The last two years have been very important for the development of the activities of the television production company Showlab, with the acquisition of a share of the company by the Giochi Preziosi Group, the leading toy brand on the Italian market and the strategic alliance, in terms of production and licensing activities, with the historic animation production company, Studio Campedelli.

The feather in its cap is “YoYo” (52 x 7’), in coproduction with Rai Ragazzi, Grid Animation and Telegael, the second season of which is in production and will be completed in the first few months of 2020.
Drawn by Ugo Nespolo, one of the protagonists of international pop art, “YoYo” is among Rai Ragazzi’s top preschool series that has been sold to around a hundred countries, with around thirty gaming and publishing licenses in Italy alone.

Filming began in June, in Milan and Valencia, on the live action series for girls “Miracle Tunes” (26×26’), based on the format of the Japanese production of the same name by Dentsu.
Co-produced by Showlab with Spain’s Portocabo TV, the series has been successfully broadcast in Italy on Cartoonito since last October.
Since the first months of programing the five young protagonists of “Miracle Tunes” and their songs have become extremely popular with young female viewers in Italy.
Their tours around the country are always packed with cheering fans while their You Tube channel has over 150,000 subscribers.
The second season of “Miracle Tunes” (25×26’) will be aired, again on Car- toonito, from September.
“The production of Miracle Tunes was an important challenge not only from a production viewpoint but also in terms of the marketing of the spin-off products” says Guido Bertè, General Manager of Consumer Products at Showlab. “We hope that, with the second season, the series will be able repeat in other countries the high approval levels achieved with young female Italian audiences”.

In spring this year, international distribution was added to Showlab’s production and consumer product activities in the animation and kids’ programs sector, with the arrival of a highly esteemed professional in the sector, Micheline Azoury.
“For me” says Azoury “it was exciting to note the volume of work produced by Showlab and its quality and variety. This fall we will be bringing new proposals and second seasons to Cannes that are definitely very interesting for international buyers”

New productions were announced in 2019 in addition to those already in progress, including the animated series “Whiskey and His Friends” (26×7’, co-produced with DNA) and “Klincus” (26×26’, with Grid Animation), together with the launch of the YouTube MagaWow channel, a platform that brings together original content produced in Showlab’s Milan factory, content by the youtubers that are most popular with Italian kids and their families and which, from 2020, will begin programming original animated series. In the space of just a few months the channel has reached over 60,000 subscribers.

“In a constantly evolving market, Showlab is demonstrating itself to be a dynamic and innovative company also in the sphere of animation and kids’ programs” states Alfio Bastiancich, General Manager, Animation and Youth Programs at Showlab. “We are interested in international coproductions and new formats and are able to guarantee their 360° exploitation on the Italian as well as the international market”.