Disney+ Hotstar 

Canadian production company Syon Media and LA-based J-Toon Productions have inked a broadcast deal with the international streamer for animated series The Beachbuds (pictured). 

Aimed at kids ages six to 11, the 52 x 11-minute comedy follows a group of birds who run a resort on a tropical island. It will launch on the SVOD this fall in Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The Beachbuds was produced as part of a joint venture that J-Toon and Syon inked in 2017.

ABC Australia

The pubcaster has picked up Canadian animation studio Big Jump Entertainment’s Big Words small stories for a July 12 premiere. The 65 x two-minute educational series teaches preschoolers about different words through silly stories. The 2D-animated shorts are based on the eponymous series of books written by Judith Henderson and illustrated by T.L. McBeth. They first aired on Canadian pubcaster TVOKids in June.

Sesame Workshop

The nonprofit has appointed Germany’s Studio 100 as its licensing agent in German-speaking territories. Studio 100 will manage consumer products, live shows, apps and retail events for Sesamstrasse, the regional version of Sesame Street that’s co-produced by Sesame Workshop and German pubcaster NDR.

Studio 100 is the second international licensing agent Sesame has appointed in as many weeks. Last week, the company inked a deal to let Sony Creative Products handle consumer products and retail efforts for Sesame Street in Japan.

Toon2Tango

Grom Social Enterprises’s Curiosity Ink has teamed up with the German prodco to turn Grom’s upcoming Santa.com e-commerce site into a same-name animated musical special for the holiday season.

The feature-length special is about a young elf who must convince jolly old St. Nick to come out of retirement and save his workshops from the robots that replaced him. Santa.com is in development now, and expected to deliver in 2023. Toon2Tango will handle worldwide distribution.

The e-commerce site is aiming to launch in November 2021, featuring personalized gifts, a tour of the North Pole, holiday-themed games and virtual Santa Claus visits.

MGA Entertainment 

The toyco is teaming up with non-fungible token (NFT) app VeVe to create limited-edition digital collectibles based on its brands. Beginning with L.O.L. Surprise!, the companies will release unique 3D-animated models of the characters that kids can purchase in the app. These digital content items are the first kid-skewing products on VeVe’s platform, according to a release.

VeVe has racked up more than 350,000 downloads and has sold more than 580,000 digital collectibles since December, according to the company. Other toycos that have jumped on the NFT bandwagon recently include Mattel and Australian animation studio Xentrix, which announced plans to launch a digital division focused on creating digital goods.