Dino Ranch: Island Explorers heads to the US 

Amazon Kids+ will release Boat Rocker Studios’ preschool series Dino Ranch: Island Explorers on April 22. The 52 x 11-minute, CG-animated series, focuses on a family of dinosaur ranchers who head to a mysterious island where they explore new locales and meet new dinos. Amazon Kids+ is developing the series with Boat Rocker, Warner Bros. and CBC. CBC in Canada launched the series in November, and Amazon Kids+ will air it in Canada, the UK, Japan and Germany, while Cartoonito will air it in EMEA. Industrial Brothers and Boat Rocker Studios produces the series, with Boat Rocker handling distribution and consumer products. 

Merzigo will cultivate Rainbow’s brands on YouTube

The London-based video monetization company has signed on to grow the audiences and revenue of the Winx Club and 44 Cats producer’s YouTube channels. This multi-year agreement tasks Merzigo with optimizing a YouTube content strategy for the Italian studio. Merzigo manages more than 6,000 channels in 30 languages, which generate more than 13 billion monthly views, according to a release. Some of its partners it lists on its website include Disney, Banijay and WBD. 

Hasbro goes after linear viewers with a channel for its old shows 

Maybe getting old shows in front of audiences requires an old-school approach. Hasbro seems to think so, as the company’s content arm Hasbro Entertainment has teamed up with broadcast company Get After It Media to launch the linear channel Hasbro Legends, which is dedicated to showing old series. The channel will feature programming from G.I. Joe, My Little Pony, Power Rangers and Transformers. Get After It Media is handling distribution and monetization of both a linear and FAST channel. The channel could reach like 70 million homes across the US, thanks to Get After It Media’s national presence, according to a release. 

Bronx Zoo teams with Fred Rogers for a summer attraction

The zoo—one of the largest in the US—is launching an immersive exhibit based on the PBS KIDS toon Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood. It’s running from May 22 through September 7 and is hosted in collaboration with Fred Rogers Productions. The exhibit will feature themed educational activities, a musical show starring Daniel Tiger and Katerina Kittycat, meet and greets, and exclusive merch. 

Indian hit Chhota Bheem cooks up an instant noodle deal 

Green Gold Animation’s series is heading to the food aisle. Indo Nissin Foods is rolling out  instant noodles, and the packaging comes with a QR code that takes kids to the Nissin Funtastic Playzone app, which features 15 Chhota Bheem-themed mobile games. Instant noodles are a pretty valuable category, since they’re popular and inexpensive for consumers. It’s estimated to be a US$1.8 billion market in India, which could almost double by 2031. (That’s a lot of instant noodles.)  

Fisch expands from Roblox into the physical retail market

The fishing-inspired game, which boasts more than 4.3 billion visits and an all-time peak of 1.27 million concurrent players, is getting its own trading cards. CyberCel has launched a 200-plus card collection across major US retailers, featuring gear, ships and fish from the game. There’s also a digital redemption card in booster packs that can activate in-game rewards. This deal with CyberCel was brokered by Think Influence, which reps more than 100 games on the platform.