Gulli, VRT-Ketnet, Discovery, DeA, Nickelodeon and Nova TV board upcoming fourth season of beloved slapstick comedy series
Xilam Animation has secured its first wave of deals for the upcoming fourth season of its iconic non-dialogue slapstick comedy series Zig & Sharko (78 x 7’), as the company prepares to debut the first episode to buyers at MIPCOM. Launching in September 2023, season four has been acquired by longstanding partner Gulli (France), which has also renewed its partnership across the previous three seasons. Additionally, Xilam has sold the new instalment to existing partners VRT-Ketnet (Belgium), Discovery (Italy), DeA (Italy), Nickelodeon (India) and Nova TV (Israel).
Zig & Sharko continues to generate impressive ratings internationally, particularly in India where the series resulted in Nickelodeon becoming the leading children’s channel in its evening slot, across all demos. In Q2 2022, Zig & Sharko was also Nickelodeon’s fourth best performing series among children aged 2-14 years and outperformed its lead in and lead out shows in all demos in terms of ratings.
Xilam has also established an extensive audience for Zig & Sharko on YouTube, where the series has generated 14.2BN lifetime views, with 8.4M daily global views and 26.7M total subscribers. On social media, the brand now has 1.1M TikTok followers and 9.3M views are associated with #zigandsharko, while on Facebook the series was viewed for 727.4M minutes in 2021.
On the high seas, the beach or an ocean liner, Zig, a hungry hyena has one thing in mind: dining on Marina, the carefree mermaid. With help from Bernie, a genius hermit-crab, he comes up with the zaniest plans to capture her…but that’s forgetting Sharko, the shark with rippling muscles who will do anything to protect his mermaid honey! The new fourth season will surprise audiences, as they watch Zig, Sharko and Bernie make their way back to their island, accompanied by Marina – who fans will see growing her very own legs thanks to magical sandals.
Morgann Favennec, EVP Distribution at Xilam Animation, said: “Zig & Sharko is a core part of Xilam’s legacy for creating non-dialogue slapstick comedy series that successfully capture the hearts of multiple generations of fans all around the world. As we gear up for MIPCOM 2022, it’s fantastic to already have an array of leading broadcasters on board for Zig & Sharko’s fourth season, and we’re very much looking forward to introducing further buyers to the upcoming instalment, which promises even more hilarious and playful adventures for the show’s broad and highly engaged international fan base.”
