Alibaba Will Finance the New Season of “Tim and Tom” Series by “Smeshariki” Studio and Will Receive the Broadcast Rights

The second season of the animated series in China has received more than 2 billion views.

The Youku Kids platform, which is owned by Alibaba, will receive exclusive rights to broadcast three new seasons in China, RBC writes with reference to Riki’s managing director Mark Zavadsky. Youku Kids have confirmed the agreement.
The parties do not disclose the exact amount of investments, according to Zavadsky, we are talking about “several million dollars.” In July 2023, 52 episodes will be released in 3D and 2D, in 2024-2025 – the next 104. The rights to Russia and the rest of the world will remain with Rika.
Alibaba was involved in producing and promoting the second season of the animated series in China. According to “Ricky”, in the first week, the series entered the top 3 on children’s hosting Youku, and the total number of views exceeded 2 billion. Baby food manufacturer Yili New Food Machine has released a line of yoghurts with the characters of the series.
Tim and Tom is an animated comedy series for preschoolers aged three to five. In the center of the plot are Tim’s hippo and Tom’s elephant. The authors of the idea are Olga Titova and Ilya Bereznitskas, the series is produced by Ilya Popov, the co-author of the idea for Smesharikov.
The series is produced by the computer animation studio “Petersburg”. 104 episodes, each five minutes long, have already been released.