Kartoon Studios recently celebrated the 10th Anniversary of its Frederator Networks’ hit original Netflix series, Bee and PuppyCat. The show amassed millions of fans across multiple platforms over the past decade.
In July 2013, creator Natasha Allegri’s Bee and PuppyCat premiered on Frederator Networks’ Cartoon Hangover YouTube channel—an animated tale of a twenty-something temp worker named Bee and her mysterious companion PuppyCat as the two travel on fantastic adventures across space while taking on various intergalactic odd jobs to help make rent. What followed was a historic grassroots crowdfunding campaign; a full season on YouTube; followed by a full season debut on Netflix, Bee and PuppyCat: Lazy in Space; a comic book series, incredible cosplayers; amazing fanart; and a rapidly growing global community of fans.
From its start as an animated short to an extremely popular YouTube series, Bee and PuppyCat has amassed over 70 million views to date, in addition to 2.5 million fans and counting across all social media channels. Due to this enormous success and loyal fan base, Netflix premiered Bee and PuppyCat: Lazy in Space on 6 September 2022, where it topped the “Best New Shows to Watch on Netflix” lists in New York Times, Forbes, LA Times and more.
“Frederator Studios is proud of the success of Bee and PuppyCat, which takes a prominent place among our lineup of hits that also includes Adventure Time, Castlevania and Fairly Odd Parents. Natasha Allegri is an amazing artist who has created and directed one of the best animated series of our time,” said Kartoon Studios subsidiary, WOW! Unlimited Media (parent company of Frederator Network) CEO Michael Hirsh.
On 14 July, Sony released a two-volume digital album of music from Bee and PuppyCat: Lazy in Space from renowned composer Will Wiesenfeld, who is best known for releasing music under aliases “Baths” and “Geotic.” The albums include Wiesenfeld’s What’s Your Favorite Color? (Extended) and Galactic Boom. This highly anticipated soundtrack has captured global attention from fans around the world garnering over one million streams in less than 10 days.
In the retail space, Kartoon Studios’ partners, Hot Topic, Crowdmade, Youtooz and Toynk have released limited-edition Bee and PuppyCat-branded products. Hot Topic is expanding their line from t-shirts to include jewellery, accessories, buttons and more. Trends International (posters, stickers), BOOM! Studios (comic books), and Toy Factory (plush, amusement channel) will also release new products in 2023/2024.
“The amazing response to the album release and limited-edition products speaks to the growing popularity of this fun and quirky series that has found a broad and solid fan base over the past 10 years. As we continue to celebrate this brand milestone, we look forward to working with our partners to deliver unique products to the market as well as expand our merchandise categories into publishing, home, gaming, and stationery,” said Kartoon Studios licensing consultant Karen McTier.
In 2022, Kartoon Studios, through its WOW! Unlimited Media subsidiary Frederator Networks, partnered with TOHO International, who acquired a 50 per cent stake in Bee and PuppyCat, to co-produce new content and expand the global reach of the property. Kartoon Studios’ consumer products team manages the worldwide consumer products program for Bee and PuppyCat excluding Asia, which is handled by TOHO International.