London-based Lunar X is starting to position itself to be a digital-first Disney. The one-year-old media company acquired Spanish prodco Sunnyside Up Studios earlier this month so that it can develop a portfolio of YouTube-first brands and expand animated content into franchises.
Sunnyside Up produces YouTube-first series such as Groovy The Martian (pictured, 2.5 million subscribers), The Moonies (887,000 subscribers) and Superzoo (772,000 subscribers). They tackle topics like climate change and being active in an edutainment blend, which Lunar X CEO Lucas Kollmann says should give them good franchise potential.
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In December, Lunar X acquired YouTube studio Theorist Media, which owns and operates YA-targeted comedy channels including The Game Theorists (16 million subscribers) and The Film Theorists (11 million subscribers). Now it’s looking to plant a flag in kids content with Sunnyside Up’s popular content, says Kollmann.
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The studio was launched in 2020 by Elias Moreno (a former YouTube strategic partner manager) and Alejandro San Agustin (who previously worked as a country lead for Spain at Amazon Prime Video), and its 2D- and CG-animated content generates more than two billion views on YouTube each year, according to Lunar X.
Kollmann says there won’t be any operational changes implemented at Sunnyside Up, but Lunar X will provide additional resources and investment to help the studio to scale up its animation production capabilities.
For YouTube-first creatives who are eager to expand their brands but lack the resources to do so, Lunar X is looking to support this kind of growth into new content, consumer products and exposure beyond YouTube, says Kollmann. He’s especially interested in building a portfolio of family-friendly brands that share a focus on edutainment.
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“The next Disney will be built in the digital environment, and I’m most excited about fans seeing that they can embrace the online brands they love in more ways,” says Kollmann, who is a former media investor from KKR in London. “We’re in talks with other creators, and want to work with more brands to bring them beyond YouTube.”
Lunar X SVP Rafi Nizam—a former Sony and BBC creative executive—is heading up early development on several new animated concepts (primarily spinoffs of series from Sunnyside Up’s portfolio), and the goal is to distribute them through digital channels.
Rachel Taylor rounds out the executive team as SVP of commercial. She is a former WildBrain Spark and 20th Century Fox exec.
Source: https://t-tees.com
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