Powerkids Entertainment

Indian streaming platform JioTV and its app JioTV+ have inked a deal with Powerkids Entertainment to launch what the studio claims is India’s first-ever FAST channel for teens. Along with the PowerTeens Channel, the companies will also launch a PowerKids Kartoon Channel (a co-branded venture from Kartoon Studios and Powerkids), which features animated and live-action series from both catalogues, including Akira and Mowgli, The Jungle Book, Stan Lee’s Superhero Kindergarten and Rainbow Rangers. 

The Pinkfong Company

The South Korean studio has partnered with The Wiggles to make a series of 2D-animated/live-action music videos featuring Pinkfong and Baby Shark characters grooving together. The first three-minute short, Baby Shark (feat. The Wiggles), launched last week on both brands’ YouTube channels, and the plan is to release a new one every two months. This is becoming something of a go-to strategy for The Wiggles, which has previous collabs with Sesame Workshop‘s Elmo, Abby and Cookie Monster and the Super Simple Songs YouTube channel under its belt. 

Cronus Global

Gearing up to do more consumer products business with its preschool toon Turbozaurs (105 x seven minutes), Tale Wind Animation has signed LA-based Cronus Global as the IP’s new licensing agency in the US and Canada. This deal comes on the heels of Amazon Prime acquiring the series on August 1. Since it premiered on Russia’s Carousel Channel in 2019, Turbozaurs has also aired on broadcasters including Turkish linear channel Minika Cocuk and Nick Jr. in Italy. The show has generated more than 300 million unique views on YouTube, and a fifth season is currently in development. It centers around a squadron of dinosaurs that can transform into vehicles with unique powers.

Nickelodeon

A new interactive attraction based on Nickelodeon‘s SpongeBob SquarePants brand is going live this winter at the family-friendly Circus Circus Las Vegas resort. Florida-based Sally Dark Rides created the new US$6-million attraction (called “SpongeBob’s Crazy Carnival Ride”), which features automated vehicles and iconic locales and characters from the animated series. According to Paramount Entertainment, it will be SpongeBob’s first “dark ride”—a theme park industry term for an indoor ride with vehicles that move passengers through it.