Moonbug Leisure is partnering with Sanrio on a serious ‘CoComelon‘-‘Whats up Kitty‘ collaboration launching subsequent yr, Kevin Mayer introduced Wednesday on the APOS “Way forward for Storytelling” session.
“We’re doing an enormous ‘CoComelon’ collaboration with Sanrio’s ‘Whats up Kitty,’ beginning subsequent yr,” revealed Mayer, founder and co-CEO of Candle Media, Moonbug’s mother or father firm. “I feel this might be a really, very joyous second for youths and teenagers around the globe, who each love ‘CoComelon’ and love ‘Whats up Kitty.’”
The announcement got here as Mayer shared one other placing statistic: Moonbug’s music streams throughout all platforms final yr surpassed Taylor Swift‘s complete. “Final yr throughout Moonbug, we had extra music listens, extra music streams throughout all platforms, than Taylor Swift did,” he stated. “So youngsters are listening, and their mother and father are listening to our music.”
The spectacular figures underscore the attain of Moonbug’s crown jewel, “CoComelon,” which has grown from 60 million YouTube subscribers when Candle acquired it 5 years in the past to 200 million right this moment. In January alone, “CoComelon” and Moonbug’s different properties generated 10 billion views.
Talking with moderator Vivek Couto, govt director and co-founder, Media Companions Asia, which organizes APOS, Mayer detailed how “CoComelon’s current migration from Netflix to Disney+ displays his multi-platform technique fairly than broader business shifts. The property, initially developed by a South Korean couple in Los Angeles, began as YouTube content material earlier than increasing to conventional streaming.
“We at all times thought social media storytelling needs to be a central a part of storytelling, and YouTube is essentially the most fertile space to get professionally produced IP within the social sphere,” Mayer stated.
Since launching on Netflix in 2021, “CoComelon” has been the platform’s primary present globally in combination. The unique Netflix deployment merely repackaged YouTube seasons into hour-long episodes. Now, the franchise has expanded into video games, shopper merchandise licensing, and that chart-topping music enterprise.
Mayer, who spent 25 years at Disney earlier than co-founding Candle Media with backing from Blackstone, sees the transfer to Disney+ as a pure match. “Disney is a pure residence for youths and household product,” he stated. “We wish to take our properties and strategically deploy them throughout all of the totally different streaming platforms.”
The chief addressed Hollywood’s nervousness over short-form content material and shifting viewing habits, notably amongst youthful demographics. Whereas older audiences spend about 75% of their media time watching conventional movie and TV, Gen Z flips that equation, with solely 25-30% consumed on conventional platforms and the remaining on social media, short-form programming and video games.
“There was a really substantial shift in preferences, particularly in youthful audiences,” Mayer famous. “It’s a monotonic lower when it comes to utilization of conventional media throughout demographics.”
However Mayer isn’t writing off long-form content material. Past the “Whats up Kitty” collaboration, Moonbug is creating a “CoComelon” film with Common set for 2027, which he calls “the apex of the ‘CoComelon’ story.”
On AI’s position in storytelling, Mayer positioned it as one other instrument within the inventive toolkit, evaluating it to CGI or online game engines. “It doesn’t exchange human creativity. It’s a instrument to assist inform higher tales,” he stated. “I feel audiences will see higher storytelling, higher graphics, and achieved extra effectively due to AI.”
Trying forward, Mayer stated, “We don’t create simply exhibits. We’ve created huge, long-lasting franchises which have a multi-platform functionality that may serve audiences throughout many contact factors.”
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