LA’s pocket.watch has signed a deal with Mattel to sell ad inventory on more than 90 of the toyco’s YouTube and YouTube Kids channels for brands such as Barbie (11 million subscribers) and Hot Wheels (pictured) and Thomas & Friends (three million each).
pocket.watch is among a handful of companies to which YouTube has granted rights to sell COPPA-compliant ads on its platforms. Its ad sales and partnerships division, clock.work, already manages ad inventory for pocket.watch’s own Ryan’s World (35 million subscribers) and Love, Diana (nine million subscribers) channels.
This partnership gives advertisers a powerful opportunity to get in front of the under-13 market, said pocket.watch’s Julia Moonves (SVP of ad sales and brand partnerships) in a release. She added that brands like Barbie—which is very hot right now—and Thomas & Friends have strong global fanbases, and marketers looking to reach kids can do so in a significant way through their YouTube channels.