Peppa Pig in America?

[72doug2,2S]

My preschool daughter instantly fell in love with Peppa Pig this week on Youtube. I wonder if this will catch on???

Darren Throop interview: Can Peppa Pig bring home the bacon in America? - Telegraph

Darren Throop interview: Can Peppa Pig bring home the bacon in America?
Entertainment One (EOne) may be the FTSE media stock that no one has heard of, but its key asset is one of the best-known children’s brands of 2010.

By Amanda Andrews 7:15AM GMT 25 Jan 2011

EOne is the company behind the children’s character Peppa Pig - the loveable yet bossy five-year-old pig generally seen jumping up and down in muddy puddles and making loud snorting noises. Merchandise sales of Peppa in the UK reached £200m in 2010. This is more than Thomas the Tank Engine and a third higher than Peppa’s revenues in 2009.

The world of pre-school programming may be hit and miss but, once a series wins favour with easily-distracted infants, it is often here to stay. “Pre-school has the best chance of success in multi-territories because they are under two. They have their own point of view and it is not distorted by culture,” says Darren Throop, EOne’s softly spoken founder.

BBC Worldwide took In the Night Garden to China, while Hit Entertainment has triumphed there with Thomas the Tank Engine. Thomas has successfully competed with local, distinctly eastern toy brands such as Pleasant Goat. And multi-territories is certainly Throop’s vision for Peppa Pig, which is 50pc owned by its creators and producers, Astley Baker Davies.

Until now, young Peppa has had little to worry about aside from tidying up her bedroom and fighting the common cold. However, this month she takes on her biggest single challenge - conquering America.

The US show will start broadcasting regularly on the Nick Jnr channel next month, following a series of successful pilots. Expectations are high on both sides of the pond. Industry sources forecast that, if the show proves to be as successful as it has been in the UK, merchandising revenues could top $1bn a year.

Throop says that success in America would be “transformational” for EOne, whose shares have more than doubled in the past year, largely on the back of Peppa’s potential. Its market value stands at £269m.

Bankers have been circling in recent months, questioning whether the group is undervalued on the basis of its US potential. However, some industry sources highlight risks, citing too much financial dependence on Peppa. However, Throop is relaxed. After all, this is not the first time the serial entrepreneur has built a company. He set up his first business, a chain of tanning salons, at 19, which he sold for “what seemed an extraordinary amount at the time” three years later.

He later settled in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and opened an independent music store.

”I couldn’t find the kind of music that I thought I wanted to hear. So I thought I’d just open a store,” says Throop, formerly a part-time DJ. “Then jump ahead 10 years and you’re in distribution...We were up to 167 stores at the peak.”

There is no time to discuss the decade in between store one and 167.

He will not dwell on stories of the past for long. Focused on the now, Throop asserts his group is not too dependent on any one property. He cites EOne’s eclectic mix of assets, which includes the non-US rights to the popular Twilight saga with its cult teen following. EOne, he says, is taking on the role of a mini-major, signing international distribution deals with new producers who may have difficulty accessing the traditional studio system.

”When Twilight started out, the major studios saw them as a start-up and wouldn’t let them leverage their international infrastructure,” he says.

Throop has hopes for Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom, another Astley Baker Davies creation that he wants to take to the US.

“We’ll push it when the timing is right. In the UK, the Ben & Holly toys have sold better than Peppa did in its first year of toy sales. In October, we launched the DVD for Ben and Holly and it sold 10,000 units in week one.”

He clearly has a long-term vision for the children’s market in which EOne is a key player with a list of leading pre-school brands.

Acquisitions are clearly on the agenda as he eyes rapid expansion.

EOne moved to the main market from AIM last July. “The Hit assets [Thomas, Bob the Builder, Fireman Sam] are coming up for sale. These are the most interesting ones that are coming on to the market at the moment. I think they have one or two of the properties which have a lot of the value and we’ll see what the rest of it is valued at...Chorion [Noddy and Mr Men] would also be interesting...Then there’s Cookie Jar in Canada [Strawberry Shortcake].”

While Hit’s owner Apax hopes to sell the group as a whole - probably to a media giant like Disney or a toy group such as Mattel or Hasbro - EOne has still expressed interest in individual assets.

However, until the right opportunity arises, the focus for Throop is ensuring that Peppa continues to bring home the bacon.

[72doug2,2S]

Anyone here know what I'm talking about?

[drcoastline]

Not me.

[Nevergrowup]

We have Peppa on children's TV here in Norway.

But my two youngest haven't found it nearly as amusing as their 12 year old big brother and myself... due to the snorting noises from Peppa, her big brother and mother... and of course her LOUD father!

Cute, and great fun!