Millimages gears up for second season of influencer-inspired Molang YouTuber

Millimages is seeking buyers for the first season of Molang YouTuber

French producer Millimages has self-funded a second season of its influencer-inspired series Molang YouTuber and is seeking buyers for the first season, which launched on YouTube last year.

The 20×14′ second season will see Molang, as well as sidekick and co-host Piu Piu, speaking English for the first-time and builds on the popularity of the IP, which taps into the ‘Kawaii’ trend on social media and has previously appeared in a non-dialogue TV series.

Molang YouTuber features animated characters interacting just like human content creators do, with popular video concepts like Reacts, Gaming, ASMR and various challenges. The first season saw Molang and Piu Piu conversing in their own made-up language with English subtitles.

Molang started life in 2010 as a doodle by Korean illustrator Hye Ji Yoo and quickly grew into a digital sensation in South Korea. Millimages acquired global rights to the IP in 2015 and developed Molang with French author Marie-Caroline Villand.

The first episode of season two is set to launch on Molang’s YouTube channel in the first week of June.

The second season will be accompanied by 10 additional episodes Molang’s Kindness Club, inspired by the current trend of filmed podcasts where participants sit comfortably in a cozy studio and enjoy deep chats.

Molang and Piu Piu will talk to guests about subjects such as mental health, cyberbullying and creativity.

Adrien Moretto, general director at Paris-based Millimages, told C21 the company self-funded the project on a budget of €1.9m (US$2m) with the help of sources such as the Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée (CNC).

“Producing for our own YouTube channel, essentially becoming our own broadcaster, has allowed us to understand exactly what our audiences want and what they connect to. Given its success, we trust that broadcasters will also recognise the potential of the series for their own networks, and we are open to discuss international distribution of season one (20×12′),” Moretto said.

“Molang enables us to continue in hard times. It’s not been since the end of 2022 with Pirata & Capitano, that we’ve had a production financed by a French broadcaster. The IP is strong, which enables us to finance our own productions on YouTube and have talent here working to create quality Molang content,” Moretto told C21.

Kévin Maintrot, head of digital content strategy at Millimages, said: “The dialogue free series was a big advantage for TV worldwide sales. But speaking characters will open all sorts of options for us to expand the Molang universe, solidify our characters’ status as virtual influencers and reach older audiences than the TV series, as we already did on social media like Tiktok and Instagram.”