Working together gets the treats

21 November 2018

Ahikāroa, the digital-first, bilingual rangatahi serial has recently secured funding for its second season. It is a collaborative effort from Te Māngai Pāho, NZ On Air and Māori Television It is made by Kura Productions who are in a joint venture with industry heavyweights, South Pacific Pictures.

Māori Television’s Deputy Chief Executive Shane Taurima says this partnership shows the benefits of working together.

“This is a good example of our intent to collaborate with partners and to look at expanding those networks.”

Mr Taurima adds the new season will be great news for rangatahi who are the show’s target audience. Ahikāroa debuted in December 2017 and was released online first (followed by a linear release in 2018). It was pushed via social media and Mr Taurima says the response was phenomenal.

“Series One was one of our most viewed online series, with just under 400,000 website video views and an engagement score of over 90 percent. Ahikāroa has high production values featuring contemporary, eloquent, fluent te reo actors. It is gritty, funny and sexy – and it connected with our rangatahi viewers.”

Producer Quinton Hita says “drama is one of the most powerful ways we can engage rangatahi in te reo Māori, and support them to find their own unique perspective and identity in a modern world. Ahikāroa can be a voice for them.”

Amie Mills, Head of Funding, NZ On Air, is delighted to be partnering with Te Māngai Pāho and Māori Television.

“It’s an innovative, multi-platform Māori drama that is pushing the boundaries of modern storytelling and we can’t wait to see how Kura Productions builds on the success of the first series.”

The total funding for the second series is over $3.8m and Mr Taurima says rangatahi are a strategic audience for the service’s role in the revitalization of te reo Māori.

“Māori Television is committed to engage with young people and their demand for innovative Māori language content. We want to deliver high quality entertaining and informative Māori language content, anywhere and at any time,” says Mr Taurima.

Other programmes funded in the recent Te Māngai Pāho round and that will be shown on Māori Television include a second series of tamariki show Te Nūtube, long-running taiohi show Pūkana, and the return of Marae DIY to the channel after several seasons with TV3.

ENDS

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