The kids are more than alright and, in fact, there’s plenty of business to be had in the children’s media market.
Just ask Irvine-based Treasure Studio Inc.’s CocoMelon 3D children’s animated show, which London digital media company Moonbug Entertainment Ltd. bought this summer on undisclosed terms.
Moonbug, at the same time also bought another children’s show Blippi, and said it raised $120 million to funnel towards acquisitions and other growth efforts.
Now, Moonbug’s expanded CocoMelon’s reach to the South Korean market via a deal with KT Corp., an internet protocol television operator. CocoMelon would serve as an English-language educational tool for the preschool-age viewers there.
This was in the cards for the company with Moonbug laying out a strategy at the time of the deal’s announcement that new characters and storylines were set to be rolled out, alongside more toys and other merchandise, licensing deals, global growth and expansion to new platforms.
The show’s been a hit stateside with episodes teaching kids their colors, letters and numbers.
The stats are telling, with 97 million subscribers and 80.6 billion views since joining in 2006, giving it the title of most-viewed YouTube channel in the world. That eclipses the YouTube channels of Kim Kardashian West (1.7 million subscribers and 79.7 million views since joining in 2015) and Kylie Jenner (9.6 million subscribers and 491.4 million views since 2015).
CocoMelon’s averaging 3.5 billion views a month on its channel.
Not bad for the unassuming entertainment firm started by Jay Jeon in 2005 that has since grown to a 20-person team uploading new videos weekly.
