Future Today’s AVOD platform HappyKids is prepping a gaming series called Minecraft Witchcraft! to roll out on October 1.

A collaboration with gaming YouTuber Amy Lee (993,000 subscribers), this tween-skewing series features her playing a Minecraft experience that follows a young witch on a journey to obtain her “witch’s license.” The episodes range in length from 13 to 19 minutes in this 15-ep HappyKids original.

Such gaming partnerships have helped HappyKids stand out in an increasingly packed AVOD and FAST market where these services are rising in penetration, with platforms like Tubi and Roku seeing double digit growth year-over-year, according to Nielsen.

Even in this competitive landscape, HappyKids’ viewership has increased by 20% in 2024, says David Di Lorenzo, SVP of kids & family. Driving much of this growth is the streamer’s UGC/gaming content catalogue—including acquisitions from family-friendly gamers and HappyKids exclusives that were co-produced with such creators as K-City Gaming (1.56 million YouTube subscribers) and Kin Tin (1.66 million YouTube subscribers).

“A lot of kids are watching other kids play games, so we’ve been working really heavily in that space to create kid-safe gaming content,” says Di Lorenzo. While creation gaming-focused content naturally fares well with Gen Alpha, many of HappyKids’ co-pros also “[create] a storyline across the game itself” to further boost viewership, he explains. An example of this tactic is HappyKids’ Minecraft-focused series Dinos Reborn (17 x 17 minutes)—one of the platform’s top-watched titles that generated four million ad requests to date, according to Di Lorenzo. A co-pro with Austin-based mediaco Tankee, this series follows the lifecycle of a dinosaur from an egg (which the user hatches) to seeing the dino grow.

HappyKids is keen to build out its gaming catalogue and wants to work with more family-friendly creators in this space, either through co-pros or acquisitions, says Di Lorenzo. The plan is to expand its existing content on Minecraft, Roblox and EA sports while venturing into more underserved titles. “Nintendo is probably an area [where] we’re a little bit weaker in terms of bringing in additional content, so that’s a potential area of focus for us as well.”

To further invest in the appeal of games, Future Today is also busy teeing up a co-view original series that’s all about IRL games. Family Game Competition (working title) is aiming for a Q4 2024 launch on HappyKids as well as the company’s other AVOD app Fawesome. While details are still under wraps, Di Lorenzo teases that each ep will feature two families competing against each other in a mix of classic games such as charades and rapid-fire questions based on current events/trends. 

Other categories Di Lorenzo says he’s hoping to stock up on through acquisitions include more family films (to boost co-viewing) and more Spanish-language content (a fast-growing area of viewership).