Kartoon Studios enters MY with branded block on kid's channel Astro Ceria

American production studio, Kartoon Studios is all set to enter the Malaysian market with a ‘Kartoon Channel’ branded block on Astro in August this year, as a part of its continued expansion in the Asia-Pacific region.

The brand will premiere on Astro Ceria, which is one of Malaysia’s top homegrown kid’s channels.

Based on the success of Kartoon Channel’s elimination-style reality gaming series for kids, Kidaverse Roblox Rumble, Astro also licensed the format to produce season two of the series, starring Malaysian contestants. The series features a diverse group of girls and boys, ages 8 to 12, who compete in 10 different games to win prizes and find out who is the ultimate gamer for a grand prize.

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In addition to Kidaverse Roblox Rumble, the Kartoon Channel programming block on Astro Ceria will feature a slate of gaming content for kids, including Tankee Minecraft Map, Super Mario Brothers 3, KC Play Mix: Surviving Roblox, and Sally Plays Roblox by Tankee. 

“As part of our ongoing global rollout strategy for Kartoon Channel, we are thrilled to enter the Malaysian market, through this new partnership with Astro, to provide family-friendly and safe content for kids across the country under the Kartoon Channel brand,” said Paul Robinson, the president of Kartoon Channel Worldwide.

He added that this venture also marks Kartoon Channel’s first collaboration in localising the format of its popular and safe original gaming series, Kidaverse Roblox Rumble, featuring Malaysian children.

Sharmin Parameswaran, vice president of video-on-demand at Astro, said, “At Astro, we embrace the trends and changing preferences of our kid’s audience; and are excited to work with Kartoon Channel to bring on board safe and engaging kids gaming content, as well as family-friendly game shows that puts kids at the centre of the programmes.”

Along with making space for international content, Astro has also been championing local content. This is evident in Astro's plan to invest RM300 million in local content for the financial year which ends on 31 January 2024, as reported by Bernama in an interview with Astro’s group CEO, Euan Smith.

Smith told Bernama that Astro has invested RM308 million in local content for the financial year of 2023, which is an 11% increase from the previous year. Smith added that Astro is focusing on providing customers with better value bundles which they can access all in one place, with the aim to address viewers diverse preferences. 

The underlying principle behind the investment, according to Smith, is Astro’s aim to champion local vernacular content, coupled with its knowledge in storytelling, talent and production capabilities which can appeal to Malaysian audiences. 

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