Village Gamer

DHX Media Ltd. is pleased to announce it has signed a licence agreement with Immediate Media for the UK magazine rights of Rastamouse, its hit preschool property currently airing in the UK on CBeebies and the BBC’s internet viewing platform, iPlayer.

Under the terms of the agreement, Immediate Media will publish a standalone Rastamouse title for preschool readers in the UK every four weeks from June 2012 which will feature stories, reward charts, and stickers. The new Rastamouse magazine follows a ‘Rastamouse special’ issue of CBeebies Magazine published in February 2012.

The stop-frame animated series Rastamouse, is set for a second season on CBeebies after scoring high ratings on the channel and iPlayer and proving hugely popular with UK preschool audiences and their parents. In 2012, Rastamouse on CBeebies has achieved an average audience per episode of 182,000 and a 19.2% share of children aged 0-6. In addition, in the first three months of the year, Rastamouse had been requested over 288,000 times on the BBC iPlayer.

Rastamouse, based on the critically acclaimed books by Genevieve Webster and Michael De Souza, launched on CBeebies in January 2011 and has since engaged a following of preschoolers and parents alike. The series features Rastamouse, Scratchy and Zoomer of Da Easy Crew, the mystery-solving, reggae-playing band who always make ‘a bad ting good’ and live by their motto “redemption, not retribution.”

The property quickly attracted a roster of licensees with DHX Media, together with subsidiary W!LDBRAIN Entertainment, signing deals with Universal (DVD), Character Options (master toy), Macmillan (publishing) followed by Vogue (melamine products from tableware to drinkware, clocks and room decor), Zap (bedding), MVSports (outdoor toys), Somerbond (underwear and nightwear) and Their Nibs (children’s sleepwear), Trademark Collections (bags, purses, wallets and umbrellas), Roy Lowe & Sons Ltd (socks, tights, hats, gloves and scarves) and GB Eye Limited (posters, prints, badges, stickers, tattoos). Ty UK Ltd. is also developing a Ty Beanie Baby line.

Activity for the first half of 2012 includes the second DVD, launched 19 March via Universal, and the first TV tie-in books published by Macmillan. Character Options will continue to release additional skus to complement Rastamouse plush toys by adding playsets and musical toys to their current line. Rastamouse is also building momentum outside of the UK. ABC recently launched the second Rastamouse DVD in Australia and Media Service Zawada will be releasing the first Rastamouse DVD in Poland in April 2012.

A Rastamouse Company Production for CBeebies, Rastamouse is produced by Greg Boardman and Eugenio Perez of Three Stones Media, in association with Wales’s Dinamo Productions, London-based Little Roots and DHX Media, which handles worldwide TV sales (excluding the UK), and worldwide licensing and merchandising.