It is expected that almost 214 million Americans will use connected television (CTV) according to Emarketer, and the Kids and Family content category on CTV has increased by over eight percent. It is a booming market which has only risen in the previous turbulent year. Now getting a slice of that audience is a goal for many companies, and Sprout Studios, a full-service production studio specializing in animation, is no exception here.
Sprout Studios is well known for its animated works in OK Jaanu, Cocomelon, Kanu, Johny & Friends, Little Zoo, Nils and more.
For three years, the company has been building their strategy to jump into the competitive world of digital video. Choosing educational and entertaining content as the main direction of their development, they launched their own channel on YouTube – NuNu TV in June 2020. With their ambitious plans for the channel – to get known globally with a focus on the US audience and to increase revenue through SVOD and AVOD monetization, they partnered with VlogBox in 2020.
Being newcomers in the CTV Environment, Sprout Studios ambition of promoting their content in other international markets meant that they would need to create content based on the preference of the potential new geographic area that would allow their animated video content reach a larger audience with maximum efficiency. Hidden fees and the lack of transparent monetization also posed an obstacle to the growth of NuNu TV as they tried to enter new markets by themselves.
Therefore, the first step both companies agreed upon was to create a Roku CTV channel with the US as a top-priority audience. In 2020, the internet-connected TV penetration rate in the United States comprised about 80 per cent, while Roku and Amazon Fire remained the two most popular OTT platforms in the region.
Before starting on the quest to become a CTV hit, VlogBox and Sprout Studios analyzed all the aspects of CTV ad placements and monetization. VlogBox ensured satisfying CPM rates and connections to reliable demand partners. Thanks to the SVOD monetization model, NuNu TV gets paid for every user subscription, while AVOD provides a steady stream of ad revenue.
By expanding the geography of their audience and reaching US viewers, the NuNu TV channel has showcased impressive growth, with 80 per cent of that coming from US CTV viewers. Furthermore, they noted the rise in revenue. A transparent monetization system with no hidden fees enabled the company to improve their income by over 30 per cent.
Commenting about the impressive growth of Sprout Studios, NuNu TV head of business development Priyanka Lagwal said, “We decided to jump in CTV as we understood that being the OTT pioneers could bring us fantastic results in future. We see the progress now in terms of new audiences and revenue, and know it’s not the limit.”
The delegation of technical issues and monetization control to VlogBox has led to a rise of above 50 per cent revenue, which can now be spent on internal investments and content generation. With this, NuNu TV team is focusing mainly on creativity and has more time to produce new content for their fans and potential viewers.
Can’t wait to see what’s next in store! Good luck to the entire team.