LOS ANGELES, February 27, 2018–Wizard World, Inc. (WIZD), a leading producer of live event pop culture expositions, and Associated Television International (ATI), an Emmy-winning, worldwide full-service production and distribution company, will distribute a daily, four-hour wheel of programming under the “WizPop” brand, to be streamed live in the People’s Republic of China via the CNLive platform. The announcement follows a prior announcement of Wizard World’s partnership with CNLive, which is one of only seven entities licensed to distribute content over the internet in China.
The entirety of mainland (including Hong Kong and Macau) China will be covered by the footprint of the “WizPop” programming service which will be the first English language channel carried by CN Live, which hosts some 20 Mandarin-language channels on its platform. It is estimated that the WizPop ad-supported channel will aggregate an audience of millions of viewers each day. Wizard World and ATI will announce the timetable for the launch of the channel in the coming weeks.
“We are excited to be moving forward with the launch of ‘WizPop’ to spread the Wizard World brand in Asia by providing premium English-language content to millions of viewers in China,” said John D. Maatta, Wizard World President & CEO. “Working with Associated Television International will enable us to distribute high-quality, high content that will connect with viewers and provide ‘WizPop’ and its advertising partners opportunities to reach this massive, highly-engaged audience. The agreement with Associated Television International is key to our WizPop programming strategy. Agreements with additional program suppliers are soon to be announced.”
“Associated Television has been distributing programming worldwide for more than 30 years, and we are thrilled to work with Wizard World to introduce ‘WizPop’ in China,” said Jim Romanovich, President of International Television at ATI. “We look forward to distributing and developing great content with Wizard World, out of our state-of-the-art facilities, to make ‘WizPop’ a premier destination channel for millions of Chinese viewers. In fact, this agreement with Wizard is a natural and logical adjunct to the content and distribution deal that we have in place with PopStar Magazine, under which ATI creates content that is ideal for the WizPop Channel. This is a great association for all parties involved.”
Within China, programming can only be distributed under a license issued by the Chinese government. CNLive holds this license to distribute content via mobile and IP-enabled devices nationwide. The main enterprise of CNLive is the distribution of content to internet-connected mobile devices.
“WizPop” is expected to have a reach across a minimum of 90% of the viewers capable of receiving the CNLive service, currently 100 million viewers across China. The free, non-subscription channel will exist in a market which has an estimated 680 million internet users, 620 million of whom are mobile Internet users. An estimated 390 million Chinese nationals are “English speakers and English learners.” Much of the program content consumed in China is viewed on mobile devices which is where the WizPop programming service will reside.
Related: Wizard World, Inc. and Sony Pictures Entertainment Team Up to Discover, Develop, and Incubate New IP
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