and mindfulness, and they’re available in the US, Canada and the UK for US$27 per month. Each one includes a storybook that introduces kids to new emotions, a journal where kids can reflect on their feelings, a digital audiobook and a booklet of games and conversation prompts for parents.

Saturday Club (six x three minutes) tracks four friends who meet up every Saturday to talk, play and learn about empathy. Created and developed by Dog Ears, with funding from Northern Ireland Screen, the series is one of platform’s most popular titles, according to Hopster.

Zodiak

London-based Zodiak Kids has teamed up with FX Digital to turn Zodiak’s CBeebies series Let’s Play into an interactive Alexa voice game. Let’s Play: You Decide guides kids through a series of educational activities. The app is free to use in the UK and can be accessed on any Alexa device or its mobile application on iOS and Android.

FilmRise 

New York-based AVOD network FilmRise has acquired worldwide distribution rights to Lilly Light Production’s live-action musical Lilly’s Light: The Movie. FilmRise has teamed up with at-home movie screening platform Gathr at Home for the US premiere. The screening will be followed by a live event featuring appearances by the cast and crew. The fantasy film follows a foster mom who tends to an enchanted lighthouse where kids have magical adventures. Picking up rights to the movie is part of FilmRise’s strategy for moving into the children’s content market.

Cyber Group 

Chinese broadcaster CCTV began rebroadcasting French studio Cyber Group’s animated series Giganotosaurus this summer following strong audience demand for it at a CCTV virtual live show. The series, which premiered on CCTV in December 2019 and has an exclusive VOD deal with platform Youku, was acquired again by CCTV to air on its app in August.

Gigantosaurus was named viewers’ favorite cartoon (26.4% of voters picked it) at a CCTV Children’s Channel virtual show called Cartoon Carnival of Summer Vacation, which celebrates animation in the country. Pacific Media Group manages the dinosaur-themed brand in China.