Rovio Entertainment is sharpening focus on its Angry Birds YouTube channel after shutting down its ToonsTV service.

ToonsTV, which launched in 2013, was home to Angry Birds Blues, which features the breakout Hatchlings characters from the 2016 movie and debuted earlier this year with 30 2-3-minute episodes. The series has since moved to YouTube and another 20 episodes are due in September. In addition to Angry Birds, ToonsTV also had content from Hasbro, Aardman Studios, Stan Lee and others.

“We have always had a very strong presence on YouTube and felt it made more sense to focus on one channel where we are already big,” says Rovio Marketing Manager Aino Greis. ToonsTV was an “exciting experiment, but on the other hand we get much bigger coverage with YouTube.”

Rovio is gearing up for a second Angry Birds movie that currently is slated to be released by Sony on Sept. 20, 2019.

Rovio gave potential licensees a brief preview of the Angry at Licensing Expo in May and plans to have a “full sales pitch and all the materials for a retail program,” at the 2018 show, says Greis.

The first Angry Birds movie generated $352.8 million in global box office revenue, including $107 million in the U.S., and another $24.7 million in DVD/Blu-ray sales, according to Nash Information Services.

Contact:

Rovio Entertainment, Aino Greis, Marketing Mgr., +358 50 463 7727,aino.greis@rovio.com