Blippi and Juca

Moonbug premieres new Blippi spinoff

Juca focuses on teaching kids about Brazilian culture to meet a high demand for the brand in the region, and is part of a strategy to grow the Blippi-verse globally.
January 9, 2023

Blippi has a new friend in Latin America. Moonbug Entertainment is aiming to expand the reach of its popular educational brand with spinoff content that focuses on specific regions around the world. And its first effort is Juca, which spotlights Brazil. 

This live-action companion series (20 x 15 minutes) is hosted by Blippi’s new Brazilian friend, who teaches kids ages two to six about his country’s traditions, culture and typical foods. Juca’s travels take him everywhere from the São Paulo Zoo to samba dance lessons. 

The format of the spinoff is similar to Blippi, with a host exploring a variety of locations. But Juca‘s focus on Brazil sets the new series apart from Blippi and other edutainment shows in that same vein, says Blippi brand general manager Katelynn Heil

Why Brazil? Focusing this spinoff strategy on Latin America first was a natural move, due to Blippi’s popularity in the region. And Heil notes that Brazil has the most Blippi viewers outside of the US.

Blippi has developed a strong Lusophone (people who speak Portuguese) audience, thanks to its Portuguese YouTube channel, which launched two years ago and currently has more than two million subscribers.

But Juca isn’t just for Brazilian kids. The goal is to also teach children from other parts of the world about Brazilian culture so they can discover the similarities they share, says Heil.  

Through a WBD distribution deal, the Portuguese-language spinoff is launching today in Cartoonito and HBO Max in Brazil, as well as on Blippi‘s Portuguese channel on YouTube. An English version of the spinoff will be available later this year on Blippi‘s main YouTube channel.

Moonbug is also planning to make Blippi a more global brand with visits to other countries, Heil says, adding that new episodes will be shot in countries such as Mexico, Canada, France, Italy and the United Arab Emirates.

In 2022, Blippi was broadcast in more than 130 countries in 20 languages. To date, the IP has reached more than a billion monthly views on platforms such as Netflix, HBO Max, Cartoonito and Sky, according to a release.

Moonbug has been capitalizing on this success by building out the Blippi-verse in recent months. In November, the company announced Netflix show Meekah, hosted by another of Blippi’s friends. Meekah has her own YouTube channel (711,000 subscribers) and has also appeared in videos with Blippi.

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