By: Cole Watson and Ryan Tuchow
Acamar Films
Malaysian streamer Durioo+ has picked up 78 localized episodes of Acamar’s animated series Bing, with Italian-language streamer Il Globo TV (serving Italians living in Australia) acquiring the full series. The BBC and Rai have also renewed their licenses and will continue to air all four seasons (104 episodes) of the preschool show in their respective territories. Il Globo TV is just starting to build its children’s programming library, and Bing was one of its first acquisitions for this audience. It’s also running Meteoheroes, Sissi, the Young Empress and Lulu Brum Brum from Mondo TV and Studio 100’s Heidi.
Sesame Workshop
Audible has partnered with the Workshop for another exclusive Sesame Street-inspired podcast called Ready, Set, Ride with Elmo. Available now, it centers around Elmo picking up various friends in his car, which can transform into other vehicles ranging from a race car to a banana peel with wheels. The eight x 10-minute podcast is the latest Sesame title for Audible, which launched a third season of The Sesame Street Podcast with Foley and Friends in January 2023.
Paramount
LA-based developer Gamefam is bringing SpongeBob SquarePants into the metaverse for the first time as part of an expanding partnership with Paramount Games Studio. SpongeBob Simulator (pictured) will launch on Roblox next week, letting players explore Bikini Bottom and transform into members of the show’s iconic animated cast, including SpongeBob, Patrick and Squidward. They’ll also be able to collect snails and jellyfish in fun mini-game adventures. This new collab comes hot on the heels of Gamefam developing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Battle Tycoon Roblox game for Paramount that has been played more than 20 million times since its launch in August 2023.
Invisible Universe
Republic Records: Kids & Family is partnering with Invisible Universe to create new music for its social media star Qai Qai. A first track called “Dancing on the Moon” dropped today on the CG-animated doll’s YouTube channel, with more to come. Since her online debut in 2018, Qai Qai has attracted more than four million followers across all of her social media accounts. And this audience is signaling to top labels that there’s plenty of potential to produce and promote music through digital-first kids brands.