Violetta

As kids telenovelas continue to grow in popularity, Disney has greenlit a second season of its show Violetta.

The second season will continue to follow talented teen Violetta as she returns to her native Buenos Aires after several years living in Europe.

The show was Disney Europe’s first full-fledged investment in the telenovela genre and Disney’s regional hubs in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Latin America all contributed to the show, which is produced in Argentina by Pol-ka Producciones.

The same production partners are now working on the second season of Violetta, which will also run to 80 episodes and roll out a year after season one, next autumn.

The international Disney Channels have different broadcasting patterns for telenovelas depending on various factors including the penetration of the channel in a given territory and how used to the genre the audience is in that country.

In Italy for example, Patito Feo was the first full-fledged telenovela on air and when Violettal launched, Disney ran the first twenty episodes before introducing a break. These were then repeated to coincide with the back-to-school period. Disney will air the next twenty before another break and the remainder launching in January/February. It was Disney Channel’s highest rating premiere among girls, tweens and tween girls.

The penetration of the Italian Disney Channel is 22% and the market is full of kids channels, at least seven of which are fully penetrated, which is why its launch was staggered. “If penetration is limited, you can’t just put it all on at once,” Patricia Hidalgo, VP, programming strategy, The Walt Disney, EMEA says. “You need to capture the audience and the launch of twenty episodes was almost a tease, to start excitement.”

Violetta was the first ever telenovela for the French Disney Channel when it launched at the start of October.

Spain, meanwhile, is a different case in that kids are familiar with the telenovela format and the Disney channel is free-to-air and Violetta will launched in September in primetime and was the channel’s most-watched show.

It will roll out in Central and Eastern Europe early next year and Disney Channel in Russia has also picked it up.

The producer: Pol-ka Producciones
Concept: Kids telenovela
Airing: Disney Channel Latin America and Disney Channels Europe, Middle East and Africa