Officially launching out of LA today, Visional Pop has big plans to nurture animated franchises with digital origins.

Leading the company is director Benjamin Grubbs, who served in various senior roles at YouTube between 2012 and 2018, including a two-year stint as head of YouTube Kids and learning content partnerships for the APAC region.

Visional Pop is specifically focused on character-driven animated IPs that stem from YouTube and other social platforms like Instagram. The strategy here is to develop these brands in partnership with online creators, and then build fandoms and leverage them into consumer products opportunities and broader franchise extensions. Visional Pop will also manage the rights to these properties as a distributor and licensing agent.

Getting right down to business, the company has already closed a deal to acquire Mumbai-based YoBoHo—giving Visional Pop access to an established digital distribution network that reaches a significant kids & family audience. 

Headed up by CEO and founder Hitendra Merchant, YoBoHo operates 150-plus kids YouTube channels (pictured), collectively averaging roughly 200 million unique viewers each month. Some of its biggest assets include HooplaKidz (10.9 million subscribers), All Babies Channel (7.3 million subscribers), Kidscamp (6.77 million subscribers) and Teehee Town (6.34 million subscribers). 

Visional Pop will work closely with YoBoHo’s creative team to develop several new IPs that can tap into this distribution network, Merchant tells Kidscreen. More details on the company’s first batch of creator partnerships and investments should be announced later this year.