KidsCo, Nick pick up Asian toons

Global children’s channels KidsCo and Nickelodeon have placed their faith in a pair of cartoons created in Asia.

Shelldon

The deals represent a growing interest in IP created in the region, which is moving toward owning content rather than only acting as a service industry for toons created in the West.

KidsCo has acquired Shelldon (26×22′), a marine-themed toon that comes from Thailand’s Shellhut Entertainment, and will dub it for all local territories. It will debut in November.

The series is one of the best-known cartoons from Thailand, having first hit the international market at Mipcom four years ago, at the time via Entertainment Rights.

KidsCo scored its deal directly through Shellhut’s CEO Dr Jirayuth Chusanachoti, though Hit Entertainment was selling the show as recently as February last year.

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s Inspidea, another Asian toon house that’s driving the trend for locally created intellectual property, is working on a 12×2′ shortform series for Nick.

Akis will tell the stories of an imaginative a young girl that loves to play-pretend, in both English and Bahasa Malaysian. “Although the show is set in Malaysia, viewers everywhere will relate to Akis because of the similarities in their experiences,” said Inspidea’s CEO Andrew Ooi.

It’s a second original Malaysian series this year for Nick, which debuted Cingkus Blues, a series about a best friend combo cat and rat combo, in February.