Malaysian animation studio Lil Critter Workshop has launched a digital-first studio to create animated content exclusively for TikTok and YouTube.

The new division—which operates out of Lil Critter’s headquarters in Petaling Jaya—is making its own original short-form content and also helping to move brands from other companies into this quick-paced content space.

Lil Critter has been successful with long-form series such as Hogie the Globehopper (52 x 11 minutes), which Netflix and Discovery Kids both picked up following its 2017 domestic premiere on Astro. Now the studio is investing in a digital-first strategy as a more proactive approach to making content, says co-founder Walid Omar.

Its newest team, which is currently being recruited in Malaysia, will be able to gather audience reaction data and then quickly tweak IPs to deliver what fans want, Omar says. A digital-first approach also means that Lil Critter can turn around content faster than long-form series, plus build an early audience for new IPs that can be presented as a selling point to broadcasters.

Lil Critter points to tween/teen comedy series Lawak Campus: School Daze (pictured, 52 x two minutes) as proof of demand for this type of content. The studio started rolling out some 15-second clips featuring the IP’s characters on TikTok in May, and has already attracted close to 100,000 followers, according to Omar.

The full Lawak Campus series is on track to deliver to Astro later this year, and Lil Critter will also release it in English on YouTube. These shorts are based on a same-name comic book series that has sold more than seven million copies since its 2003 debut. Both iterations focus on a group of high-schoolers navigating rivalries and relationships.

Lil Critter is also beefing up its UK-based team and has hired former ABC Me/ABC Kids commissioning editor Jan Stradling as a consultant development executive. She will oversee the slate at its one-year-old Bristol-based animation studio, which is focused on cultivating original IPs and securing co-pro deals.

Before moving back home to Britain, Stradling spent nearly 15 years at ABC Australia, developing and producing live-action and animated kids content including First Day and Vegesaurs. She also worked as a producer at Nickelodeon Australia, Disney Channel Australia and New Zealand and Network Ten.