New Pang Pong series to be aired abroad

Net Leader will broadcast four Pang Pond television series containing a total of 39 episodes via its Yellow River (YR) Satellite TV in six Asian markets.

The Banlue Group will start broadcasting the series in Indochina, extending the fame of the character through merchandise tie-ins. Net Leader will then take over the plan.

Santi Laohaburanakit, general manager of Vithita Animation, the animation-creation arm of the Banlue Group, said initial revenue from selling the licence would be in the eight digits. The group and Net Leader will share other revenue from other business related to the television series and characters.

The new Pang Pond television series follows the export of an earlier Pang Pond series to Hong Kong and mainland China and a Pang Pond video game to France, the Netherlands, Germany and South Korea.

Net Leader, an operator of digital media and selector of television content for broadcast via its YR Satellite TV, broadcasts to 17 countries and territories. CEO Vincent Guo said his company expected eventually to expand its broadcasting to other markets. It now has one channel and plans to add five more soon.

Having the series broadcast through this Singaporean company in those markets will help it penetrate a Chinese-speaking audience and build up the character further, turning it into a huge revenue source and paving the way for the group to export other characters, Santi said. Those markets include Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

"Chinese-speaking countries have great market potential, where the company can further commercialise other characters and merchandise," he said.

The first Pang Pond television series will be broadcast from next month in those markets. After all four series are broadcast, which will take about five months, Net Leader will have the right to rerun them five more times.

To build awareness in those markets, Santi said each one would have its own strategy supported by the Banlue Group and Net Leader. Guo said his company would arrange events to strengthen awareness of the character and the series late this year or early next.

Santi said advertisers interested in promoting their products or brands in those markets could contact the group.

The Banlue Group now has 10 major characters. It is developing four projects related to them while studying their market potential.