RingTales announced the debut of a new iTunes podcast featuring animated versions of the world-famous cartoons of THE NEW YORKER magazine. Subscribers to the free advertiser-supported podcast will receive three new episodes of THE NEW YORKER "RingTales" each week. RingTales has the exclusive license to animate and distribute THE NEW YORKER's library of more than 100,000 cartoons.
"When Ringtales came to me and said they wanted to animate the single panel cartoons of THE NEW YORKER, I was somewhat dubious," said NEW YORKER cartoon editor Robert Mankoff, "But, frankly, seeing, hearing and enjoying is believing. It's been an absolute pleasure to see our cartoons come to life, and make a successful transition from page to screen."
Santa Monica, California-based RingTales Llc is a new media company that creates animated versions of popular print cartoons for syndication across the Internet, mobile, broadcast and portable device markets. RingTales was founded by two industry veterans, Jim Cox and Michael Fry, who last collaborated on the hit DreamWorks animated feature, OVER THE HEDGE.
"Our goal is to replicate the print comic experience across all digital platforms," says Cox.
"THE NEW YORKER cartoons are just the start," adds Fry. "We will soon be adding a number of the world's most popular comic strips to our library, as well as our own original content. We have created a unique content niche that appeals both to the viewer and the advertiser," explains Fry.
"The viewer," Cox adds, "gets the same free, habit-forming gift of humor they now enjoy with print cartoons, and advertisers get higher view rates than they would with normal video ads."
Fry says, "We're testing a number of ad formats. We particularly like short video post-rolls. In our experience, viewers are happy because they get immediate access to the content. Advertisers are happy because the content has a great payoff and viewers don't mind the ads. In fact, we're seeing people watch the clips multiple times - it's an advertiser's dream come true."
Cox is a long-time feature animation writer and producer. His credits include co-exec producer on the 2006 DreamWorks feature animated hit, OVER THE HEDGE, writer/producer on FERNGULLY, story on Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and screenwriter on THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER and OLIVER & COMPANY.
Fry is a four time internationally syndicated cartoonist. He writes the comic strip, OVER THE HEDGE.
You can subscribe to the RingTales NEW YORKER podcast on iTunes at www.ringtales.com/podcast.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
