YouTube Originals partners with creators including Studio71 on growing roster of kids programming.
YouTube Originals today announced the premiere of a new animated series, Super Sema and the pick ups of eight new shows including Studio 71’s The Guava Juice Show, plus 25 projects in development.
This new global slate is part of the previously announced $100 million commitment to invest in the future of quality kids, family and educational programming.
Reflected in this new lineup, YouTube Originals Kids & Family has developed content goals in collaboration with experts across the globe in areas related to child safety, child development, and digital literacy — focused on producing shows that inspire kids’ learning and discovery of their unique strengths and passions while finding their own voice.
Super Sema is an animated series created by Kukua, and the first show of the new slate to launch — premiering March 8, on International Women’s Day. The African series, produced by a female led team, features a young superhero girl named Sema and follows her world-changing adventures.
Fueled by STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math), and set in a futuristic African world, Sema, along with her brother MB, uses her ‘technovating’ powers to save her village from the villainous Tobor and his army of mischievous Bongalala robots. A heartless artificially intelligent ruler, Tobor meets his match in Sema, who knows that with determination, creativity, and a helping hand from the amazing worlds of science and technology, anything is possible.
Super Sema was written by four time BAFTA winner Claudia Lloyd (Charlie & Lola, Mr. Bean, Tinga Tinga Tales) and directed by Lynne Southerland, the first female African-American director for Disney (Mulan II). The series will be available on the Super Sema YouTube channel which has had its WatchTime hours increase by more than 40% year-over-year in 2020 vs 2019.
Additionally picked up are eight new series set to roll out later this year and 25 projects in development. These include Studio 71’s The Guava Juice Show, which is in production and set to premiere in Q3/4.
Imagine if YouTube superstar Guava Juice’s Roi Fabito was a cartoon character and he could do all the amazing things he wants and project his positive energy… times a million! In this animated series, Roi is 14 years old and he works with fellow teenager, Jenny, and a neurotic talking Guava at a curio shop where a magical bathtub transports them to parallel dimensions full of danger and fun. Using his signature enthusiasm, Roi helps everyone find something way more meaningful than the thing they were actually looking for.
The Guava Juice Show is produced by Studio71 and Mainframe Studios.