Xilam Animation Locks New Deals for Zig & Sharko and Karate Sheep

Xilam Animation (Paris:XIL), academy Award®-nominated French animation studio, has secured a wave of global broadcasters for its popular titles Zig & Sharko and Karate Sheep, including new partners and renewals for both of the slapstick comedy series. Xilam’s series have also seen strong performances on Netflix, with a cumulative total of 93.5 million hours of viewing for content from the studio recorded during the first reporting window from the streamer – January to June 2023. With 114 hours available on Netflix, Xilam has the largest number of titles and hourly volume on the service than any other European animation studio. Furthermore, within Netflix’s top 15 original animated series for kids, Xilam placed two titles – Karate Sheep and Oggy and the Cockroaches: Next Generation – and was the only non-US producer within this ranking.

Commissioned by French broadcaster Gulli, iconic non-dialogue slapstick comedy series Zig & Sharko was Xilam’s most sold brand of 2023, with K+ Vietnam, Media Prima Malaysia now on board for the first seasons alongside renewals by long-standing partners of the series Netflix, Warner Bros Discovery (Africa and Italy), Viacom 18 (India), ERT (Greece), and RTL (Hungary). Following presales to VRT Belgium, Warner Bros Discovery (Italy), DeAgostini (Italy) and Viacom 18 (India), Season 4 of the 78 x 7’ series has also been sold to Warner Bros Discovery (France, Africa), DR (Denmark), NRK Super (Norway), Markiza (Slovakia), and ERT (Greece).

Xilam has also brought on new partners CG animated slapstick comedy series Karate Sheep, with Warner Bros Discovery (Italy), Sony (India), Youku (China), Nova (Czech Republic), and Etisalat (United Arab Emirates) boarding the series. Co-commissioned by Super RTL in Germany with Netflix, the 78 x 7’ series premiered on Super RTL in late 2022. Xilam holds second-window global linear TV distribution and merchandising rights for Karate Sheep.

Based on the report published by Netflix titled ‘What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report’, which covers the first half of 2023, Xilam Animation’s slapstick comedies achieved very strong performances. Zig & Sharko seasons two and three has garnered 40 million hours of views in this time period, and Karate Sheep has accrued 20 million hours of views in the first four months after its launch. The hit preschool spin-off to its iconic Oggy and the Cockroaches franchise, Oggy Oggy, had its first two seasons viewed for a total of 14.4 million hours, and Oggy and the Cockroaches: Next Generation also saw 19 million hours viewed.

Marc du Pontavice, Chairman and CEO at Xilam Animation, said: “Slapstick comedy series are at the heart of our offering at Xilam and have seen global popularity across generations due to fun-loving characters who embark on hilarious escapades. Zig & Sharko and Karate Sheep are some of our most well-loved brands, and it’s fantastic to have new and returning broadcast partners on board to bring these joyful adventures to audiences everywhere. We’re also proud to see such strong performances on Netflix from our series, including the family favourite co-viewing franchise Oggy Oggy and Oggy and the Cockroaches: Next Generation, that underscores the enduring popularity of these brands globally.”

About Xilam

As a major player in the animation industry, Xilam is an integrated studio founded in 1999 that creates, produces and distributes original programmes in more than 190 countries for children and adults, broadcast on television, and on SVoD (Netflix, Disney+, Amazon) and AVoD (YouTube, Facebook) platforms.

With a global reputation for creativity and innovation, coupled with cutting-edge editorial and commercial expertise, the company has cemented its position as a key player in a fast-growing market. Every year, Xilam builds on soaring successes and capitalises on flagship franchises (Oggy and the Cockroaches, Zig & Sharko, Chicky) as well as new brands (Oggy Oggy, Mr. Magoo, Karate Sheep), which are strengthening and expanding a substantial catalogue of more than 2,800 episodes and three feature films, including the Oscar-nominated I Lost My Body.

Xilam has unique CGI skills and employs more than 600 people, including 400 artists, across its studios in Paris, Lyon and Angoulême in France and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. Xilam was ranked France’s leading animation studio for the 2018-2022 period in a report by the French national centre for cinema and animation (CNC).

For more information, visit www.xilam.com