Some studios spend months—and hundreds of thousands of dollars—making a batch of episodes for a YouTube series, only for kids to binge everything in one afternoon and move on to the next brand. But Riffio wants to flip that script by giving kids tools to keep their favorite franchises alive with endless fresh content.

This new app from South Carolina techco Storybutton uses AI to generate audio stories—with animation on the way—so its eight- to 12-year-old target demo can make new short episodes featuring brands they like.

Riffio launched in May and already has around 2,000 subscribers who pay US$13 per month (or US$100 annually) for enough in-game currency to make 90 minutes of content each month. (Kids who want to make more episodes can buy additional credits.) Brand owners collect 40% of this revenue—providing a revenue stream incentive to offer up more content in the app, says Jim Jacob, founder of Storybutton and Riffio.

Here’s how it works in the user experience: Kids pick an IP and then choose from a variety of different characters and locations. AI generates a few possible scenarios, ranging from a mystery story to an action-adventure quest. Users select the one they want, and the app generates seven 90-second audio stories (roughly 10 minutes of content in total). And at the end of each episode, kids have the option to guide the story arc by choosing what happens next.

This fall, Riffio is expanding its functionality to let kids bring their own custom avatar into the stories they create, offer a multiplayer function and incorporate animation into the currently audio-only format.

The app has a few popular kids YouTube channels on board so far, including Lively Lewis Show (5.6 million subscribers) and FGTeeV (24.7 million). Riffio also offers 12 original audio series, many of them podcasts that started through Storybutton—such as Pixel Quest and Spyology Squad.

Riffio lets kids remix existing Storybutton shows like Critter Protectors (left), Pixel Quest (middle) and Petra the Protector (right)—and the app is on the hunt for third-party IPs

Eager to add more brands to the app, Storybutton has brought in Thom Chapman, Spin Master’s former VP of sales and distribution, to help make this happen. Chapman and his franchise-building company Victura Media are at MIPCOM this week to introduce Riffio to the global marketplace and get more IP owners onto the platform.

Chapman sees Riffio as an opportunity for brands and producers to explore the gamification of storytelling while tapping into the demand for personalized, interactive stories. He adds that this trend is poised to become even more popular as kids look to reimagine, co-create and interact with content—rather than just watch it.

“The end of passive video starts with Riffio,” says Chapman. “We’re looking at this like it’s the Roblox of content, where kids can interact with brands. And brands looking for immediate engagement from kids can make Riffio a new part of their franchise and marketing plans.”

This story originally appeared in Kidscreen’s Q4 2025 magazine issue.