The Dodo is the #1 digital media brand in the world for animal people, owning the animal category across social platforms including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. We're committed to creating fun, entertaining, emotional, animal-related content — everything from cute viral videos to heartwarming rescue stories and meaningful advocacy pieces. Our audience is everyone who loves animals, from people who are obsessed with their pets all the way to people dedicating their lives to making the world a better place for animals.
In 2018, The Dodo truly dominated not only the pet and animal landscape, but also media and entertainment more broadly on social. We are proud to be the #1 media company in the world by social engagement [source: Tubular], most-loved publisher on Facebook (by "love" reactions) [Source: CrowdTangle], and #1 animal brand for views and engagements on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook [Source: Tubular].
Our social presence has grown organically across all platforms, with monthly video views averaging 2.5 billion views and consumers spending over 1.1 billion minutes watching our content every month [Source: internal platform analytics]. We've proven our ability to tell both inspiring and entertaining stories that not only put animals at the forefront but bring positivity and joy to consumers' social feeds.
The Dodo is a media brand that puts a spotlight on the deep connection between animals and humans through highly engaging, inspirational content. We reach 110M+ pet owners every month in the U.S. across all our social channels and website. The Dodo's goal is to entertain, make people feel connected to animals, and make viewers feel good about the world.
The Dodo tells share-worthy stories that tap into human emotions and showcase animals as protagonists in their own narratives. Our audience has come to love and expect this as we've expanded into new formats and shows. We want people to leave our content with a new understanding of the wide range of animals' personalities, to feel hopeful, to have fun, and to bond with other animal lovers that make up our ever-growing community. But more importantly, if our community is able to take an action or learn something new, or if we've helped someone become an animal lover, that's the most rewarding aspect of the stories we tell.
In 2018, The Dodo doubled down on creating new IP and developed over 10 original show series, which were distributed across YouTube, Facebook Watch, Snapchat and IGTV. Through these new shows, we've had the opportunity to continue to tell the inspirational stories -- albeit more in-depth -- to millions of followers, as well as the ability to build new followings of deeply engaged audiences around our franchises. Our recent slate of programming consisted of breakout hits like Odd Couples, Little But Fierce, Comeback Kids, Reunited, Adoption Day, Soulmates, Faith = Restored, and Pittie Nation, which de-stigmatizes pit bulls and has amassed over 1.1B video views, over 129MM minutes of watch time, and 3.3MM show followers to date. Our series helps to foster communities for our hyper-engaged fans who are invested in what has previously been seen as a niche passion point and subject.
On the heels of our successful longer-form social series, we debuted our first linear TV series, Dodo Heroes, on Animal Planet -- marking Discovery Communication's first TV partnership with a digital-first brand and the network's first-ever global premiere (205 countries). Each of the six one-hour long episodes documented the undeniable bonds that are forged between animals and the courageous people who help them. At the completion of its U.S. season run, across Animal Planet and The Dodo platforms, Dodo Heroes content delivered 36MM worldwide linear viewers, 180MM video views on our digital companion series and 738MM social impressions. Dodo Heroes outperformed Animal Planet's freshman series average by 12% as well as delivered 1 in 5 viewers new to Animal Planet, demonstrating our ability to move audience. The first season's high performance resulted in the network green-lighting a second season.
With 35% of our existing audience living outside of the U.S., The Dodo also expanded its international presence with the launch of "El Dodo," which is the world's #1 most-viewed Spanish-language channel dedicated to animal content, cross-platform [source: Tubular]. El Dodo has amassed nearly 3MM followers to date, and due to its high engagement, we've extended El Dodo onto YouTube.
