Hit Entertainment Bolsters Asia TV Presence With Programme Sales To CCTV And EBS

BRANDORA Editorial Staff - September 2011

HIT Entertainment, one of the world’s leading independent children’s entertainment producers and rights-owners, today announced two significant broadcast deals serving to further the presence of popular preschool brands ‘Thomas & Friends’, ‘Bob the Builder’ and ‘Barney’ in two key Asian markets – China and Korea.

Within China, audiences can look forward to 80 new episodes of popular preschool show ‘Thomas & Friends’ following CCTV’s acquisition of series 12-15. These four new series are set to run consecutively on the CCTV Kids channel, with back to back programming scheduled to air over the coming months.

The deal extends HIT Entertainment’s relationship with CCTV who acquired series 8-11 of ‘Thomas & Friends’ in 2009. Following a strong ratings performance, the broadcaster has since aired all the episodes multiple times.

In series 12-15, Chinese pre-schoolers will be introduced to ‘Thomas & Friends’ in its new CGI format. The ‘Thomas & Friends’ CGI programming has already proved popular in other territories, with ratings up 86%* in the UK (FIVE Milkshake!), 50%** in the US (PBS) and 47%*** in Australia (ABC).

The deal with EBS comprises the acquisition of the new CGI series of ‘Thomas & Friends’ and ‘Bob the Builder’ by the Korean state broadcaster, along with Barney which will be making its channel debut. Audiences in Korea will be able to enjoy ‘Thomas & Friends’ series 12-15, ‘Bob The Builder’ series 14-17 and ‘Barney’ series 7-13.

Antonio Huab, SVP Thomas Asia at HIT Entertainment, says: ‘We’re delighted to extend our relationship with CCTV and bring new CGI episodes of Thomas & Friends to audiences in China who we know already love the brand. It’s also very exciting to introduce Barney to the EBS audience, along with the new CGI Thomas & Friends and Bob the Builder through our new partnership with the channel. China and Korea are two key markets for HIT Entertainment within the Asia-Pacific region and we hope these deals will further promote growth for our brands in these countries”.

* BARB **Nielsen *** OzTAM