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\u2019 Anna Carugati.<\/p>\n
Yeatman outlined the broad plans for continuing to build the success of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir<\/em>, 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.<\/p>\n Miraculous Corp is \u201c100 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,\u201d Yeatman said. The 150-member team is \u201crallying around the company\u2019s purpose of inspiring future heroes to save the world and our company values of creativity, collaboration, impact, humility, honesty, nimbleness and perseverance.\u201d<\/p>\n Yeatman has begun assembling his senior team, which now includes Roz Nowicki as global head of consumer products, to further build the brand\u2019s significant L&M footprint, with more appointments expected by year-end.<\/p>\n The series, which already boasts 150 episodes, is rooted in being aspirational and relatable, he said. \u201cEverybody has a little bit of superhero in them and the responsibility that comes with that. It\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n The audience is broad, he noted, \u201cfrom 3 to 30. The core demo is 5 to 11, but we have a strong secondary audience of teens and young adults,\u201d with an almost equal boy-girl skew.<\/p>\n Its success has been multplatform, Yeatman continued. \u201cWe\u2019re 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\u2019t 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.\u201d Mediawan Kids & Family continues to distribute the show.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Beyond the series, there was a feature film musical last year as a Netflix original, with a second film now in development.<\/p>\n Yeatman presented Parrot Analytics data showing demand for the show across the globe. \u201cYou can see the growth from 2016, shortly after we launched, to the peak of the pandemic in 2021, a big decline in 2022\u2014we call it the Covid hangover, which is pretty consistent with every kids’ IP I know of\u2014and a rebound back to pandemic levels with upward momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyond the show and movies, there is a substantial gaming portfolio across mobile, consoles and Roblox, \u201cwhere we\u2019ve been the number one game based on TV IP over the last four years, with over 760 million gameplays.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The anniversary year in 2025 will be marked by a range of initiatives, \u201cfrom content and marketing, fan events, experiential collaborations, digital and gaming activations and special edition products,\u201d Yeatman said.<\/p>\n 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<\/em> released on Disney Channel in France two weeks ago and is rolling out worldwide. A fifth special is planned for 2025.<\/p>\n Season six reflects a range of milestones, including new story drivers. \u201cSet in a revitalized, eco-friendly Paris, our heroes are about to embark on a school year like never before, full of emotions and revelations.\u201d<\/p>\n Notably, the season was produced entirely in Unreal Engine. \u201cIt 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\u2019s paying off because of how the new season looks.\u201d<\/p>\n The series has also rolled out several episodes of Miraculous Chibi<\/em>, a 2D slapstick comedy. \u201cThey\u2019ve been very popular, and we\u2019re going to produce a proper season to release on digital and traditional platforms starting next year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Building out the universe of teen superheroes, there are plans for a new spin-off, tentatively titled Miraculous Stellar Force<\/em>, set in Tokyo and produced in 2D, followed by shows set in Brazil, China \u201cand 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\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n 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. \u201cWe\u2019re 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\u2019s a lot of opportunity and potential for us.\u201d<\/p>\n 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\u2019 media has included stints at Netflix and Moonbug Entertainment, about the best ways to capture a child\u2019s attention given the competitive environment.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to be where kids are,\u201d Yeatman said. \u201cYou cannot launch a successful property and become a franchise today only via one platform, even Netflix, which is so big. You don\u2019t have to be on every single platform, but you have to have a presence on digital. We have a very big YouTube presence, we\u2019re trying to build up our TikTok presence, as well as more premium platforms like a Disney Channel and Disney+.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to be able to hook [their attention] quickly, especially in an on-demand environment. Even though Miraculous<\/em> 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\u2019s really important. I don\u2019t think we have the luxury of a long build-up to a climax. And then, what\u2019s the shorter format\u2014it helps to think about what are these different expressions. It\u2019s hard to finance a show. We have lots of partners. It\u2019s important to be able to have something that works in different places and not just in one.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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\u2019 Anna Carugati.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":28551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[2757,1465,9470],"class_list":["post-28550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-andy-yeatman","tag-mipjunior","tag-miraculous-corp","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\n