Barrumbi Kids and Crazy Fun Park go global

International audiences will get their first glimpse of two of Australia’s most recent children’s titles, with Barrumbi Kids and Crazy Fun Park sold to broadcasters overseas.

Children in Iceland will have a window into the lives of kids living in the top end of Australia, following the sale of Barrumbi Kids to the country’s national broadcaster, RUV. It is the first series from the ACTF catalogue sold in Iceland since Round the Twist S3 in 1999.

The coming-of-age series, which premiered on NITV in 2022, will also air in Taiwan, Montenegro and the United States following sales to MOMOMKIDS and MOMOTV, the Public Service of Montenegro and First Nations Experience, an American television channel exclusively devoted to Native American and World Indigenous content.

Netflix has also acquired the rights to Barrumbi Kids and Little J & Big Cuz S1, with both now available on the streaming platform for viewers in Australia and New Zealand.

Crazy Fun Park, the horror-comedy series for teenagers which premiered to Australian audiences this January, has been sold to broadcasters in Spain, Finland, Norway, Lithuania, Belgium, Slovenia, Taiwan and New Zealand. It will also air across the UK after being picked up by the BBC.

Both Barrumbi Kids and Crazy Fun Park have been well received by Australian audiences and have been nominated for Most Outstanding Children’s Program at the upcoming 2023 Logie Awards.

The international appetite for high quality Australian children’s television remains strong, with the ACTF international distribution team finalising a number of sales of other titles over the past few months.

Along with Barrumbi Kids and Crazy Fun Park, First Day and Little Lunch will air in Taiwan, after being acquired by the Fubon Cultural & Educational Foundation for MOMOMKIDS and MOMOTV.

The animated preschool series Kangaroo Beach is gaining momentum internationally, with sales to Warner Bros. Discovery in Latin America and RTV Slovenia. Earlier this year the series was acquired by Knowledge Network (Canada), TVO (Canada), Nickelodeon (UK) and TVNZ (New Zealand).

Hardball S1 has been sold to the Public Service of Montenegro, while the factual natural history series Built to Survive has been acquired by RTV Slovenia and Australia Plus for Asia. The first series of the beloved preschool animation Little J & Big Cuz will soon be available to stream on Netflix for audiences in Australia and New Zealand, while the primary school detective series The InBestigators has been acquired by SIC Portugal.

The Australian Children’s Television Foundation distributes children’s content all over the world, with a catalogue of more than 400 hours of premium children’s content.

ACTF CEO Jenny Buckland said: “International audiences couldn’t get enough Australian children’s television during the Covid pandemic, and the demand for our content is showing no signs of slowing down. We’re proud of the ACTF catalogue, which caters to children of all ages from preschool to young adult, entertaining young audiences and providing a window into Australian life and culture.”