“It will be nice to see Sportacus in Chinese,” says Magnús Scheving, the author of LazyTown.
LazyTown will soon sign a contract with the Chinese TV channel CCTV, which plans to show the shows on its children’s channel CCTV Kids. About 360 million children watch it regularly. By comparison, there are about 90 million homes with a television in the United States. LazyTown episodes are expected to start in September in China.
It is rare that foreign children’s content gets access to Chinese television, so this is a great honor for Magnús Scheving and LazyTown. This big opportunity came after LazyTown took part in the World Fair Expo in Shanghai last year (October 2010) to great acclaim. The LazyTown Live show on the European stage was the most attended of all, and Magnús visited a school in the city together with Ólaf Ragnar Grímsson, the President of Iceland, and the mayor of Shanghai.
“The Chinese are used to exercising with morning gymnastics, and it seems that LazyTown appeals extremely well to the Chinese audience,” says Magnús, who visited the CCTV station when LazyTown took part in the World Fair Expo show. “They were extremely interested as soon as they saw LazyTown and wanted to translate it into Chinese,” he says, and expects that LazyTown will also participate in health initiatives in China in the future. “What’s exciting about the China market is that it’s a fast-growing market, and being able to take your first steps there is extremely important.”
Yesterday, March 16, 2011, LazyTown received recognition from the representatives of the World Fair Expo in Shanghai for its contribution to it. LazyTown has also been invited to the World Leisure Expo, which is dedicated to health and exercise, in Hangzhou, China in the fall of 2011.
“There is no doubt that the World Fair Expo show has been very important to us Icelanders because we received enormous attention in all the media in China,” says Júlíus Hafstein from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who presented Magnús with the award on behalf of the World Fair Expo. “It is very gratifying that they recognize LazyTown for the contribution,” he says and is happy with the TV contract. “This is not a small market. They certainly made our day at this show.”
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