Kazakhstan’s Unico Play picks up Siesta Entertainment’s animated kids’ series Black Moth

Siesta Entertainment’s Black Moth

Newly launched SVoD platform Unico Play in Kazakhstan has picked up Siesta Entertainment in Spain’s animated kids’ series Black Moth.

Part of Uni-Q Group, Unico Play launched in September as Kazakhstan’s first ever streaming service. It is backed by the Presidential Initiatives Foundation Dara and a number of private investors.

Aimed at children aged seven-plus, Black Moth is the first series from Barcelona-based Siesta Entertainment, which was formed last year. The plot follows a teenager who discovers her music has the power to transform her into an environmental superhero.

Siesta has finished production on the first 10×22’ season, in addition to a 20×11’ version, and is now in the process of raising the final 50% of investment for season two.

In line with the show’s debut, Siesta is launching lead character Alice as a digital influencer and singer, through which she will share music, moments from her daily life and topics such as protecting nature with her audience through social media.

Siesta is exploring how to produce this content with AI tools alongside traditional animation. Alice’s voice and songs are performed by Courtney Shaw, who has held roles in animated series and musical projects for Netflix, Disney Junior and Nickelodeon.

Siesta’s CEO Anna Shchur said: “It’s not easy to build a meaningful social media presence for an animated character, but you have to do it. That’s where kids are discovering stories now – not just on traditional TV, across VoD platforms and digital broadcasting – but through reels, songs and character clips that show up in their feeds.

“We believe AI is the future of creating relatable, engaging content for kids aged 7 to 12 especially when it comes to bringing animated characters to life on social platforms.”

Meanwhile, Siesta has acquired Unico Play’s original young-adult series Target for distribution. Featuring a cast of TikTok creators, the 26×22’ drama follows a group of teens at an elite school as they uncover a digital conspiracy after one of them begins receiving messages predicting real-life disasters.