Created in 2008, the animated series Zig & Sharko celebrates its 15th anniversary this year. We take a look back at the non-verbal comedy's international success with children all over the world. Marc du Pontavice, founder of Xilam Animation and producer of Zig & Sharko, reflects on the genesis and evolution of the series, which has retained its original DNA while developing its characters over the course of four seasons.
Safaa Benazzouz, EVP of Distribution at Xilam, explains how the series has appealed to all types of broadcasters and international platforms, while benefiting from explosive digital distribution and reach on YouTube, making it Xilam's most established franchise on this platform.
Unifrance: How did Zig & Sharko come about?
Marc Du Pontavice: Zig & Sharko was born in 2008, three years after Oggy and the Cockroaches landed on Gulli, and became a phenomenal success. I was looking for a new slapstick comedy and suggested to Olivier Jean-Marie that we invent a three-character set-up to create something fresh. The first season was commissioned by TF1 and Canal+, but got off to a slow start.
It was with the second season, on Gulli, that Zig & Sharko successfully took hold and spread internationally. The show followed in Oggy's footsteps in Asia, Germany, Italy, South Africa, etc., and it was thanks to YouTube (35 million subscribers worldwide) and then Netflix (40 million hours streamed in 2023 alone) that the program took off in the United States and South America. To the point of surpassing the success of Oggy.
The series has come a long way since its creation 15 years ago, although the central set-up – namely Sharko's desire to eat Marina and Zig's desire to protect her – have remained the same over the four seasons. How do you manage to maintain continuity while bringing something new to each season?
Marc du Pontavice: When you're working with visual comedy material (what the Americans call physical comedy), and you're working on fairly short format lengths (seven minutes) with a high volume of episodes (78 per season), repetition can't be sustained over the long term. Even if perseverance and stubbornness are at the heart of the narrative, each new season requires an evolution and refresh of the framework. With Oggy, we chose to invent new characters, and with Zig & Sharko,we changed the role of the mermaid, Marina. This evolution was made all the more necessary by the fact that society's view – and therefore that of the artists – of women has come a long way and progressed for the better.
In the first season, Marina was a rather isolated, immobile character, existing only in the eyes of Zig and Sharko. The arrival of Hugo Gittard and Andres Fernandez, who took the helm from the second season completely changed this positioning. Marina was reintegrated into the show with a very proactive role, and it was Zig who found himself expelled into the jungle. And of course, in the third season, Marina changes roles, becoming captain of the liner that takes the whole collective on board. It's quite fascinating to see how a cartoon evolves over time in the line with society's gaze. This is essential when we're talking to children, who are naturally very influenced when it comes to these underlying messages.
Marina's character has grown in importance over the seasons, particularly in Season 4, when she acquires legs with incredible powers. Why was this character development essential?
Marc du Pontavice: Here, the story of Marina's role continues to evolve. Up until now, even with the change of role, Marina was still constrained by her status as a mermaid. Giving her legs, and super-powerful ones at that, completes the character's transformation as she becomes perfectly autonomous and often the driving force behind the show's action. Of course, all this is done with visual creativity and plenty of comedy to stay true to the DNA of the slapstick genre.
The silent cartoon format gives the characters very clear intentions, making them both endearing and universal. What impact do you think this has on the series?
Marc du Pontavice: All fictional series must answer a question that is the most important above the characterization: what does the character want? And in comedy, the simpler the answer to this question, the clearer and more understandable the character will be, and the more comedy can arise from the situations they encounter.
Then there's the sophisticated work of characterization itself. Even if they're the 'baddies', slapstick characters have to be endearing. You have to be constantly caught up in the dynamics between the persecutor and victim, swaying between Zig's and Sharko's desires.
The originality of Xilam's slapstick style lies in the fact that each character, behind the initial appearance of their role, is in fact both persecutor and victim. So that, despite their sometimes questionable actions, we fall in love with them to the point of wishing them success. In fact, and this is undoubtedly one of the strengths of our approach, our characters, even in their apparent “villainy,” are full of emotion and fragility – and children love that.
The series has been a great international success with broadcasters and audiences alike, winning the Unifrance TV Export Award 2024 for Season 3, in the Animation category. How do you explain the series' worldwide success?
Safaa Benazzouz: It's true that the series has been a resounding international success, which has been reinforced with each new season. We've won over all types of clients: from traditional broadcasters to American networks, as well as SVOD and AVOD platforms, and a YouTube operation handled expertly by our digital team since 2014.
Each season has brought something new whilst retaining the series' original DNA, enabling us to kick-start sales cycles and renew the first seasons quickly.
Comedy is a highly sought-after genre for broadcasters and platforms; it's what kids want to see. The universality of the format, the dynamic pace and the sheer volume available (312 seven-minute episodes) are other major reasons for the international success of this franchise. Our heroes' personalities are well-defined and likeable, making them a must-see!
We're looking forward to celebrating the brand's 15th anniversary this year! On the agenda: exclusive interviews, never-before-seen content, collaborations... all to be followed closely on our networks!
Digital distribution accounts for a significant proportion of the series' international exports. How has this contributed to its success with foreign audiences?
Safaa Benazzouz: Digital distribution has enabled us to reach the whole world directly, and to build a reputation even in countries where we had no TV broadcasters. Also, the series is dialogue-free, our heroes have quickly found an audience on every continent! This notoriety has enabled the program to perform well not only on TV channels, but also on various SVOD/AVOD platforms worldwide, including Gulli (France), Super RTL (Germany), Netflix, Warner Bros Discovery (France, Africa, Italy), DeAgistini (Italy), MTV3 (Finland), NRK (Norway), Ketnet (Belgium), Panda Kids (Portugal), TVP (Poland), RTL (Hungary), ERT (Greece), Viacom 18 (India), Youku (China), and Iqiyi (China).
On YouTube, Zig & Sharko is our most established franchise, with over 35 million subscribers and 10 billion views on all continents. The annual average reaches 3.7 billion views across the seven channels dedicated to the program. In fact, we have language versions of the channels, even though the series is dialogue-free, to bring us even closer to our audience.
We also have social accounts dedicated to the series on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and, more recently, Snap, which are updated every week, enabling us to create strong communities among several target audiences. These accounts have a combined total of six million subscribers. We regularly receive “fan art” on social networks and even by post from all over the world – which is a testament to the love audiences have for our heroes.
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