Disney Junior UK's #1 Series Jake and the Never Land Pirates Goes Virtual With the Launch of Jake's World

LONDON, April 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

New Website Launches in Advance of Season Two Premiere

Disney UK announced today the launch of Jake's World, http://www.disney.co.uk/disney-junior/jake-and-the-never-land-pirates/jakes-world/, a brand new online destination for kids inspired by Disney Junior's #1 rating series, Jake and the NeverLand Pirates. The most recent addition to Disney's successful raft of digital environments, which include BAFTA-nominated Club Penguin, and Disney Channel inspired Superbia, Jake's World will offer kids a fun and immersive experience to complement the new series, which launched this month on Disney Junior.

Aimed at 4 to 7 year olds, Jake's World enhances children's enjoyment of Jake and the Never Land Pirates by inviting them to interact with Jake and discover a whole range of magical features. Kids are able to create their own avatar and customise an individual pirate hideout, play games with Jake and his crew, and explore Never Land. As children play, they earn rewards, which can be used to enhance their own avatar and pirate hideout.

Upcoming games include Jake's Skate Escape, an obstacle race through three scenes of different terrain, which requires excellent hand-eye coordination and helps kids improve their motor skills. Go Bananas pushes children's directional skills and coordination as they catch bananas before the greedy Hook. All the games are across three levels and are designed to support early learning skills in a fun and engaging way, as well as stimulate and challenge young minds on a range of levels.

Jake's World is designed to help parents and children to have fun and learn together.  Mums and dads will be encouraged to log on to Facebook and tune in to Disney Junior for various events to unlock bonus content for their kids.

Jake and the Never Land Pirates was the first animated series created for Disney Junior and has achieved huge ratings success in the UK and across EMEA, reaching a total of 4.2 million and 29.5 million^[1] individuals respectively in the last quarter alone. The star-studded second season featuring celebrity guest voice artists Sharon Osbourne and David Arquette, premieres on 16^th April 2012, with a third season green lit for 2013 on the back of the global success of the series.

Anna Hill, CMO, The Walt Disney Company UK, comments: "We are thrilled to be able to offer young fans of Jake and the Never Land Pirates a magical new way to engage with our number one show.  As with all Disney Junior series, its success is built on using great characters and storytelling to create a real emotional connection with its audience and Jake's World will expand on these themes. Kids have a natural curiosity and sense of fun, and the web is a wonderful way to make new discoveries about familiar friends."

A unique platform for self-expression and personalisation, Jake's World contains a vast array of engaging content to create a truly unique online experience. As with all Disney's virtual worlds, Jake's World s a safe online game, giving parents confidence that their children can enjoy the internet securely.

Notes to editors:

• The series is reaching more UK viewers at the same point in their lifecycles than Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Special Agent OSO, Jungle Junction and Art Attack!
• Jake and the Never Land Pirates ranks as the #2 ratings driver with kids 4-9, only behind the much more established Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  
• The series attracted more unique viewers than key competitors such as Dora the Explorer, Bob the Builder and Thomas & Friends.

About Disney Junior:

The newly branded, learning-focused Disney Junior reflects the emotional connection generations of consumers have to Disney storytelling and Disney characters, both classic and contemporary.  Disney Junior is now available in 109 countries across EMEA, with 8 visual feeds, in 13 languages, representing a total of 35 million households.

Disney Junior's programming invites mum and dad to join their child in the Disney experience of magical, musical and heartfelt stories and characters, while incorporating specific learning and development themes designed for kids age 2-7. Disney Junior's animated and live action series blend Disney's unparalleled storytelling and characters kids love deeply with learning, including early math, language skills, healthy eating and lifestyles, and social skills.  Through its combination of animated and live-action programming, Disney Junior inspires learning through play, from early maths and language skills, to healthy lifestyles with an emphasis on social and emotional development. It celebrates childhood by encouraging children to laugh, sing, dance, and above all - have fun.

From the earliest phase of program development, Disney employs education and child development experts who review every premise and script before the development phase. Working closely alongside parents, the Disney Junior brand vision was created and ensures all content is mum-approved.

About The Walt Disney Company EMEA

The Walt Disney Company (TWDC), together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise with five business segments: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, consumer products and interactive media. Disney is a Dow 30 company and had annual revenues of around $40.9 billion in its last fiscal year (FY11).

TWDC Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) has operated in the region for more than 70 years and has a presence in over 25 countries and currently employees around 6,600 people. Disneyland Paris opened in 1992 and is now Europe's #1 tourist destination. TWDC is a major film distributor with recent successes including "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides", "Toy Story 3" and "Alice in Wonderland". All three films set records across the region contributing to a global box office for each film in excess of $1 billion. The company is also a major supplier of TV programming, distributing Disney-branded and non-branded television shows including the hit series "Desperate Housewives", which ranks in the top 10 US series on-air in France, Germany, Italy and the UK. In EMEA, Disney Branded Channels (Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Junior and Disney Cinemagic) are available in 118 countries, with 37 visual feeds, in 23 languages. This represents a total of 59 channels and 92.1 million households. Disney's wide range of consumer products, including toys, apparel, home décor, foods, books and magazines, are sold at specialist and mass market retailers and at more than 100 Disney Stores in Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the UK, as well as online. A new concept store design, which offers a groundbreaking and magical retail experience that families can enjoy together has launched in several markets across Europe.

1. Across EMEA, Jake and the Never Land Pirates was viewed by a total of 29.5 million individuals, of which 6.4 million were young kids, across 13 reported markets between October-December 2011, an impressive 49% increase from the previous quarter. In the UK, Jake and the Never Land Pirates was viewed by a total of 4.2 million Individuals 4+ (7%), of which 1.4 million were Kids 4-15 (17%) and 1.2m were Kids 4-9 (27%), on Disney Junior.