Olly motors to India with JV

MIP JUNIOR: The UK-based children’s brand owner behind Olly the Little White Van is launching an India-based joint venture with one of the country’s best known animation experts.

Olly Ltd is linking with veteran Indian animator G V Babu to launch Olly Animation Studios, which will be based in Chennai.

The deal will see a further 52 episodes of the kids show being produced, taking the total number to 117 and Henry Becket, executive producer and CEO at Olly Ltd, told C21 the expansion was “a serious achievement.”

“Close on £4m (US$6.07m) has already been invested in the brand and this next step will take that figure more than £6m. Not many home-grown preschool series make that leap,” he said.

The show, which airs in 40 countries including on Channel 5 in the UK, is produced by UK indie Ideas at Work, where creative lead will remain. Becket said the JV will “augment TV production with a greatly enhanced investment in new media” including online, mobile, augmented reality and e-learning.

Babu has more than two decades of experience in animation and has worked for firms including media and entertainment giant VenSat, as well as CVG Studio and Pentamedia Graphics.

Olly the Little White Van follows the adventures of a friendly vehicle that has adventures while helping people. It has already sold around the world including to Televisa Educativa in Mexico and is set to start airing in China shortly, while in Russia it has claimed 44 million YouTube views, according to Becket.