New Woody Woodpecker on YouTube
November 22, 2018
Universal is set to release new episodes of Woody Woodpecker across three dedicated YouTube channels – in each of Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish and English. These upcoming adventures are the newest Woody Woodpecker episodes 46 years after the last classic cartoons were released, 16 years after the three modern Woody Woodpecker seasons and one year after the launch of the dedicated YouTube channels.
Woody Woodpecker is a beloved character from Walter Lantz Productions, whose adventures are popular across all demographics. That popularity led NBCUniversal’s Global Distribution team to launch a dedicated YouTube channel in Brazil, along with English and Spanish-language channels in 2017; the overwhelmingly positive response to the channels then sparked the idea to create new content.
“When we launched Woody Woodpecker on YouTube in 2017, the channels immediately resonated and the dedicated Portuguese channel for Brazil was a breakout hit; we knew there was a unique opportunity to do more with this favorite, classic character,” commented Rob Bell, EVP, International New Media, NBCUniversal Global Distribution. “With the Brazilian channel organically attracting over two million subscribers and the Spanish channel over 700,00 subscribers coupled with extremely high engagement and watch time – it was clear there was an appetite to build upon the strength of the existing IP and a strategic opportunity for us to create original content.”
Viewers of the Woody Woodpecker YouTube channels can already access hundreds of videos, including the classic Woody adventures created from 1940-1972 and the modern seasons created after 1999. And, those who subscribe will be the first to be notified about promotional content and receive updates about this upcoming latest season, directed by Alex Zamm.
“Woody Woodpecker is my favourite impish trickster,” said Zamm. “It was an incredible honour to take a legacy character like this and create a whole new series of cartoons for him to star in. And it was also great to be able to include many of Walter Lantz’s other beloved characters. It felt like we were getting the band back together.”