Entertainment One (eOne) today unveils plans to reach a global audience with its Chinese New Year-Year of the Pig celebrations with two new episodes of Peppa Pig, which will be broadcast to viewers across multiple markets. The specials centre on Peppa and her friends and family celebrating Chinese New Year and will begin airing on Tuesday, 5 February 2019 in the U.K., in honour of the Year of the Pig. Select markets will air the specials in Mandarin.
Nickelodeon’s global network, including the US, will be joined by FTA broadcasters in multiple markets to air the themed specials during the Chinese New Year celebrations including: Australia (ABC) and New Zealand (TVNZ), Europe (Channel 5 Milkshake, RAI, France TV, CLAN), Canada (Treehouse), South Africa (ETV), as well as in local language in Asia, Taiwan (YoYo), and Hong Kong (nowTV). FTA VOD platforms will also air according to their planned schedules.
“We’re excited to unveil our latest plans to celebrate Chinese New Year with Peppa Pig fans around the world, thanks to a ground-breaking campaign we are rolling out with our broadcast partners around the globe,” said eOne’s EVP content sales, family & brands Monica Candiani. eOne’s president, family & brands Olivier Dumont further added “Airing Peppa Pig in Mandarin across our global broadcast platform will be a company first. As one of the fastest growing languages in the world, we hope the special broadcast will appeal to both native speakers and children
wanting to get a first taste of Mandarin as a second language and we look forward to inspiring more children to learn about this rich language and culture.”
In the first episode, Chinese New Year, Madame Gazelle teaches the children all about Chinese New Year and they make a dragon costume for an unforgettable fireworks parade. In the second episode, Panda Twins, we are introduced to new characters Peggi and Pandora Panda, twin daughters of Policeman Panda, who are brought to playgroup for the first time.
The broadcast plans are part of eOne’s overarching strategy to celebrate Chinese New Year- Year of the Pig with Peppa Pig throughout 2019, including a raft of exciting plans for Chinese consumers. A nationwide cinema release, Peppa Celebrates Chinese New Year, co-produced by Alibaba Pictures, will release in China on 5 February 2019, exclusive Chinese New Year merchandise will be available including the first Panda Twin toys, large scale retail activations with leading e-commerce platform Tmall will be supported by a significant marketing campaign and a cross partnership with Merlin Entertainments’ new Peppa Pig World of Play indoor attraction in Shanghai will be full of surprises.
Recently a promotional video for the highly anticipated Chinese cinema release, Peppa Pig Celebrates Chinese New Year, became a viral sensation on social media platforms clocking up over 1.5 billion views in less than one week. Zhang Dapeng, who directed the film, said both the trailer and the film aimed to promote family values. “Besides drawing attention to the film, what I wanted to do through this promotional trailer was to share the same values that are highlighted in the film – family, reunion, harmony and love.”