"Sesame Street" is a globally popular children's TV show produced by Sesame Workshop. (Photo : Wikimedia)
Sesame Workshop, the American non-profit organization behind "Sesame Street," has entered into an agreement with three major Chinese digital platforms that will bring the international version of its hit preschool educational series, along with its spin-offs, to China over the next two years.
The content, which will be dubbed in Mandarin, will be released via Baidu's iQIYI, Alibaba's Tmall Box and Tencent Video.
Sesame Workshop recently finished signing its first streaming deal in China with BesTV, the pioneer of the Internet Protocol television (IPTV) business model.
Both iQIYI and Tmall Box will house a "Sesame Street" branded block, so that audiences can not only access and view the programs under Sesame Workshop but also learn about the brand's history, mission, character bios and the latest news.
iQIYI, which will host the streaming launch of the brand in China, will cooperate with Sesame Workshop to give the market a unique brand experience both online and offline.
Meanwhile, Tencent Video, Tencent Holding's online platform, will be the first-ever video streaming site in the country to release "Elmo the Musical" and "The Furchester Hotel." The latter is a co-production between Sesame Workshop and CBeebies, the children's entertainment brand under BBC.
Tencent Video will also stream other Sesame Workshop titles, such as "Sesame Street Seasons," "Elmo's World," "Play with Me" and "Let's Celebrate Chinese New Year." The last of which is a co-production between Sesame Workshop and state television broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV).
The same contents will be made available through the Tmall Box set-top under Alibaba's video-on-demand service.
