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Animaj expands «Pocoyo» franchise with season five and new digital experiences

Animaj, a pioneer in children’s entertainment, announced the launch of Season 5 of the beloved IP Pocoyo, alongside new initiatives aimed at captivating kids and their families wherever they are. This strategy addresses the evolving media landscape where digital and traditional formats converge, supporting the expansion of a global franchise.

Original, Made-for-YouTube Content: Pioneering Digital Engagement

Animaj produces 100+ minutes of original, ‘made-for-YouTube’ Pocoyo-related content per year to feed its leading network of Pocoyo channels on YouTube (50 channels available in 22 languages, attracting 26 million Unique Viewers/month). This approach is designed to regularly engage with the hundreds of million kids globally tuning in to YouTube each month, offering them tailored, quality programming that combines fun with educational elements.

The initial results of this ‘digital-first’ approach are promising. The first batch of content, launched to coincide with the Summer and the Olympic Games, has found early success, accumulating 27M+ views and 34.5M minutes of watch time since June 2024, significantly lifting the overall performance of the Pocoyo YouTube network over the past 3 months.

‘Our goal was to design content that families could enjoy together, mixing fun and learning’, expresses Guillermo García Carsí, Pocoyo’s original Creator and Creative Director. ‘These digital-first pieces include playful parodies of popular internet trends, original music, as well as seasonal specials’.

Directed by industry veteran Franck Monier, reputed for his work on The Amazing World of Gumball and Grizzy and the Lemmings, these episodes blend humor, and creativity, with learning components

**Guillermo García Carsí**, *Pocoyo*’s original Creator and Creative Director

Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, Animaj operates with two distinct content pipelines: Premium Content, designed for linear and SVOD platforms, and Digital-First Content, tailored for YouTube, social video, and AVOD. This strategy ensures that premium partners receive exclusive, high-quality content, while the digital ecosystem is consistently and regularly fed with engaging, differentiated and shorter-form programming. By protecting the integrity of its regular content (seasons of the regular series, spin-offs, feature films), Animaj maintains strong partnerships while maximizing reach and engagement everywhere kids are.

Bridging Digital and Traditional Media

As part of its innovative approach, Animaj leverages cutting-edge AI tools to accelerate the production of new Pocoyo content. These tools allow Animaj to release a new season every 18 months, ensuring a steady flow of fresh content for traditional media platforms and premium streaming services, while maintaining high production values.

Season 5 Concept and New Character Reveal

Season 5 of Pocoyo has launched, with the first batch of 26 episodes already available, maintaining the show’s classic charm. The second batch, directed by Guillermo García Carsí, will be released in Q2 2025 and will follow Pocoyo and his friends embarking on exciting adventures with a new and shiny addition: Bea, Pocoyo’s little sister. Bea is an adorable, unstoppable, and chaotic addition to the group, quickly shaking up the dynamics between the show’s iconic characters. Pocoyo, now a big brother, finds himself both challenged and delighted by his younger sister, and is also super protective of her.

While previous seasons of Pocoyo largely focused on the white canvas world of Pocoyo, Season 5 expands into the comedy/adventure genre, bringing new energy and excitement to the show. This season, Pocoyo and his friends will explore a variety of new locations, including tunnels beneath the ground, trees leading to a fairytale land, and even adventures in outer space! Along the way, they will meet new characters, such as a sweet, lonely giant, an angry invading alien, and a comically destructive monster!

Aging Up the Show

Aging up and evolving Pocoyo has been core to Animaj’s intent for this new iteration, providing a more enriching and developmentally appropriate experience for children aged 3 to 5. While maintaining the show’s signature charm, humor, imagination, and creativity, Animaj introduces more sophisticated storylines, comedy, and adventures, going deeper into the main characters to align with the cognitive and emotional growth of preschoolers.

