CAROLINE TYRE: “WE WANT KARTOON CHANNEL TO BE FUN AND ENRICHING”

Following the dramatic increase of viewership on Kid Genius Cartoon Channel and Baby Genius TV digital platforms, Genius Brands International announced that it will merge the two channels under one new network brand, Kartoon Channel. A couple of weeks later, on June 15, the brand new channel launched in the United States with over 1,000 episodes of entertaining and enriching content.

The newly rebranded digital network, which targets kids from 2 to 11 years old, will significantly expand the distribution of the company, which currently reaches over 100 million US television households and over 200 million users via OTT and mobile devices. One of Kartoon’s biggest advantages is that it works with cable providers, so consumers do not have to download an extra app to access the content, because they already have it on their TV schedule.

“We recently signed a deal with Don Roberts, who is really the authority on children’s media. He helps to ensure that programming is infused with worthy and enriching content, but he does not undermine the core entertainment that we are trying to do, because we want to be a fun, family-friendly and free service,”  Caroline Tyre, General Manager of Kartoon Channel, told Señal News.

Alongside Roberts, the company set up a code of ethics, in order to ensure the delivery of positive purposeful content that parents can always know will provide safe viewing for their children. “Genius’ motto is ‘content with a purpose’. That means we develop our content to be meaningful and to not feel like medicine to kids. Of course we want to be fun, but we also want to be enriching,”  Tyre assured.

Among the initial 1,000 episodes of entertaining and enriching content offered on Kartoon Channel is the animated short feature, “The Pig On The Hill”; the hugely successful “Angry Birds” series; “Baby Einstein” and the “Baby Einstein” shorts; as well as “Llama Llama” shorts, and the Minecraft-themed show, “Journey to the End”. The upcoming comedy-adventure series, “Stan Lee’s Superhero Kindergarten,” currently in pre-production and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, will debut on Kartoon Channel in the first quarter of 2021.

With many kids staying at home due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the timing for Kartoon’s launch could not be better. “We already had the plan to do our rebrand, but this situation definitely has speeded it up a little faster,” the executive admitted. At the same time, apart from the educative content for kids, Tyre feels that the channel “will also make parents feel good that at least their kids are getting something that is enriching and will keep them entertained while they are working or doing something else”.

Kartoon Channel’s big launch of June 15 was just the beginning for Genius Brands International, which already has over 3,000 episodes prepare to debut in the near future. “We will be refreshing constantly, so kids are going to see new content coming up weekly. We are also launching in a whole bunch of new platforms. We have lots of great plans for the long term,”  the General Manager of Kartoon Channel concluded.

By Federico Marzullo