Genius Brands International


Genius Brands appoints former Disney, Fox execs to run new streamer

Genius Brands International has appointed former senior execs from Disney and Fox to run its soon-to-launch ad-supported streamer Kartoon Channel!. Margaret Loesch, the founding president and former CEO of Fox Kids Networks Worldwide, becomes executive chairman of Kartoon Channel!, which will be available in over 100 million US television households and 200 million mobile devices […]

Kids round-up: ‘Moominvalley’ lands in Nordics; Super RTL orders monster comedy; ‘Rainbow Rangers’ travels; and more…

Moomins return to the Nordics SF Studios in the Nordics, NRK in Norway and RÚV in Iceland have picked up prodco Gutsy Animations’ series Moominvalley following deals with distributor PGS Entertainment. The 13 x 22-minute series is based upon the popular Moomin stories by Finnish-Swedish author Tove Jansson and was commissioned by Yle in Finland […]

Cheddar & Genius Brands to debut Warren Buffet kids’ series

Cable company Cheddar and Genius Brands International are set to launch Warren Buffett’s Secret Millionaires Club, a kids’ series that will be made available across Cheddar’s OTT partners. The 26 half-hour episodes will be made available across Cheddar’s partners Sling TV, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and fuboTV. It will continue the series throughout 2018 and […]

Sony Pictures buys into Genius

Sony Pictures’ home entertainment arm has bought into LA kids company Genius Brands International. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment previously had a multiyear marketing and distributing agreement with Genius for its Kid Genius and Baby Genius labels in North America, but will now rep all of the company’s brands in the US and Canada. Genius brands […]

ProSieben signs crime series from Cineflix

German broadcaster ProSieben has signed a multi-series deal with UK-based distributor Cineflix Rights. Crime and investigation series such as Cineflix Productions’ Cold Blood (seasons 1-8, comprising 99 hours), Nowhere to Hide (seasons 1-2. 12x60mins), Unusual Suspects (seasons 6-8, 20x60mins) and Murder Book (seasons 1-2, 23x60mins) are included in the agreement. ProSieben also gets new Cineflix […]

Foothill CEO joins Genius Brands in sales rejig

Foothill Entertainment CEO Jo Kavanagh-Payne has joined LA-based Genius Brands International, though will also remain with the Santa Barbara-based distributor she created. Kavanagh-Payne has been named senior VP, global distribution at Andy Heyward’s kids and family company. She will support Stone Newman, who has been promoted to president, global consumer products, worldwide content sales and […]

News brief: Asian kids nets gets Genius content

A raft of Asian broadcasters have bought shows from Genius Brands International. Singapore’s Mediacorp took Stan Lee’s Mighty 7 and Thomas Edison’s Secret Lab. Indonesia’s Spacetoon took Warren Buffet’s Secret Millionaire’s Club, Secret Lab and Mighty 7. TVB in Hong Kong took Secret Lab. “The appeal of our content continues to prove itself in virtually […]

TBI Kids Survey 2016: which digital service has the most potential?

It seems fair to throw this question to the people running digital services first. Hopster’s Nick Walters selects his own service as the one with most potential, but also sees promise elsewhere. “I think PopJam is really interesting and a promising take on doing social for kids in a way that’s cool, doesn’t condescend, but […]

Genius Brands to sell $4.3m in stock

Children’s content group Genius Brands International will sell around US$4.3 million of its common stock and warrants. The firm has agreed a private placement with institutional investors and company management had been released, with the sale expected to close on November 3. This will comprise issuing investors 4.3 million shares at a US$1 per share […]