Entertainment management and production company The Collective has appointed Henson Independent Properties, The Jim Henson Company’s third party licensing banner, as the exclusive international distributor of the Annoying Orange broadcast series.
The Annoying Orange deal marks HIP’s first third-party property for media distribution and will include television, home entertainment and digital platforms. Through the agreement, HIP recently introduced the hit television program, currently airing its first season on the Cartoon Network in the U.S., to international broadcasters at the MIPJunior and MIPCOM markets where it received strong worldwide response. HIP will also bring Annoying Orange to Singapore’s Asian Television Forum in December.
Annoying Orange first debuted on YouTube in October 2009 and since then has quickly racked up more than one billion total views with over 2.4 million YouTube channel subscribers. The popularity has also translated over 11 million likes on Facebook and to its official web site, www.annoyingorange.com, which generates nearly four million page views each month. In June, Cartoon Network premiered the TV version of Annoying Orange (which airs Mondays at 8:30pm ET/7:30pm CT).
“Our company has a long legacy of launching unique and irreverent characters and worlds to the international market,” said Richard Goldsmith, EVP, Global Distribution for The Jim Henson Company. “Annoying Orange has a fresh visual look and a distinctive writing style that has already proved itself to resonate with viewers. It is sure to attract a great deal of interest from program buyers and audiences everywhere.”
The Annoying Orange TV Show follows Orange and his produce pals including the level-headed Pear, potential paramour Passion Fruit, resident goody goody Apple, the always upbeat Marshmallow, and Orange’s nemesis the hulking Grapefruit as they go on an array of high fructose adventures. The only human to interact with this veritable fruit salad is Nerville, played by YouTube star Toby Turner, as the proprietor of the fruit cart where Orange and his crew “reside”. Dane Boedigheimer and Tom Sheppard (Pinky and the Brain) co-created the television series while The Collective developed and produced the project. Conrad Vernon (Madagascar 3, Monsters vs. Aliens) serves as executive producer along with Gary Binkow and Dan Weinstein of The Collective.
