THE 14TH ANNUAL SHORTY AWARDS

The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media and digital. View this season's finalists!

Special Project

Special Project
From the 6th Annual Shorty Awards

Cartoon Hangover

Entered in YouTube

Objectives

Cartoon Hangover is an original YouTube channel that produces television-quality cartoons for the Internet. Launched in 2012 by Frederator Studios, Cartoon Hangover produces original cartoons that are helping to usher in the next golden age of animation on the Internet. Working with animators all over the world, Cartoon Hangover brings unconventional, counter-culture cartoons to young adults everywhere with an Internet connection. Debuting in 2012 as part of YouTube’s $100 million original channel initiative, Cartoon Hangover has quickly become one of the fastest growing channels on YouTube. In just over 14 months, the channel has garnered an engaged audience of more than 1 million subscribers, over 17 million unique viewers, more than 83 million views, and over 251 million minutes—or 477 years—of content viewed. Cartoon Hangover offers a wide range of programming to cater to its core audience of 13 - 24 year-olds, including its flagship series Bravest Warriors, created by Pendleton Ward, the mind behind Adventure Time; an upcoming series Bee and PuppyCat, from Adventure Time alum Natasha Allegri; an original shorts program spotlighting rising stars in the industry; and a hosted live-action show, Hungover with Cade. Episodes of the channels’ hit show Bravest Warriors are stories told in six minutes or less. Season 1 debuted at the end of 2012 with 11 episodes, and in summer followed up with a bonus “lost" episode, as well as 5 minisodes focusing on each of the main characters, and written by rising stars in the animation industry. The cast, including the titular warriors, as well as breakout fan-favorite characters Catbug, Impossibear, and Jelly Kid have inspired thousands of pieces of fan art and hundreds of comments. The show has quickly become an Internet phenomenon, joining science-fiction with a unique comedic voice, with nods to Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, The Twilight Zone, and Psycho. Cartoon Hangover is happy to be able to work with licensees to deliver Bravest Warriors t-shirts, magnets, belts, wallets, hats, Catbug plush, and more, to its fans through distribution at major retailers and online stores. Cartoon Hangover engages its fans directly in the comments on each video, as well as through active audience participation by submitting fan art, leaving voicemails, and entering contests and giveaways. The channel’s ongoing campaign to “become a warrior" asks fans to sign up for their newsletter which delivers exclusive content on a biweekly schedule, and includes early access to new episodes, beta content, and coupons for Cartoon Hangover products. Cartoon Hangover’s upcoming series Bee and PuppyCat was created by Natasha Allegri, who worked as a storyboard revisionist on Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time, and created the genderbent characters Fionna and Cake which spawned two of the show’s highest-rated episodes and a comic book series. Allegri connects directly with the Internet audience through her tumblr, where she quickly gained a following for unique vision and artistic sensibilities. Cartoon Hangover’s shorts program is a unique incubator for original cartoons, in which cartoons are produced for the channel based on creators’ original ideas. Cartoon Hangover accepts pitches from all over the world, and has produced shorts from Australia and Europe, in addition to the US. The program is designed to give new talent the opportunity to produce and share their vision with their world, and can pave the way for an opportunity to go to series. In 2012, Frederator greenlight a 10-minute Bee and PuppyCat film for their shorts program, which has since amassed over 5 million views since its July 2013 release. The success of the film encouraged Cartoon Hangover to appeal directly to fans and to launch Kickstarter to fund a series. The Kickstarter funded successfully in November at 145% completion, with 18,209 backers and $872,133 raised of its $600,000 goal. The show is now in production with an expected launch in Summer 2014. The Hungover with Cade show is currently the only live-action program on Cartoon Hangover, which features news and announcements around Cartoon Hangover content, merchandise, and fan-created content. The host, Cade, engages with subscribers to the channel both on and off YouTube, helping to cultivate and engage an active audience. To lead into the launch of season 2 of Bravest Warriors Cade hosted a 24-hour non-stop Livestream on the channel, which featured guests all across the world from cast and crew of Bravest Warriors, Frederator staff, and artists working in animation and comics. The Livestream gained over 56 thousand views of, and fans left more than 75 thousand comments in support for Cartoon Hangover. Boasting a suite of channels that features original cartoons, behind the scenes, uncensored, and Spanish-language content, Cartoon Hangover has something for every fan. Since its launch, the channel has attracted dedicated fans from all over the world who have added over 1 million likes on YouTube the platform, , and shared the content elsewhere over 49 thousand times. The original programming brings in a wide audience with 70% between the ages of 13 and 24, and a close split between male and female viewers. The Cartoon Hangover YouTube channel is supported by an an aggressive social media campaign, including 188 thousand facebook fans, 100 thousand tumblr followers, and 28 thousand twitter followers.

Strategy and Execution

YouTube: http://Youtube.com/CartoonHangover Website: http://CartoonHangover.com Facebook: http://facebook.com/toonhangover Twitter: http://twitter.com/cartoonhangover Instagram: http://Instagram.com/cartoonhangover Behance: http://www.behance.net/cartoonhangover

Media

Entrant Company / Organization Name

Cartoon Hangover

Link

Entry Credits