Cannes – Rai Com, the commercial arm of Italian pubcaster Rai, along with Planeta Junior, animation studios DQ Entertainment and Gruppo Alcuni have introduced Pio Rocks! – The Series, a 3D CGI comedy series following the adventures of Youtube star Pulcino Pio at school, to an industry audience at a special event during this year’s MIPJunior.

Planned for a total of 52 episodes of 11’ each combining comedy with plenty of adventure, Pio Rocks! – The Series is aimed at 5-8 year old digital natives and is based on the runaway success of internet phenomenon Pulcino Pio, whose clips have won a huge fan base with over 1.9 million subscribers to Pio’s YouTube channel and cumulatively more than 1.5 billion views. Production of the series will start in January 2017 and delivery of the first 26 episodes is scheduled for April 2018.

Pio Rocks! – The Series is the first animation coproduction led by Rai Com and brings together creativity and innovation with an international commercial approach. Written by a team of writers headed by French-born and LA based Romain Van Liemt, the series characters are created by Pedro Bascon, responsible for several international TV and publishing projects.

Rai Com handles sales worldwide, except from Iberia, France, Greece, CEE and Turkey, which are handled by Planeta Junior. Besides, UK and Latin America sales are jointly handled by both companies. Pio rocks!  is produced by Rai Com, DQ Entertainment, Gruppo Alcuni and Planeta Junior.

Rai Com is increasingly co-developing and co-producing content for direct distribution which has already led to distribution agreements with important animation outlets (e.g. Disney or DeA Kids) for national markets.