Genius Brands International, Inc. through its Frederator Network subsidiary (a division of WOW! Unlimited Media), announced an exclusive content deal with BuzzFeed, a division of BuzzFeed, Inc., a premier digital media company. The deal provides Genius Brands’ Frederator Network the exclusive opportunity and first right to develop and produce longform series based on original digital properties created by the BuzzFeed Animation Lab.
The first short-form content for series development by Frederator will be The Land of Boggs, a zany buddy comedy that currently boasts over 10 million followers. Other content under consideration for long-form development includes The Good Advice Cupcake, an aggressively optimistic pastry touting over six million followers; the lowbrow sister comedy Weird Helga, with over nine million followers; and the adorable gender inclusive series, Chikn Nuggit, with over seven million followers.
Frederator Studios will serve as the global content sales agent, headed by development director Isabel Schultz, and Genius Brands’ consumer products’ division will develop the retail program for the slate of IP, spearheaded by chief brand officer, Kerry Phelan, and in close partnership with BuzzFeed.
“Our partnership with BuzzFeed offers Frederator a tremendous opportunity to expand on the creativity of their animation lab to further develop their original IP into long-form series for global audiences. BuzzFeed is considered the most watched digital publisher with billions of global content views and nearly 30 million dedicated BuzzFeed Animation Lab fans, which gives us a huge audience and ability to promote each series to a highly-engaged fan base,” said WOW! Unlimited Media, parent company of Frederator Network, CEO Michael Hirsh.
“The BuzzFeed Animation Lab has seen huge success and explosive growth for our animated properties, and we are thrilled to partner with Frederator Studios for development. They have an unparalleled track record in the industry and are the perfect shepherds to take our animated properties into a new format and expand our audience,” said BuzzFeed Animation Lab head Zee Myers.
Details about the content:
- The Land of Boggs is a comedy about two best buds wreaking havoc on their hometown of Boggville during summer vacation.
- The Good Advice Cupcake follows an aggressively optimistic cupcake who gives advice on surviving life and being a beautiful b*tch with her pastry friends.
- Weird Helga is a coming of age, character-driven series that follows odd-couple twins Helga and Honey and the problems they face as ‘blossoming’ young adults.
- Chikn Nuggit is a gender inclusive comedy series about a weird, long-eared dog named Chikn Nuggit and his similarly magical fast-food-named pals.