ITVX and Rai to broadcast kids’ adventure-comedy-fantasy Tara Duncan

More announcements imminent at MIPTV as screen success extends its global reach

Princess Sam Entertainment Group has announced that its hit kids’ adventure-comedy-fantasy Tara Duncan has been sold to major terrestrial broadcaster ITV of the UK and Italy’s national public broadcasting company Rai. The showing of the first 52×13’ series began on Rai Kids channel Rai Gulp in April.

Rai Kids is Rai’s department for children, one of the main European commissioners and investors in kids’ content, controlling two free-to-air TV channels: Rai Yoyo and Rai Gulp. Tara Duncan is now on air daily on Rai Gulp and on its free VOD platform Rai Play.

Series one will arrive on ITVX, ITV’s recently launched free ad‑supported streaming platform, in July.

The show was created by Tara Duncan author Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian with the aim of extending the IP of her multi-million selling books for six-to-nine-year-olds. Now Princess Sam Entertainment Group is building on the successful arrival of series one of Tara Duncan, developed and filmed by the Princess Sam Pictures division, in multiple territories in the past year. Total sales now exceed 80 countries, including such broadcasters such as RTS (Switzerland), DeAKids (Italy), Télé-Québec (Canada), RTÉ (Ireland), NRK (Norway), Nelonen (Finland), RTBF (Belgium), TVNZ (New Zealand), SIC K (Portugal) and Gulli Africa.

The success of the show was led by Disney and Gulli in France, where the first series was launched in spring 2022 to a great audience response, charting top among kids aged 4-10 in April of that year. In fact it returns to Disney+ from 23 June and will have a second run on Gulli’s SVOD service GulliMax from September.

More major sales are due be announced in the coming months across multiple continents. Visitors to the MIPTV where Princess Sam Pictures will be located in the French pavilion UNIFRANCE (P-1.M4), can ask for an update – and find out more about the extraordinary growth of Tara Duncan as a broadcast property.

There’s certainly a strong market awareness to build on. First published in 2003, tens of millions of Tara Duncan books have been sold worldwide. They tell the story of an ordinary girl from Earth with extraordinary powers who discovers she is heir to the throne of the Meme empire.

She soon finds herself on OtherWorld, a magical planet where she makes new friends and tries to thwart the ambitions of the evil Magister who wants to steal her magic and conquer her new home.

The animated series uses state-of-the-art, 3D CGI motion capture technology, more than 170 artists recruited from the global feature film industry, and advanced innovations to deliver an experience like no other: beautiful, astonishing and fantastic but also exciting, engaging and very, very funny. It also boasts a diverse and engaging cast of characters, led by the very brave, very positive and very slightly accident-prone Tara.

The next phase of the brand strategy will see the property evolve from its success in publishing and TV to the development of licensed consumer products. As Head of Licensing for the Princess Sam Consumer Products division, Laurent Taieb will bring more than thirty years of proven operational experience in all aspects of consumer products and licensing to the Tara Duncan campaign.

Annalisa Liberi, Head of Acquisitions at Rai Kids, says:“We are delighted to let our audience enjoy the colourful adventures of Tara Duncan, a successful TV series lighting up young girls’ and boys’ dreams, their gift and ambitions as well as their worries and fears. Rai Kids is happy to bring to the young viewers all over Italy this amazing animated adaptation of a publishing phenomenon and confident that it will enjoy an enthusiastic response.”

Darren Nartey, Acquisitions Manager: Films & Kids, ITVX, says: “ITVX prides itself on being the UK’s freshest streaming service and Tara Duncan is a great addition to our line-up. This funny, exciting and beautifully designed animated series will, I’m sure, be as successful with our young viewers across the UK as it has been in many territories across the world.”

Frédéric Gentet, Senior Content Sales Manager Princess Sam Pictures, adds: “The development of the Tara Duncan TV series had to be something special to mirror the massive appeal of the books – and it is. With sales to over 80 countries already, two of Europe’s best-known broadcasters now on board, and more to be announced soon, this unique adventure-comedy-fantasy is well on the way to global recognition.”