LicensingSource finds out more on how the company’s Gigantosaurus brand has been busy charming preschool audiences this year.
The dinosaur theme is a constant source of success within the entertainment business. It is a theme which transcends age and gender demographics, with this group of reptiles which dominated the land for over 140 million years equally fascinating to preschoolers as to adults.
For Cyber Group Studios, this fact is coming through loud and clear with the success of its Gigantosaurus property. Based on the book by Jonny Duddle, the preschool show is on air in most countries around the world and has been dubbed in more than 30 languages.
The first season of the adventure comedy series is now available on Netflix and Disney+, while it also airs on networks including France Télévisions (France), Rai Yoyo (Italy), CCTV (China), Tiny Pop (UK), Super RTL (Germany), NHK (Japan), Channel 5 (Singapore), Disney Junior (worldwide), KAN (Israel), SRC (Canada) and Star Channel (Greece) to name just a few.
In EMEA, season two will be on air by the end of the year. It will be on major free to air broadcasters in 2022, as well as on Netflix. Season three will follow in 2022 and 2023.
“We want to be everywhere kids and their caregivers are watching,” explains Karen K Miller, president and ceo of Cyber Group Studios USA. In addition to the linear support, Gigantosaurus can also be seen on SVOD platforms, while special content is available on OTT platforms in the US.
Karen says the key attributes of the show – friendship, kindness, empathy and fun – have helped in its success, making sure it stands out for the preschool audience.
“Kids have long been fascinated by dinosaurs and they love to learn all about them,” she comments. “As you know, Gigantosaurus is based on Jonny Duddle’s wonderful book. The world that Jonny built is rich in design and the characters are very well defined. The book was an instant hit with readers. Since then, more than 15 books have been created from the series, enabling our audience to further enjoy these characters and extend the adventure beyond the screen.
“There is a lot of great content for preschoolers available and we are fortunate that they want to explore the world with Rocky, Bill, Tiny, Mazu, and, of course, Gigantosaurus.”
Looking ahead, and Bruno Danzel d’Aumontè, international licensing and marketing vice president at Cyber Group Studios, is confident of further success for the property. “We’re looking to deliver more episodes and licensed products that kids and families will love,” he tells us. “The pandemic changed the timing on everything, however, retail development and performance are starting to move forward and new products will bring even more excitement to the brand for consumers to embrace.”
Alongside Gigantosaurus, Cyber Group Studios has also been busy building up a pipeline of content. Earlier this summer, it revealed that it has secured an exclusive option agreement with Square Enix for an adaptation of Final Fantasy IX into an animated series for the first time. It will also be transforming gifting brand, Precious Moments, into a preschool series, while a major broadcaster is due to be announced shortly for The McFire Family.
Cyber Group Studios – which was founded in 2005 and has its headquarters in Paris, two production studios in Paris and Roubaix (France), an office in Los Angeles, plus strategic partnerships in Russia and China – is clearly ambitious, a fact underlined by the longer term aims for Gigantosaurus.
“Gigantosaurus is a long-term global property on screen and at retail,” states Bruno. “We will be introducing more seasons of exciting new episodes coupled with an expanded licensing programme that fulfils consumer demand for products based on the hit series.”
Karen concludes: “We have lots of great Gigantosaurus content coming including eventised movies. Gigantosaurus will be an immersive experience for kids and families. There’s much more to come.”
The licensing programme
Gigantosaurus started life as a book by Jonny Duddle, which inspired the show now airing on Tiny Pop in the UK, as well as on Netflix and Disney+.
bRAND-WARD has been instrumental in driving the licensing programme in the UK and developing strong partner relationships. There are over 15 licensees – including local, pan-European and global partnerships.
These include Templar (Bonnier Group) as publishing partner which has launched a range of storybooks, complementing the success Gigantosaurus is enjoying in both the toy and apparel categories.
In addition, there is also a video game from Outright Games (distributed by Bandai), plus a standalone magazine from Signature Publishing. Additional content, including music, is also available on YouTube with Cyber Group Studios promising much more to come.
“Looking ahead, we have a lot of exciting upcoming product rollouts in Europe and the rest of world,” comments Bruno. “We also continue to increase our licensee portfolio to cover new markets and territories in a wide range of merchandise categories, including apparel, bed linen, magazines and more.”
This feature originally appeared in the autumn 2021 edition of Licensing Source Book. To read the full publication, click on this link.
