New streamer Animation+ targets originals following launch on Samsung TV Plus
Animation+ comes from Streaming Ink Media, which has partnered with the likes of ExplosmStudios, the company behind Cyanide & Happiness (pictured)
Animation+, the animated comedy streamer that recently launched exclusively on Samsung’s free TV streaming service Samsung TV Plus, is developing a slate of originals.
Animation+ Studios, the studio arm of Animation+, is planning to launch a premium service with 10-plus original half-hour series, 11-minute series, feature-length projects and video games targeted for 2025 premieres.
Tom Hinchliffe and Don Greger, who create content under the name FlashGitz, are among the creators Animation+ has partnered with to bring programming to Animation+.
The service features more than 600 hours of animated comedy series aimed at millennial and Gen-Z audiences in the US and Canada. The company said it plans to expand internationally as well as to other major streaming services later this year.
“A lot of the major streaming platforms are afraid to take risks on edgier content nowadays, despite audiences being just as hungry for it as ever. A+ is providing us a platform to tell our stories without interference and make our fans laugh,” said Hinchliffe and Greger in a joint statement.
Animation+ has been launched by US-based Streaming Ink Media (SIM), co-founded by industry veterans Evan Weiss and John Fitzpatrick, who met while they both worked with creators at Studio71 and Collective Digital Studio.
Other animated comedy creators SIM has partnered with include ExplosmStudios (Cyanide & Happiness), Hunter Hancock (MeatCanyon, Papa Meat), Jarrad Wright (The Big Lez Official) and David Firth (Salad Fingers).
The company has also linked with Mike Carfora and Adam Mickiewicz (Bridge Kids), Drue and Myles Langlois (Apollo Gauntlet, Dudes of Hazmat), Joost Lieuwma (Cartoon Box), Ross Bollinger (Pencilmation), Paul Georghiou (Day Job, Smiling Friends), Marc M (Sick Animation, Smiling Friends), Joe Cappa (HaHa You Clowns, Ghost Dogs), Carson Mell (Tarantula) and Russell and Ed (Ownage Pranks).
Doug Herzog, former president of the Viacom Music & Entertainment Group, is among the advisors working with SIM.
Weiss said: “Presently, the FAST channel landscape is dominated by legacy content with nostalgia appeal. Animation+ is offering a refreshingly current, relevant content variety within the adult animation genre as our studio is at work developing original premium content with these popular creators.”
Takashi Nakano, senior director of content at Samsung, added: “Samsung is already fuelling the creator economy and is dedicated to building a new content library to target this valuable community.”
