In a post last week, the Youku Kids Weibo account announced that some episodes of My Little Pony: Make Your Mark would become available on February 1, 2024, on Youku, which is a Chinese streaming service owned by Alibaba.
My Little Pony: Make Your Mark will thus beome available on a platform other than Netflix for the first time, and will become available in Mainland China for the first time. Netflix is not available in mainland China, although it continues to operate in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. It is expected that at some point, possibly later in 2024, the show will start being distributed through additional channels, both inside and outside mainland China.
Trailer videos for the show have been made available on Youku; the first trailer features footage from Chapter 2 and the second trailer features footage from Chapter 1. (Unlike on Netflix, the episodes will not be grouped using numbered chapters.) We don't yet know whether the Mandarin dubbing used on Netflix will be reused for this release, since the trailers only have English audio and hardcoded Chinese subtitles.
Youku Kids also announced in their post that Youku users would have the chance to collect virtual badges by doing certain in-app actions like commenting or inviting friends to watch. Up to 999 users who collect all of the virtual badges could also receive a physical badge featuring the Mane 5. This is a typical promotional method for Youku Kids; other animated releases receiving limited-edition physical badges have included Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years and Octonauts: Journey to China.
Previously, the film My Little Pony: A New Generation was released theatrically in mainland China on July 30, 2022, almost a year after it was originally released on Netflix. My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale has not been released in Mainland China yet, although some of the songs seem to be available on mainland Chinese music streaming services.
Promotional materials from Weibo and Weixin (WeChat) are reproduced below.