This new season also marks a significant milestone in Pocoyo’s growth: Pocoyo is finally speaking as part of his character’s aging up. This development enriches his interactions with the other characters, adding depth to the storytelling and engaging fans in new ways.
Pocoyo, Bea and Friends

Season 5 also welcomes back the legendary Stephen Fry as the narrator of the Series. The acclaimed British actor and comedian, who narrated the show’s first two seasons, is returning to reprise his iconic role.

Season 5 has already convinced significant broadcasters and streaming services, including Cartoonito and Max in Brazil and Spanish-speaking LATAM, Prime Video in Spain and Portugal, Clan TVE (Spain), Rai Yoyo (Italy), TFO (Canada), TV2 (Hungary), Canal Panda (Portugal), and many more.

Earth Abides

This new take on George R. Stewart’s sci-fi novel of the same name stars Alexander Ludwig (Vikings) and Jessica Frances Dukes (Ozark). When a plague of unprecedented virulence sweeps the globe, the human race is all but wiped out. In the aftermath, as the great machine of civilization slowly and inexorably breaks down, only a few shattered survivors remain to struggle against the slide into extinction.
Cast: Alexander Ludwig (Vikings), Jessica Frances Dukes (Ozark)
Premiere: December 1, 2024 on MGM+

The Handmaid’s Tale

Seasons 1-6
Based on Margaret Atwood’s award-winning, best-selling novel is the story of life in the dystopia of Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly part of the United States. Facing environmental disaster and a plunging birthrate, Gilead is ruled by a twisted fundamentalist regime that treats women as property of the state. As one of the few remaining fertile women, Offred (Elisabeth Moss) is a Handmaid in the Commander’s household and is one of the castes of women forced into sexual servitude as a last desperate attempt to repopulate a devastated world. In this terrifying society where one wrong word could end her life, Offred navigates between Commanders, their cruel Wives, domestic Marthas, and her fellow Handmaids – where anyone could be a spy for Gilead – with one goal: to survive and find the daughter that was taken from her.
Premiere: The final season is currently in production and is slated to premiere in Spring 2025 on Hulu in the U.S.

The Consultant

The Consultant is a darkly comedic workplace thriller that explores the sinister relationship between boss and employee, asking how far we will go to get ahead, and to survive. Inspired by Bentley Little’s novel.
Premiere: The first season of the series aired on Prime Video.

Gladiators (Format)

This revitalized formatsees Gladiators going head-to-head with Contenders in competitions of strength, speed and agility.
Notes:The UK version which aired earlier this year on BBC One was watched by an incredible 9.8 million viewers (28-day figure) in its first season. A second series was quickly ordered. In addition to the UK version of the show, Prime Video has ordered American Gladiators and TF1 has ordered a French version of the show.

Are You Smarter Than…(Format)

This popular format, which has seen success worldwide, introduces a new take on the original concept in the upcoming series Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? where a single contestant will rely on a classroom of celebrities from screen and sports to help them answer 11 questions from a range of subjects pulled from elementary curriculum, in an effort to win a prize.
Notes: The U.S. version of Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?is hosted by American NFL star Travis Kelce and will premiere on Prime Video October 16, 2024.

The GOAT (Format)

The GOAT sees14 reality superstars move into GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) Manor to face off in a hilarious competition show in a battle for cash…and the title of Greatest Of All Time.
Notes:The U.S. version of the show, hosted by Daniel Tosh, streamed on Prime Video.

About Amazon MGM Studios

Amazon MGM Studios is a leading entertainment company focused on creating, producing, and distributing Original films and television series for a global audience in more than 240 countries and territories. Amazon MGM Studios also produces and acquires Original movies for theatrical release and exclusively for Prime Video, in addition producing Original content for Freevee, MGM+ U.S., and MGM+ International. The Distribution division licenses Amazon Original films and series, MGM Theatrical Slate Films, MGM Television- and MGM+ Studios-produced current series, and library titles.

Sales Executives

Chris Ottinger

Head, Worldwide Distribution, Amazon MGM Studios