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Finnish animated series Pikkuli to Al Jazeera

The birds in Pikkuli chirp away, but abstract things such as feelings are relayed in thought bubbles.Pikkuli

The licensing rights of the Finnish children’s animated series Pikkuli have been sold to the world’s biggest Arabic-speaking channel, Al Jazeera.

The five-year licensing deal will bring Pikkuli to the broad reach of Al Jazeera’s network, spanning more than 310 million households in over 100 countries. The demographic of the area where Al Jazeera airs is also very young, and Turkey, for example, relies a lot on exported series to cater for its young audience.  

Pikkuli’s creators are Metsämarja and Antti Aittokoski, and the series is based on a book they wrote in 2011 about a small bird living in a forest with its mum, dad, sister and brother.

“It’s great that Pikkuli’s positive life attitude will delight children through Al Jazeera,” says Metsämarja Aittokoski.

Pikkuli has turned heads in the Middle East also before. In 2017, Iranian game developer Myket adapted the Finnish animated character into a mobile game, and Pikkuli learning demos and mobile games have also been tested in Egypt and Qatar.

Published on 25.04.2018