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TF1 Licensing - A Key Player
A Key Player in the world of Children’s Brands
Let’s talk about Kids’ Brands! With a strong connection to TFOU, TF1’s programming dedicated to children’s viewing, TF1 Licensing is a major player when it comes to licensing for children.
The favourite animated amily, Barbapapa, is one of TF1 Licensing’s evergreen international phenomena. Created over 50 years ago, they’re still popular today with the new series. Indeed, Barbapapa came back in 2019 with new episodes and a new show “The Barbapapa Family”. This new show is broadcast worldwide: on free channels in France, Italy, Quebec, Belgium, Finland and soon in Slovenia and also on Nick Jr (paid TV) all over the World, and it has been a success! In France, on TF1, the show achieved 37% audience share since its launch in November 2019, gathering 81.4 million contacts aged 4+ according to Médiamétrie – Médiamat. In 2021, TFOU had 444 airings of the show - twice as many as in 2020. Barbapapa is definitely one of TFOU’s key drivers, with four episodes every week. It is also a success in Italy, Barbapapa’s second home. Broadcast on Rai Yoyo, the show has an average of 126.000 AMR with 9% share among 4-7 on every slot, making it the most watched show in the early afternoon slot with 162.000 AMR according to Rai 2021.
A success that’s also very much supported by Giochi Preziosi, Barbapapa’s Mastertoy, who launched the first products in 2020. Figurines, playsets and plush, which went out with a strong marketing plan in France and Italy and are today in all the major retailers (Carrefour, Auchan, KingJouet, Jouéclub, Amazon and many others). Along with TV and toys, the Barbapapa family is also a success on bookshelves. Indeed, the new show is accompanied by a historic publishing partner in France: Les Livres du Dragon d’Or, who launch new products every year - eight titles in 2021 and more to come in 2022. In Italy, the publisher Salani has chosen Barbapapa for a series of new titles with a strong program. The Barbapapa stories are also adapted in books in Switzerland, Finland, Denmark, Bulgaria and Asia. Les Livres du Dragon d’Or also accompanied the Barbapapa Family when it entered the Louvre Museum. Indeed, in 2021, the characters decided to go to the museum with a wonderful collaboration never seen before - The BarbaLouvre. An arty and optimistic collection in which the most famous art pieces of the Louvre are adapted into the World of Barbapapa. A collaboration between the Louvre, the Réunion des Musées Nationaux (National Museum organisation) and Barbapapa to encourage children to discover art through many products: stationery, memory, clothes, etc. and of course a new novel by Les Livres du Dragon d’Or: “Barbapapa in the Louvre Museum”. Press, digital and TV coverage on an unprecedented scale allowed the collaboration to reach millions of contacts. And since Barbapapa is everywhere, they’re also coming back to movie theatres. Last year, the Family entered the dark rooms for a month with some chosen episodes on a specific topic:
Barbapapa goes green. This year, children and adults will be able to discover or rediscover their adventures with all the animals they’ve met.
A partnership with Kinépolis in about 70 cinemas in France this
Spring and a whole communication plan set to be revealed. All this success has motivated other partners to come along the adventure and the licensee family has welcomed many new members: Educa Borras with a range of puzzles, loto, memo and dominoes, Plastoy for the figurines, Pabobo (childcare), Xcellence (costume character), Fizzy (food), Take Care (Beauty and Hygiene products), CEP (fragrance), CTI (bed linen) and soon Friodis (bags). There are now 20 licensees all over the world.
As for Fashion, the Barbapapa Family is on trend! Along with Sahinler for textiles and Oxygen for shoes,
Barbapapa has entered the fashion industry with Patou. The luxury house, which belongs to the LVMH Group has chosen Barbapapa for a one-of-akind capsule collection available since February at Le Bon Marché store in Paris, but also in Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg and Taiwan.
So, as you see can we’ve entered a Barbapapa area full of projects and surprises to come! But that’s not all, and TF1 Licensing’s other brands from the children entertainment universe are stronger than ever.
Miraculous, the success story “à la Française” is more and more one of children’s favourite brands. In 2021,
the show on TFOU achieved an average of 38% viewing share across all seasons gathering 20 million people 4+. With over 300 licensees and 220 million products sold worldwide, the brand created by Zagtoon is still going strong with a movie coming up at the end of the year. In France, 50 licensees are now part of the family and TF1 Licensing is also expecting the musical show touring around the country by the Fall. On TFOU, season 4 is still being broadcast and will be throughout the year, until season 5 which is in production at the moment.
2021 was a Smurftastic year and it seems 2022 will also be quite blue! In 2021, the new show The Smurfs was launched on TFOU in May, making incredible audience records. The first episode had an audience share of 55% amongst children 4-10, a record since
2007 for this time slot and throughout the year the show gathered an average of 34% audience share according to Médiamétrie – Médiamat. A huge success that’s still going on as some unreleased episodes will still be on air for the first half of 2022. On the product side, Jazwares, the Smurfs’ international Mastertoy is getting ready to release a wonderful range of toys, figurines and playsets by the fall, carrying on other great projects to be revealed. The movie will be released by Nickelodeon Animation and Paramount Pictures in December 2024! TF1 Licensing is also proud to represent the promotional rights of Paw Patrol, the children’s 5th favourite license all categories (Children between 0 and 14, BrandTrends Study – October 2021). In August 2021, the movie was successfully released with over 1.4 million tickets sold. Throughout the year, the show enjoyed an average of 44% audience share with a daily broadcast. Today, the Paw Patrol family has over 70 licensees making it the top preschool license.
We talked about some of TF1 Licensing’s top brands, but the team is also very excited of the latest newcomers to the portfolio, which are already successful! In 2021, TFOU revealed two brand-new shows, which made quite an entrance. Between ghosts and knights, TFOU went back to basics and it worked! By the end of August, GhostForce, Zagtoon’s newest show started on TFOU and has enjoyed 31% audience share within the 4-10 age group between then and December 31st, with over 8.9 million people in contact with the show. On November 6th, GhostForce achieved an audience record with 60.6% audience share. Just like Miraculous, Playmates is GhostForce’s Mastertoy and will release the first range of products. In the meantime, some major partners have already signed up such as Blue Ocean for a magazines, Panini, Rubies and Amazon, who already launched the GhostForce shop. Following GhostForce, Gus the ItsyBitsy Knight was launched on September 1st 2021 on TFOU. Gus may be itsy-bitsy, but his audience is big with 39.8% audience share on the launch and an average of 33% between September and December 2021. One of TFOU’s greatest successes of the year and a perfect new show for Preschoolers, conveying great values such as selfacceptance, friendship and of course, adventure! The Mastertoy Mattel with its preschool brand Fisher Price will release the first range of playsets and figurines by the Fall 2022, with a strong media plan. This launch will be the start of a wonderful licensing adventure with new partners joining Gus! One of 2022’s most awaited show for children would be Imago. And it’s coming up soon! An unprecedented version of the Thousand and One Nights where motorized flying carpets meet
legendary creatures straight out of the Middle East myths and tales. Imago is about fun and adventure in a world where children grow up accompanied by their Imagos, wonderful and cute creatures with strong powers. The show produced by Chouette Company and Studio Reaz should be out on TFOU by the Fall 2021 and there’s no doubt it will meet the success it deserves!
