storybooth is an innovative new animated storytelling platform that collects real stories from young people in their own words, animates the best of them, and publishes them on our YouTube channel, website and mobile app. Our mission is to create a platform that empowers kids through the telling of their true stories to help them feel connected, inspired, and not so alone in the world.
A storybooth animated short emotionally resonates with our audience because they cover the real things that happen to kids; from a first kiss, to getting cyber-bullied, to being caught in an embarrassing moment - we are not afraid to go where our young viewers want to go and animate the stories that make up their lives.
Combining true storytelling, with short form animation allows us to elevate these true stories in a way that young adults connect to, are entertained by, and watch over and over and over again.
Putting our audience front and center has driven the strategies we have put into motion. Delivering on what our audience expects from digital content is what has made the platform grow so quickly and experience such high levels of engagement.
Our offering had to be:
Co-created - young adults like to create and we provided them with a platform where they play in the content we produce. storybooth has received over 17,000 stories - the appetite for potentially seeing your story animated fuels our offering.
Authentic - young audiences crave authenticity. All stories we publish are edited as recorded - real kids, telling real stories. Stories are un-guided and non-prompted, inspired only by the experiences of the young people telling them.
Organic - all of storybooth's growth has been organically generated based on our audience connecting to our content first, none of it bought.
Relatable, Entertaining, Engaging, and Inspiring - young adults relate to the stories we produce because they are real, told by their peers, about the very things they are going through. Stories illicit laughter, loathing, compassion, sympathy, connection, passion, and a sense of belonging.
Relevant and Present - the stories we produce are based on the submissions we receive - therefore relevance is extremely high because we produce "the pulse" of our youth. Our production turnaround is quick so we can quickly release stories that are current.
Short, Easy, Mobile - our videos are always three-minutes or less, and story submission is one-click-in-app
Authentic Marketing- we have enabled a marketing strategy centered on collaboration and co-distribution with rising and established YouTuber personalities. We create a storybooth animation of YouTube influencers based on the stories they tell, they distribute it on their channel and promote us authentically. This strategy has allowed us to draw the right audience in the right way.
storybooth has organically grown in a short period of time (hard launch was in May 2016).
Key Goals and results:
Would kids like this type of content and engage with it weekly?
Yes. 26.5MM+ views across full catalog of videos (18M+ over last 90 days). 54MM+ minutes views
Would kids engage in the content?
Yes. Over 400,000 likes and comments with comments ranging from how much they love the channel to conversation and debate about the topic of each video. They show empathy, support, authenticity, compassion, humor, honesty, and advocacy.
Would kids relate to most videos and want to watch them weekly?
Yes. Each viewing session averages 8-10 videos viewed. 7.75% weekly growth across ALL videos. 90% average viewing time per video average delivering 1.6MM organic views per week.
Would our topics be relevant and evergreen?
Yes. 85% of our videos show up above-the-fold on the first page of YouTube search on covered topics given relevancy of our stories, with many making their way yo the top of the Google return page for their topic.
Would YouTuber influencers want to create a storybooth and be part of this so we could be authentically promoted?
Yes. 12 YouTuber stories have been released and many more are in production.
