Silvergate: Riding the Wave

Silvergate Media is riding the “Octonauts” ship to new licensing deals and a new project, “Creature Cases,” this year.

March 31, 2022

Moose Toys

Since “Octonauts” premiered in the U.S. and U.K. in 2010, the children’s animation series built a worldwide fanbase, across Asia, Australia, the Middle East and LatAm. In September 2021, a spin-off series “Octonauts Above & Beyond” launched on Netflix in the U.S., and has now placed the property firmly in the stratosphere.

Since the Netflix premiere (with YouTube as a supporting marketing platform,) “Octonauts” is now a Top 5 kids show for Netflix in all key markets, including the U.S., U.K., Australia, and South Korea. The Octonauts property now crosses multiple territories and generations. “‘Octonauts’ has really, truly stood the test of time,” says Ron Allen, executive vice president, commercial, Silvergate Media. “It has spread through our network of broad-cast partners over the years to build this incredible fan base. What has happened in the past year, with the massive support of Netflix, is an absolute explosion of interest, particularly in the U.S. We’ve got the generation of kids and parents who originally loved ‘Octonauts’ when it first launched ten years back. With ‘Octonauts: Above and Beyond,’ the next generation of preschoolers are excited alongside their older sisters, brothers and parents. So, you’ve got that fantastic situation where you’ve got families of ‘Octonauts’ fans.”

With

a new spin-off show taking the Octonauts on to land, characters, artwork, locations, vehicles and story lines, the property is ripe for new licensing opportunities. Silvergate Media will gear up to launch an “Octonauts: Above & Beyond” toy range with Moose Toys later this year. The brand leaned into its social media channels, which has high engagement with fans requesting a new line of toys from the series.

“The response from retail to Moose Toys’ new toy line has been fantastic, particularly in the U.S. and U.K. where there is huge demand for ‘Octonauts’ toys,” says Allen. “The global toy launch in August promises to be a hugely exciting event and opens up opportunities for the consumer products program across wider territories including markets where broadcast has started to take off. The toy line is key to our whole strategy of relaunching ‘Octonauts’ across multiple categories because we know we can rely upon Moose to do an amazing job that will attract other partners.”

Check out the full article in the February issue of License Global now!