Nickelodeon Triples Daily Broadcast of Genius Brands International’s Popular Preschool Series, Rainbow Rangers
All-New Episodes of the Hit Animated-Adventure Series to Premiere Each Sunday on Nick Jr. Beginning October 6
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Oct. 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As a result of the strong performance of Rainbow Rangers on Nick Jr. in the U.S., Genius Brands International “Genius Brands” (Nasdaq: GNUS) announced today that Nickelodeon, a Viacom Inc. company (Nasdaq: VIA, VIAB), has significantly increased the broadcasting of the Company’s original preschool series by tripling the daily broadcast.
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Effective immediately, Nick Jr. will now go to airing Rainbow Rangers Monday – Friday, 3x per day, and on the weekends with a new episode premiering each Sunday. Since premiering on Nick Jr. in November 2018, the series has consistently achieved high ratings with its target demo of Girls 2 – 5-years-old.
“The increased broadcast run commitment in the premium 10 weeks leading up to Christmas underscores the success of the series. The exposure of Rainbow Rangers is now essentially tripled,” said Andy Heyward, Chairman & CEO, Genius Brands.
“As products are now rolling out into the marketplace, this huge increase in daily exposure will grow the awareness and appetite for the 375 SKUs of Rainbow Rangers’ licensed products beginning to be introduced now,” said Lloyd Mintz, SVP, Global Consumer Products, Genius Brands. “The licensed categories include toys, books, apparel, footwear, sleepwear, bedding, school supplies, party goods, costumes, novelty, vitamins, bathing suits, bicycles, among others.”
Heyward adds, “We are thrilled with the commitment that Nickelodeon continues to make to Rainbow Rangers by providing more opportunities for young audiences to watch throughout the week this special series that not only delivers fun, adventure and entertainment but important positive messaging of empowerment and diversity.”
In the international market, Rainbow Rangers season one debuted this summer across Latin America on Nickelodeon LatAm, and in its first major European territory, Italy, on Cartoonito. Genius Brands is currently in negotiations with a number of other leading broadcasters around the world, which will be announced in the coming days, as well as global licensing agents.
Rainbow Rangers is a rescue-based series that follows the adventures of seven girls who are Earth’s first responders, protecting people, animals, resources, and the natural beauty of our world. The series boasts a unique and highly-accomplished team of creators from the animated motion picture and television worlds, including Rob Minkoff (Disney’s The Lion King director), Shane Morris (Disney’s Frozen co-writer), Tim Mansfield, and New York Times Bestselling author and Emmy Award-nominated writer Elise Allen (Dinosaur Train, Lion Guard, Barbie specials), who serves as head writer and co-creator. Multiple Emmy Award-winning director Michael Maliani directs the series, and Genius Brands' Chairman and CEO and multiple Emmy Award-winning producer, Andy Heyward, serves as executive producer.
About Genius Brands International
Headquartered in Beverly Hills, Genius Brands International, Inc. (Nasdaq: GNUS) is a leading global kids media company developing, producing, marketing and licensing branded children’s entertainment properties and consumer products for media and retail distribution. The Company’s “content with a purpose” brand portfolio, which is led by award-winning creators and producers, includes preschool properties Rainbow Rangers for Nick Jr. and Llama Llama for Netflix; award-winning toddler brand, Baby Genius; adventure comedy STEM series, Thomas Edison's Secret Lab; and financial literacy and entrepreneurship series, Warren Buffett's Secret Millionaires Club. The Company’s content catalog also includes the animated series, Stan Lee's Cosmic Crusaders, created with Stan Lee's Pow! Entertainment. Seeing the need to provide kids and parents with a safe viewing environment that offers premium enriching and engaging programming, Genius Brands launched the Genius Brands Network – comprised of Kid Genius Cartoon Channel and Baby Genius TV, as well as an exclusive Kid Genius Cartoons Plus subscription channel on Amazon Prime.The Network channels are available in approximately 80 million U.S. households via a variety of distribution platforms, including cable with Comcast and Cox, OTT including Amazon Fire, DISH TV/Sling, set-top box, internet, and mobile. Through licensing agreements with category leading partners, characters from the Company’s properties also appear on a wide range of consumer products for retail. For additional information, please visit www.gnusbrands.com
Forward Looking Statements: Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Words such as "may," "might," "will," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "continue," "predict," "forecast," "project," "plan," "intend" or similar expressions, or statements regarding intent, belief, or current expectations, are forward-looking statements. While the Company believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on any such forward-looking statements, which are based on information available to us on the date of this release. These forward looking statements are based upon current estimates and assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including without limitation those set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), not limited to Risk Factors relating to its patent business contained therein. Thus, actual results could be materially different. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
GENIUS BRANDS MEDIA CONTACT:
Michelle Orsi/Carol Holdsworth
Three.Sixty Marketing & Communications
310-418-6430; michelle@360-comm.com
FOR INVESTOR RELATIONS:
Crescendo Communications, LLC
Tel: 212-671-1020
GNUS@crescendo-ir.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a9341827-e757-4cb8-813a-3092a4d6f64e
Released October 4, 2019