Grisù Licensed to Youku

Mondo TV Group has signed a licensing agreement with China’s Youku for the animated series Grisù.

The series follows the adventures of Grisù, a brave, positive, determined young dragon who wants to be a firefighter when he grows up, although he is supposed to become fire-breathing. The agreement gives Youku exclusive VOD rights to Grisù starting on January 1.

Mondo TV Group, Toon2Tango, Calidra and ZDF Studios are jointly co-producing the new series. Co-producer ZDF Studios is responsible for the worldwide media distribution of the audiovisual rights to Grisù, excluding Italy, France, Spain and China, which are handled by Mondo TV.

Already confirmed are broadcasting agreements with ZDF and Kika in Germany, as well as Rai YoYo in Italy and the VoD deal with Youku.

Yuanchang Sun, heading up the international business for Youku Kids, said: “With a very strong reputation in children’s entertainment worldwide, Mondo TV content is guaranteed to perform well for global audiences. Grisù is a well-loved classic and, thanks to Mondo’s involvement, will be even more popular when it returns to our screens very soon.”

Luana Perrero, Mondo TV’s head of global content sales and acquisitions, said: “The strong interest from major media players of the likes of Youku in Grisù is a confirmation of the continuing strength of our productions in highly competitive markets such as China. This is an extremely important deal in a major market for a series that we are certain will be strongly supported in many regions globally.”