Panini to Distribute YouTube Sensation Simon’s Cat

LONDON: Panini Media has been made the worldwide distributor—excluding Japan, Russia and New Zealand—for the animated Internet hit Simon’s Cat, picking up all TV rights from Simon’s Cat Studio.

First appearing online in 2007, the animated series Simon’s Cat, created by Simon Tofield, has received 234 million views on YouTube alone. The first collection of 16 animated shorts of Simon’s Cat were already acquired by NHK (Japan) and LA7 (Italy), and it will debut at MIPTV with Panini Media. The series follows the loving and sometimes chaotic relationship between a cat owner and his pet.