Choosing to go direct-to-consumer at a time when selling library content just isn’t paying out like it used to, France’s Xilam Animation has just launched an ad-free, subscription-based streaming app. Available on iOS in 11 territories (including the US, the UK, France, India, Spain, Mexico, Canada and Australia), Toon Box is aimed at three- to 10-year-olds.

In its H1 2025 financial report, Xilam reported that catalogue sales were down by 4% year over year to US$2.5 million. Meanwhile, total sales dropped by 64% to US$4.8 million, and revenue from new productions and developing projects decreased by 78% to US$2.3 million. Xilam attributes this earnings slump to a sharp slowdown in streaming platforms’ demand for kids content as they struggle with less advertising revenue coming in.

If Toon Box takes off, it will be a controllable platform where Xilam can monetize its catalogue of 2,800-plus episodes to an international audience. The studio is only offering its own shows on the app to start, but it plans to activate an acquisitions strategy after launch, according to a company spokesperson.

A look at the Toon Box streaming app, and what Zig & Sharko looks like in the app.

Rolling out a streaming app might sound like an appealing strategy, but it does come with several costs, including focus group testing, graphic design, promotion—and even game development costs, if you’re adding that kind of content, like Xilam has.

And obviously, the price tag is going to increase if the studio has to build and maintain the actual app infrastructure. That’s why Xilam partnered with German company Wonderz—which has already created COPPA- and GDPR-compliant streaming apps with Zeptolab (Om Nom Stories) and Skyship Entertainment (Super Simple Songs)—to build and launch Toon Box.

Wonderz says the average launch time for putting out a fully branded app is just four weeks. This can vary, and it took Xilam longer to develop the app due to the size of its library and ambition of the project, according to Xilam. As for cost, there’s a set-up fee and then a fee per user added, so the price for the software is tied to its success.