Cocomelon's owners buy YouTube's latest kids' video sensation

[LOS ANGELES] Moonbug Entertainment, which produces Cocomelon, the most popular kids' show on Netflix, thinks it has found its next big hit.

Moonbug has acquired Little Angel, a network of kids-focused YouTube channels that generate about 1.5 billion views a month.

Moonbug didn't disclose the terms of the deal, the company's first acquisition since it was acquired by Candle Media, an entertainment company run by two former Walt Disney executives.

The main Little Angel channel produces animated videos set to nursery rhymes and songs for kids, and has about 27 million subscribers on YouTube.

Another channel, Little World, also specialises in songs but has a much smaller audience. In all, its channels have almost 90 million subscribers.

Moonbug buys kids shows that first became popular on YouTube and builds them into global entertainment franchises. It produces TV episodes based on the characters from Cocomelon that rank among the most-watched programmes on Netflix in the US, and the company has also licenced its Cocomelon and Blippi brands for toys and other merchandise.

Little Angel has many of the same attributes as those properties-affordable animation, addictive songs and a growing audience. But its current owner, Valnet, has yet to expand it much beyond YouTube or market the show in many territories.

"We are putting it into our machine," Moonbug chief executive officer Rene Rechtman said. "We'll create more content, we'll internationalise it and we'll start distributing it on global platforms." Rechtman said Little Angel reminded him of Cocomelon when his company bought it in July 2020, only the show is a bit edgier and its audience skews a year or two older. BLOOMBERG