Yo Gabba team kickstarts baby toon

One of the US studios behind hit Nick Jr preschool series Yo Gabba Gabba! has turned to crowdfunding site Kickstarter to get a new toon for babies off the ground.

The Magic Store is currently attempting to raise US$150,000 to turn Hi Babyboo! into an animated series aimed at babies and toddlers.

Scott Schultz, co-creator of Yo Gabba Gabba!, said if the prodco can eventually raise US$600,000, it will then be able to produce just over two hours of content, which will then air on an undisclosed children’s TV network.

The Magic Store is also working with app developer Night & Day Studios on the project, which will explore music and nature. The toon will skew younger than Yo Gabba Gabba!, which featured contributions from US indie rock bands such as The Flaming Lips and MGMT.

Schultz said on the Kickstarter page that he is hoping to collaborate again with professional musicians on Hi Babyboo!.

“Entertainment for children is undergoing an evolution that allows parents and caregivers much more control over how and where we can experience it with our kids and taking full advantage of all these avenues.”

“A traditional half-hour TV show would only be the start of a truly multimedia, multiplatform project,” Schultz said.

The Magic Store is not the only high-profile animation studio turning to its audience rather than a broadcaster to fund new projects.

Earlier this week, Aardman Animation (Wallace & Gromit) in the UK launched a pitch to raise US$121,000 to make a series of webisodes featuring its classic stop-motion property Morph.

At the time of writing, the Bristol-based prodco looked set to reach its target, having already raised almost US$82,000 since Tuesday afternoon.