After reuniting with the generation that made him famous and conquering a new audience through Caracol TV and Disney+, Peter, the Great is now ready to begin his international journey and reach new screens in LatAm and the world.
Last July, Caracol Televisión and Disney+ premiered Peter, the Great: Greater than Ever, the highly anticipated sequel to the successful Colombian telenovela, which marked the beloved character’s return to television after more than 20 years.
Two decades ago, the original telenovela Peter, the Great quickly became a global phenomenon reaching more than 105 countries in multiple languages. Its protagonist, as well as his iconic dance “El Pirulino”, crossed borders to conquer different generations around the world, becoming an emblematic character of Latin American pop-culture in the early 2000s.
And now in 2024, the series, which aired in Colombia through Caracol and across Latin America through the streaming platform, became an unprecedented success, earning the title of the most successful series in Colombia in the last two years, leading prime time in its 23 episodes, reaching an average of 9.3 rating and 44.2% share.
With 23, 45-minute episodes, Peter, the Great: Greater than Ever is written by Felipe Salamanca, and is executive produced by Juan Carlos Villamizar and Dago García, the same team that was in charge of the original story. It is directed by Juan Carlos Vásquez, Andrés Marroquín and Juan Carlos Villamizar.
This new season stands out for its strong imprint of humor, as well as for the love stories experienced by the main character and the father-son relationship between Peter and Peter Junior, who meet again after many years.
Having conquered Colombian broadcast TV, Peter is already on its way to leaving its mark on all the screens in the region, and even crossing the pond to seek new audiences in other international markets. “We are beginning its international journey to other windows and we are sure that it will have the same impact,” explained Lisette Osorio, VP of International Business at Caracol Televisión, who spoke to ttvnews about the resounding success of the series and its great international potential.
Lisette Osorio
What did the return of Peter, the Great mean for Caracol?
With Peter we couldn’t be happier with the success it had on Caracol and also on Disney+. It was a very good product, which returned with very high expectations. Because the returns of these franchises can go very well or very badly. And fortunately in this case it was a resounding success. And now we are beginning its international journey to other windows. We are sure that it will have the same impact.
What is the experience of working for platforms as large as Disney+?
Well, working with a partner like Disney took us on a learning path. Disney is a great partner who adopted Peter as their own story. The character is not theirs but they adopted him as if he were. From beginning to end and even today, when we continue working with them on the path of content distribution, it has been spectacular. As I said before, it’s been a learning experience. And it is very nice to see how two large companies, with their own vision, can join together and bring out a product like the one we brought to market.
What expectations do you have for the series in the international market?
The potential is great because we already have pre-sales in almost the entire region. Now we will be going to Mipcom to see its relevance in markets outside of America. But really the product has already been placed in pre-sales throughout the region, so we are super pleased. Because it was an IP that was not made for several years and the expectation of its return generated so much anticipation, so it brought us very good business, and good feedback. In fact, we achieved pre-sales before we even produced it. We still have a world out there, aside from America, to conquer.
There are high expectations, even though comedy has its challenges and sometimes it doesn’t travel well. But Peter is a character that transcends beyond comedy. Peter is melodrama, he is a character that comes to refresh the screen. It is a family product that showed us, together with Disney+, that audiences do not cannibalize each other, because it aired on both platforms at the same time and it was super successful. We believe that there is a long way to go with Peter, the Great.
The nice thing about these types of well-known characters is that they are multigenerational, already known by a previous generation and now with a new one that discovers them… Yes, of course. In addition, when you analyze the audiences, you can see that there is a phenomenon of growth among young audiences who are discovering this character and who are falling in love with it like past generations did. And it also brings people together when they watch it, because adults are drawn to it by nostalgia and younger people are drawn to discovering the character. So it’s a totally multi-target product.
Speaking of other titles in your catalog, how valuable is the format La Isla, Desafío Extremo and its newest deal with Telemundo? Desafío is an original format from Caracol TV that has been on air for more than 20 seasons on Colombian television. It is extremely successful. It is a title that attracts people, that people want to go and watch daily on broadcast TV. It is a format that is very much in the Colombian idiosyncrasy, a total reference for our audience. And the numbers show that.
On the international path, Desafío has had many adaptations around the world, such as in Mexico with TV Azteca, Greece, Russia, Romania, we are currently in the sixth season in Bulgaria with great success. And the most recent adaptation is Telemundo’s in the Hispanic US market, which makes us very happy, because reaching that market is a very big step for a format. It is doing very well on its screen. We will continue there from the international side, promoting this format that yields very good results.
What are the titles that will be presented at Mipcom?
At Mipcom we will of course be presenting Peter, the Great, as well as La Descarga, Devuélveme la vida, Klass 95 and Desafío. The main “new” title for this market would be La Descarga, this musical talent format, which we launched in Colombia and we are already working on the second season. It is an original format from Caracol TV and we already have advanced negotiations in territories that have already set their sights on the format.
Every day the market demands that you tell them what the next successful format will be and we believe that Caracol has been a pioneer at the Latin level in innovating and testing properties beyond the formats that are bought to adapt locally, these are inventions that come directly from our house.
