New streaming platform Animation+ has tapped top YouTube animators like MeatCanyon, ExplosmEntertainment, Flashgitz, Pencilmation, and Jarrad Wright for deals that offer them “real equity participation in the studio, along with real television budgets” to produce 10 original series for Animation+’s premium adult animation channel.
That’s according to Evan Weiss, co-founder of Animation+ parent company Streaming Ink Media (SIM).
“We are actualizing ‘creator economy’ in our business model and our business affairs,” he added.
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Weiss co-founded Streaming Ink Media with John Fitzpatrick in 2022; the two met while working with creators at Studio71 and Collective Digital Studio. Both worked on Fred: The Movie (there’s a throwback for YouTube oldies), and Fitzpatrick went on to work with Explosm Entertainment to secure crowdfunding/distribution deals for properties like Cyanide & Happiness. Weiss is also a former business affairs exec at Disney who ran United Talent Agency‘s TV packaging department for seven years.
The fleet of digital content creators they’ve brought in–many of whom have been self-producing animations on YouTube for years now–will develop a slate of originals for Animation+, which launched its debut FAST channel on Samsung TV Plus last week. The plan is for them to develop 10 full-length animated series, plus one “feature project”–and, as mentioned above, they’ll get equity and production resources from SIM as part of the deal.
“We believe that creators like MeatCanyon, Explosm Studios, Jarrad Wright, Flashgitz and many other creators we have deals with are responsible for the most popular, relevant and outrageously funny content currently being produced anywhere,” Weiss and Fitzpatrick said in a joint statement. “Animation+ premium will give these and other creators a platform and resources to create full-length series and features delivered via OTT/CTV in beautiful full-sized resolution to a television audience hungry for premium content in this popular genre.”
“We’ve known the Animation+ founders for well over a decade, and we’re excited to be part of their vision to bring some of our favorite creators together. As huge animation fans, we’re stoked,” Explosm Entertainment’s Rob Denbleyker, Dave McElfatrick, and Kris Wilson said in a joint statement.
Tom Hinchcliffe and Don Greger, aka Flashgitz, chimed in, “A lot of the major streaming platforms are afraid to take risks on edgier content nowadays despite audiences being just as hungry for it as ever. A+ is providing us a platform to tell our stories without interference and make our fans laugh.,”
SIM plans to launched the adult animation channel into beta in Q4 of this year, with a full rollout in 2025.
