RIKI GROUP CREATES ALLIANCE FOR THE SEASON 4 OF "THE FIXIES"

The Riki Group, a leader in Russian animation production, and Joy Culture Media, a production and distribution company based in Beijing, have signed an agreement with Tencent Video as an investor in the production of season 4 of the animated series “The Fixies”.

The series is produced by Moscow’s Aeroplane Productions, which was recently acquired by The Riki Group. Following the exclusive acquisition deal of Season 3 of "The Fixies", Tencent will acquire 52 new episodes of the series, as well as 26x15’ episodes of the new Fixies spin-off “Fixie Lab” which is being produced by Joy Culture Media in China.

The first 13 episodes of Season 4 will be completed before the end of December 2020, with 13 new episodes delivered every 6 months, until completion of the entire 52 episodes by June 2022. The series will be released simultaneously in Russian and Chinese with English available shortly thereafter.

“We consider this further step in our continued partnership with one of China’s largest companies that specializes in content for kids and families to be the strongest evidence of our characters’ popularity in this country,” said Julia Sofronova, producer of "The Fixies". “Five years ago Tencent acquired non-exclusive rights for the first two seasons of 'The Fixies', then exclusive rights for Season 3 and now they have invested in the production of a new season. This leaves little doubt in Tencent’s faith in the quality of our productions and in continued interest in the series from its audience. Moreover, the Chinese audience will be the first to see 'The Fixies' new science show, which we are still only dreaming about in Russia,” she added.

“We’re delighted that Chinese children will have a chance to watch Season 4 of 'The Fixies' at the end of this year. The deal is also strategically important for the brand’s development. We are glad to be continuing our exclusive licensing deal with Tencent video as they’re having great success with The Fixies brand in China,” – comments Li Yan, CEO of Beijing’s Joy Culture Media, Co.

"The Fixies", owned and managed by the Riki Group and produced by Aeroplane Productions of Moscow, was first launched on Tencent in 2015 and gained immediate popularity with the Chinese audience. At the moment the total number of views of the series on Chinese VOD platforms has surpassed 12 billion views, with over 6.4 billion views on Tencent Video alone. The series has been sold to over 90 territories and has had over 15 billion views on VOD platforms worldwide.