Six months after officially launching, Viacom Digital Studios unveiled its first programming slate at the company’s first-ever NewFront presentation held yesterday in New York.
For kids programming, four digital originals have been announced for Nickelodeon’s YouTube platform featuring popular stars such as JoJo Siwa (Lip Sync Battle Shorties) and Jace Norman (Henry Danger), as well as Super League Gaming eSports content (pictured) and a series centered around Nick’s first multi-player virtual reality experience, SlimeZone.
Animated short-form series The JoJo & BowBow Show follows social media star JoJo Siwa and her beloved canine companion. Nickelodeon’s Entertainment Lab in Burbank is producing six three- to five-minute episodes that feature character art based on JoJo’s popular iMessage stickers.
SlimeZone VR Showdown, meanwhile, is a new program that lets viewers watch players enter Nickelodeon’s SlimeZone virtual reality game, where they compete and slime their friends inside a branded VR world.
Also on the gaming front, Super League Gaming Minecraft City Champs is an eSports series that follows teams of Minecraft players representing their cities in a multi-week national tournament. (Nickelodeon began investing in the global eSports competition platform last summer.)
As for Henry Danger star Jace Norman, the popular actor and influencer is attached to a pair of new Viacom Digital Studios projects for the kidsnet. First up is Nick Trip, a series where fans can follow Norman and his brother Xander on their European adventures in countries including England, France and Germany. Norman’s friends Kira Kosarin and Jack Griffo of hit Nick series The Thundermans are also featured.
Norman’s second project for Viacom Digital Studios is a partnership with Creator’s Edge, a hub for internet creators founded by Norman and his brother. A number of new original digital shows are in the works for Nickelodeon that will star the brothers and their group of influencer friends.
During its NewFront presentation, Viacom Digital Studios also announced that Viacom-owned online video conference VidCon will be expanding internationally to London, with an event planned for the city’s ExCel Center from February 14 to 17, 2019.
Since its launch, Viacom Digital Studios has generated 4.3 billion social video views and 4.7 billion minutes viewed in the US in Q2 2018—up 70% and 78% year on year, respectively. The first-ever project announced by the new studio was Musical Dares, a live-action game show from creator and executive producer Nick Cannon offering a new twist on musical chairs. The series for Nickelodeon’s YouTube channel was introduced as part the net’s 2018/19 upfronts in March.