Andy Yeatman Unveils Miraculous Ambitions at MIPJunior

Andy Yeatman, the CEO of Miraculous Corp USA and global operations, showcased plans for the new ZAG and Mediawan joint venture at MIPJunior today before sitting down for a Q&A with TV Kids’ Anna Carugati.

Yeatman outlined the broad plans for continuing to build the success of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, which marks its tenth anniversary in 2025, and showcased some of the aspirations for the overall franchise, including a slate of new shows set in international territories, feature films, consumer products and more.

Miraculous Corp is “100 percent focused on building out a universe of female and teen superheroes dedicated to the vision of creating the most-loved superhero IP for the next generation,” Yeatman said. The 150-member team is “rallying around the company’s purpose of inspiring future heroes to save the world and our company values of creativity, collaboration, impact, humility, honesty, nimbleness and perseverance.”

Yeatman has begun assembling his senior team, which now includes Roz Nowicki as global head of consumer products, to further build the brand’s significant L&M footprint, with more appointments expected by year-end.

The series, which already boasts 150 episodes, is rooted in being aspirational and relatable, he said. “Everybody has a little bit of superhero in them and the responsibility that comes with that. It’s also got coming-of-age themes: friendship, first crushes, secret identities, a healthy dose of magic and, of course, the beautiful city of Paris, which we consider to be a character in the show. And while the show has a lot of action, adventure and romance, it also is fundamentally based on wholesome values.”

The audience is broad, he noted, “from 3 to 30. The core demo is 5 to 11, but we have a strong secondary audience of teens and young adults,” with an almost equal boy-girl skew.

Its success has been multplatform, Yeatman continued. “We’re fortunate to have broadcast and streaming partners in over 150 markets around the world. Disney and Netflix are our global partners, but the show, frankly, wouldn’t even exist without our key free-to-air broadcasters who have been supportive of the show from the very beginning, particularly TF1 in France and Globo in Brazil.” Mediawan Kids & Family continues to distribute the show.

There is also a significant digital footprint, with over 40 million lifetime views on YouTube, 6 million followers on TikTok and about 2 million on Instagram.

Beyond the series, there was a feature film musical last year as a Netflix original, with a second film now in development.

Yeatman presented Parrot Analytics data showing demand for the show across the globe. “You can see the growth from 2016, shortly after we launched, to the peak of the pandemic in 2021, a big decline in 2022—we call it the Covid hangover, which is pretty consistent with every kids’ IP I know of—and a rebound back to pandemic levels with upward momentum.”

Beyond the show and movies, there is a substantial gaming portfolio across mobile, consoles and Roblox, “where we’ve been the number one game based on TV IP over the last four years, with over 760 million gameplays.”

On the L&M front, there are 400 licensees with $1.5 billion in retail sales so far, including partnerships with brands like Air France, Revlon and Volkswagen.

The anniversary year in 2025 will be marked by a range of initiatives, “from content and marketing, fan events, experiential collaborations, digital and gaming activations and special edition products,” Yeatman said.

He then laid out the vision for what was ahead. Season six of the series drops in 2025, with season seven in production. A fourth TV movie is out now: Miraculous World: London, At The Edge of Time released on Disney Channel in France two weeks ago and is rolling out worldwide. A fifth special is planned for 2025.

Season six reflects a range of milestones, including new story drivers. “Set in a revitalized, eco-friendly Paris, our heroes are about to embark on a school year like never before, full of emotions and revelations.”

Notably, the season was produced entirely in Unreal Engine. “It required the team to re-create every single asset from scratch. We took the opportunity to give our characters a little bit of a makeover and a refresh. Unreal Engine enables high-quality real-time rendering that supports higher fidelity images, more complex character animation and more lifelike emotion. It also enables our team to direct and give feedback in real-time and navigate throughout the world in real-time on their screen. This was a big investment in terms of time, money and human power, and we think it’s paying off because of how the new season looks.”

The series has also rolled out several episodes of Miraculous Chibi, a 2D slapstick comedy. “They’ve been very popular, and we’re going to produce a proper season to release on digital and traditional platforms starting next year,” he said.

Building out the universe of teen superheroes, there are plans for a new spin-off, tentatively titled Miraculous Stellar Force, set in Tokyo and produced in 2D, followed by shows set in Brazil, China “and a whole host of iconic locations around the world. Each character is very different but has certain core traits in common, which is that they’re relatable teenagers with relatable teenage problems who have discovered that they have superpowers and use those powers to help save the community and the people around them.”

There are also plans for further seasons of the flagship show, new TV movies and feature films, with a live-action series also in development. “We’re looking to build this super popular show into a franchise universe, leveraging new characters, new formats, new experiences, both digital and live, and new regions. Asia, specifically, we think there’s a lot of opportunity and potential for us.”

Yeatman was then joined on stage by Anna Carugati, editor-at-large at World Screen and TV Kids. She asked Yeatman, whose career in kids’ media has included stints at Netflix and Moonbug Entertainment, about the best ways to capture a child’s attention given the competitive environment.

“We want to be where kids are,” Yeatman said. “You cannot launch a successful property and become a franchise today only via one platform, even Netflix, which is so big. You don’t have to be on every single platform, but you have to have a presence on digital. We have a very big YouTube presence, we’re trying to build up our TikTok presence, as well as more premium platforms like a Disney Channel and Disney+.

“You have to be able to hook [their attention] quickly, especially in an on-demand environment. Even though Miraculous was developed as a traditional TV show, because of the iconic visuals, the action and this iconic theme song, it hooks you right at the beginning. That’s really important. I don’t think we have the luxury of a long build-up to a climax. And then, what’s the shorter format—it helps to think about what are these different expressions. It’s hard to finance a show. We have lots of partners. It’s important to be able to have something that works in different places and not just in one.”