Barcelona-based DeAPlaneta Leisure and Chinese language licensing and merchandising firm Alpha Group, which can be a producer of kids and household content material, have signed an settlement to collectively relaunch animated collection Bernard globally.
The dialogue-free, animated TV collection a few bumbling polar bear referred to as Bernard, was first launched out of Spain in 2006 and went on to win followers at dwelling and internationally, with the character referred to as Backkom in Asia.
DeAPlaneta Leisure introduced the partnership forward of the Annecy Worldwide Animation Movie Competition subsequent week the place the corporate shall be out in power on the MIFA market.
The corporate acquired the Bernard IP in 2023 when it purchased {the catalogue} of Madrid-based youngsters’s content material firm BRB Worldwide, in a deal together with broadcast rights and working licences for plenty of common animated exhibits.
Previous to the deal, Alpha Group had acquired Chinese language rights to the Bernard IP and produced three characteristic movies dedicated to the polar bear and his entourage: Backkom Bear: Agent 008 (2017), Agent Backkom: Kings Bear (2021), and Backkom Bear: Mars Mission (2024).
Below the settlement with the Alpha Group, DeAPlaneta Leisure, the proprietor of all Bernard-related content material beforehand produced by BRB Worldwide in Western markets, will distribute each new seasons and future productions created across the Bernard model outdoors of Asia.
The settlement additionally contains the worldwide distribution in Western international locations by DeAPlaneta Leisure of the brand new animated characteristic movie Bernard: Mars Mission, which loved a profitable theatrical launch in China.
Alpha Group is one among China’s high household and youngsters’s content material firms, with different credit together with Petronix Defenders, Tremendous Wings, Katuri and Quantum Heroes: Dinoster.
Bernard is at present broadcast in additional than 180 international locations via linear channels comparable to Disney Channel, Cartoon Community, Televisa, BBC, Televisión Española, KIKA, M6/Gulli, Nickelodeon, and Canal Panda, in addition to VOD platforms comparable to Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Rakuten, and Hulu.
It has additionally gained digital traction with a devoted Bernard YouTube channel, which as a subscriber base of 6.7 million; a complete of two.648 billion views, and month-to-month viewership of two million.
The Bernard IP has additionally generated licensing partnerships with Common, Ravensburger, Famosa, Panini, Clementoni, Warner Bros., and Comansi, amongst others.
“Bernard has achieved unparalleled international model maturity. Each DeAPlaneta Leisure and Alpha Group are happy to supply new content material to the followers of this unforgettable character,” stated Carlos Biern, Content material and Media Gross sales Director of DeAPlaneta Youngsters & Household.
