Johannes Gropp: "’Storyzoo & Friends’ FAST channel features a library of 150 hours of content"

The educational platform StoryZoo has launched its "StoryZoo & Friends" FAST Channel, collaborating with remarkable content partners and featuring a library of 150 hours of content. Señal News spoke with Johannes Gropp, Founder & CEO of StoryZoo, who described the company's new strategic activity.

StoryZoo entered the FAST business with the launch of "StoryZoo & Friends.". How would you describe this new milestone for the company?
"It was a fascinating and astonishing journey. For sure, the term FAST is a trendy word these days in the television world. With 'StoryZoo' we have beautiful edutainment content suited for an international audience. Kids from 3+ years of age don't want to watch only StoryZoo content; they like the variety of brands, characters, and storytelling methods. We contacted other production studios and partners offering safe, high-quality educational content to create a strong alliance and compete with the big studios. We quickly formed a unique and world-class lineup with several brands from several production houses to amass a library of 150 hours of content".

How would you describe the process of creating the channel's content lineup?
"It was, of course, a lot of coordination and work, but also much fun as we were suddenly in the luxury position of cherry-picking the best-suited brands for the 'StoryZoo & Friends' channel. We created test panels with kids from 3+ to understand what content they want to watch within our boundaries. The offer had to be safe, family-friendly, high-quality, and engaging. Our aim is also to refresh the channel lineup with seasonal content, and we are proud to say that we managed to add the most popular brands the kids wanted to watch with a seasonal refresh quota of 30%."

What are the highlights of "StoryZoo & Friends" content schedule?
"We added the best series of the 'StoryZoo adventures,' paired with content from our Irish partner Monster Entertainment and the very popular brand 'Jungle Beat' and Spain's DeaPlaneta hits 'Bernard' and 'Willy Fog,' combined with France's Millimages and their worldwide hits 'Molang' or 'Hilltop Hospital,' and several other top brands that suit our vision. I can happily confirm that new partners have already signed up to join our journey and make 'StoryZoo & Friends' FAST channel an established international brand."

"StoryZoo& Friends" is available on the IPTV platform waipu.tv in Germany. How will its launch roll-out continue? 
"That's a great and very current question, as we are just about to sign several deals with major platforms for the German-speaking territories and the Benelux. With a robust content offering, we quickly convinced many platforms to take the channel on board. We want to extend our footprint thoughtfully and carefully, from country to country, with a unique selling proposition and content that suits the local audience."

Does the success of the 'StoryZoo & Friends' FAST channel impact StoryZoo's global strategy?
"Yes, it does! Our production studio still focuses on making StoryZoo an internationally recognized kid's brand. We create new adventures and license the content all over the world. We are dubbing the content into the most widely spoken languages, and with our partners, we maximize brand exploitation, such as merchandising and music. The show will also have its first theater tour starting in September this year. Now, our responsibility is to make 'StoryZoo & Friends' the FAST channel a huge international success."

By Romina Rodriguez