This pre-MIP Junior sponsored episode brings Nicolas Eglau, Managing Director of EMEA, APAC and Global Distribution at Moonbug Entertainment, into conversation with Andy, Emily, and Jo. The timing is deliberate — Moonbug has a lot to talk about heading into Cannes.

Nicolas traces the logic of what he calls Moonbug's reverse distribution model: where traditional studios start with premium pay TV and work their way down to YouTube, Moonbug started on YouTube and has worked its way up — through premium streamers, linear channels in 100-plus markets, consumer products, gaming, live events, and now, with the Cocomelon movie landing in February, theatrical. Owning all of their IP outright is what makes the model work; it means no permissions to seek, no rights to negotiate, and the ability to move from idea to execution in months rather than years. The linear channel launch in the Philippines took five months from concept to air. Emmy's Wonder Wardrobe — a live action Little Angel spin-off built around a character the audience was already asking for — went from data insight to Disney and Netflix in similarly short order.

• The newest announcement is Big Feelings, a music company Moonbug has built to open up its distribution and monetisation infrastructure to third-party artists and creators — with Snoop Dogg and Doggyland among the first partners. It's a bet that what Moonbug has built for its own music-led IP can be valuable to others who have the talent but not the network. The episode closes on the Cocomelon movie, which Nicolas describes as the climax of everything the model has been building toward — and on which he is, emphatically, not scared.