Subscription-based commercial-free kids’ destination to be built on recently acquired Ameba TVs technology platform; enhanced content to include Kartoon Channel! favorites along with custom avatars and emojis, games, branded Kidaverse VR goggles, immersive content and NFTs for kids.
Genius Brands will be launching its subscription-based Kartoon Channel! Kidaverse on April 15, 2022, anchored by Ameba TV’s technology platform, a growing children’s video streaming service recently acquired by Genius Brands.
Kartoon Channel! Kidaverse will include Kartoon Channel!’s programming while adding exclusive metaversal content; the platform will feature an integrated design with custom avatars and emojis, games, branded Kidaverse VR goggles, immersive content and NFTs for kids (“KFT”s). It will also feature collectable digital cards based on the channel’s popular characters, digital currency for kids called Kidaverse MetaBuck$, and child-safe messaging (“Messies”), podcasts, and music.
“Kartoon Channel! Kidaverse is expected to revolutionize children’s entertainment, because it will include all the popular animated programs of a children’s channel, metaverse features and, most importantly, it will be fully curated and child safe,” explained Genius Brand chairman and CEO, Andy Heyward. “The single strongest message we receive from parents is the concern about safety for children on screens, whether it is program content or roaming around the internet and various apps. The premise of the Kartoon Channel! Kidaverse is to provide children with fun, positive, engaging digital media and to provide them with a safe and parent-controlled product.”
In addition to Kartoon Channel!’s Stan Lee’s Superhero Kindergarten; Rainbow Rangers; Peppa Pig; PJ Masks; Minecraft; Surviving Roblox; My Little Pony; and Yu Gi Oh, the new channel benefits from an additional 13,000 episodes under license to Ameba such as Casper the Friendly Ghost, Donkey Kong Country, Gummy Bears, and Rescue Heroes. The platform will also become the home to the several thousand hours of animated content available through its recent acquisition of Canada’s WOW! Unlimited Media and strategic investment in Germany’s Your Family Entertainment (YFE). The company believes this will make it the largest single children’s portal of animation in the world, with over 20,000 animated titles under license.
“Ameba was the earliest independent kids’ streamer!” noted Ameba founder Tony Havelka. “We are thrilled to bring our technology, our content, and our team, to Kartoon Channel! Together, we look forward to launching the next generation platform for kids, embodying not just program content, but metaversal features and kid-safe messaging.”
“As Kartoon Channel! has grown, many of our viewers have asked for a commercial free version of the experience,” added Kartoon Channel! President Jon Ollwerther. “While our free, ad-supported platform will still be available to consumers, the subscription-based Kartoon Channel! Kidaverse will address that market need, while also building the 360-degree kid’s digital media platform of the future. We believe it will be a unique entertainment experience that simply cannot be had anywhere else.”
Ollwerther will oversee the development of the Kartoon Channel! Kidaverse and its rollout across North America. Former managing director of Disney Channels Worldwide and current managing director of Kartoon Channel! Worldwide, Paul Robinson, will lead the launch throughout the rest of the world.
Stanford University Professor Emeritus, Don Roberts, former Chair of the Stanford University School of Communications, and noted authority on the impact of media on children’s development, has worked with Genius Brands and Kartoon Channel! to ensure a Kidaverse Safe Content Code.
“It’s a digital playground whose content and attributes will be fully supervised,” noted Professor Roberts. “Absent will be bullying, violence, inappropriate language, or negative stereotypes. The programming ethos, like Kartoon Channel!, is one of enrichment for our audience.”
Source: Genius Brands
Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.
