Genius Brands Launching New Nancy Drew Series

Genius Brands Launching New Nancy Drew Series

FinancialPress Staff  Education, Featured

Teaching children coding is a hot issue for games and shows today. It’s not that every child is going to move on to a career in programming, but learning coding teaches a litany of problem solving and thinking skills that translate into nearly every profession. Apps such as Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) Swift Playground start out by teaching children the basics of coding before moving on to design their own creations, effectively teaching unique skills in an entertaining manner. The educational philosophy is part of the popular STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) learning practices that have become commonplace today to make learning more fun and engagement for children.

Content and brand management company Genius Brands International (OTCQB: GNUS) on Wednesday said that it has partnered with HeR Interactive to launch Genius Brands’ first branded channel, called Nancy Drew: Codes & Clues, based on the new eponymous mobile game of HeR Interactive designed for kids with any coding experience. HeR Interactive has been published more than 32 interactive games based on the iconic teen girl sleuth since 1998 that have sold over nine million copies, while winning 30 Parents’ Choice awards in the process.

Since debuting 86 years ago, more than 100 million print copies of Nancy Drew detective stories have been published in 22 languages and still remain popular today. HeR Interactive has licensed the Nancy Drew trademark from Simon & Schuster.

Genius Brands is adding Nancy Drew: Codes & Clues as a new animated series available October 1 through its Kid Genius Network, an on demand service available on Comcast’s (NASDAQ: CMCSA) Xfinity on Demand platform. The new show is aimed at girls 6 – 11 years old, introducing them to a tween version of Nancy Drew and her friends Bess and George and robot puppy to solve the mystery of the missing technology fair project. According to Genius Brands, the detective (or “de-TECH-tive as they put it) team needs to utilize coding basics and critical thinking, such as pattern recognition, to put the clues to together to find the solution to the conundrum.

The new show will join the free, ad-supported on demand Kid Genius Network that includes other Genius Brands shows SpacePOP, Thomas Edison’s Secret Lab, Stan Lee’s Mighty 7 and Warren Buffett’s Secret Millionaires Club (which was created and stars the investing icon). Overall, the company has a stable of over 40 products distributed through Netflix, on demand and public broadcast stations.

Nancy Drew: Codes & Clues will also be a sponsor of Genius Brands tween YouTube series SpacePOP. SpacePOP, which was developed in part by Sponge Bob Square Pants head writer and story editor Steve Banks, is an animated series of adventures following five teenage princesses who disguise themselves as musicians and form a band while secretly working to vanquish an evil Empress seeking to take over the galaxy. The YouTube series was launched in June and has amassed over seven million channel views to date.

“In keeping in line with our mission of providing ‘content with a purpose,’ Nancy Drew: Codes & Clues is the perfect complement to our ever-growing Kid Genius Network, and we look forward to collaborating with HeR Interactive to create this compelling destination for young girls,” stated Deb Pierson, General Manager, Kid Genius Channel, in a news release this morning.

Share of GNUS started 2016 at $1.10 per share, printed a 52-week high at $2.45 in June and are trading currently at $2.00 today.

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