pocket.watch Announces Launch Of New Original Series pocket.watch Challenge Squad And "Mishmashes," An Innovative New Half Hour Format For Kids

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, pocket.watch, the kids and family studio that celebrates the new digital stars, franchises and formats that kids love today, announced pocket.watch Challenge Squad, a 22-minute per episode original premium series based on the incredibly popular YouTube short-form challenge format. The company has seen recent success with the growth of their YouTube channel of the same name to over 130,000 subscribers making it the perfect time to extend the channel into a 22-minute per episode premium series. The new series is produced at the company's Culver City studio and features the same cast as the YouTube channel.

Pocket.watch also announced today the creation and launch of mishmashes, an entirely new 22-minute per episode clip show format featuring viral hits and "best of" clips pulled from pocket.watch's vast library of ten-thousand of the most popular videos for kids in the world. Mishmashes are hosted by a variety of new characters including "dot," a new animated character and pocket.watch original creation.

Ninety 22-minute episodes, including fifteen episodes each of pocket.watch's first five mishmashes and fifteen episodes of pocket.watch Challenge Squad premiered on Hulu in the U.S. with selected episodes also premiering in the U.S. through the Prime Video Direct self-publishing program. The mishmash series are individually dedicated to each of pocket.watch's mega YouTube creator partners including Ryan ToysReview (the most popular creator YouTube channel in the world), HobbyKidsTV, EvanTubeHD, JillianTubeHD and CaptainSparklez.

"Just like the big retailers we are partnered with have discovered, premium streaming services and television networks around the world are beginning to understand that in order to succeed with kids today, they need to embrace these new stars and formats," said Chris M. Williams, Founder & CEO at pocket.watch. "We're excited to be working with great, market-leading companies like Hulu, Amazon and Paramount to bring the incredible power of our beloved YouTube kid creator franchises to audiences in new and inventive ways."

The company has also announced the production of a sixth new series, pocket.watch Digital Superstars, which brings viral videos and popular kids clips together from all of pocket.watch's YouTube creator partners and the company's own pocket.watch Challenge Squad YouTube channel in a fun, new 22-minute per episode series hosted by Bubbles, a kid-friendly puppet. The first 26 episodes of pocket.watch Digital Superstars will be available for distribution globally this coming winter.

Paramount Pictures Worldwide Television Licensing & Distribution will package all 116 22-minute episodes and offer licensing opportunities to international distributors worldwide. Pocket.watch has geared up to make more mishmashes including new iterations dedicated to popular short form formats and new pocket.watch YouTube creator partners.

"We're thrilled to be working with pocket.watch to bring these innovative series to international audiences," said Dan Cohen, president, Worldwide Television Licensing & Distribution at Paramount Pictures. "Demand for kids and family programming is growing around the world and working with pocket.watch gives us an incredible portfolio of series representing talent and brands that already have huge global audiences."

Pocket.watch's launch announcement of pocket.watch Challenge Squad and the mishmashes marks the latest in a series of deals featuring its YouTube creator partners and original IP. Last month, the company debuted Ryan's World, a massive line of pocket.watch branded toys and apparel from the world's number one YouTube creator, Ryan ToysReview. The line had an incredibly successful launch at Walmart stores nationwide last month and has already expanded to Target and other retailers. The media brand also recently announced additional noteworthy programs including the development of a live action kids sitcom created by and starring Kenan Thompson called Skoogle with Nickelodeon, and Watch this Book!, their first book under the pocket.watch book imprint with Simon Spotlight, a division of Simon & Schuster, launching in October.

To find the new pocket.watch series on Hulu and Prime Video use the following links:

https://www.hulu.com/network/pocketwatch
https://www.amazon.com/v/pocketwatch

For more information about pocket.watch and its creator partners, please visit pocket.watch

About pocket.watch
Pocket.watch is the virtual entertainment headquarters for kids. It is a new kind of studio that lives everywhere kids live and celebrates the new digital stars, franchises and formats that they love today. The company boasts a growing portfolio of franchises that includes some of the largest kids and family YouTube brands in the world alongside original characters and talent that the company has extended into premium series, retail merchandise and books. Pocket.watch was founded in March 2017 by Chris M. Williams and is located in Culver City, CA where it maintains an office and studio. The management team is made up of studio veterans and visionaries from traditional and digital entertainment including Albie Hecht, Stone Newman, Jon Moonves and David B. Williams. Investors include Viacom, Greycroft, Third Wave Digital and United Talent Agency (UTA), as well as notable strategic angels including Robert Downey Jr. (Team Downey) and Jon Landau.

About Paramount Pictures Worldwide Television Licensing & Distribution
Paramount Pictures Worldwide Television Licensing & Distribution (PWTLD) is part of Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment.  PPC is a unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA), home to premier media brands that create television programs, motion pictures, consumer products, and digital content for audiences in 180 countries and territories. The PWTLD division is responsible for licensing Paramount Pictures' feature films and television programming for exhibition across all forms of linear channels as well as on-demand services around the world. 

CONTACT: Sunshine Sachs, [email protected]

SOURCE pocket.watch