TV production giant Endemol has done its first U.S. digital acquisition: its U.S. arm has acquired online animation site JoeCartoon.com, reports Variety. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The nine-year-old comedy content creator/site is best known for its 1999 short “Frog in a Blender,” which has been viewed more than 90 million times. The company survived the first boom an bust, partnered with Atom Films for a while but eventually returning to its indie roots.
Endemol plans to use the original animation on the site for mobile distribution, something which it has been a major force in already in Europe and here. Also in the works: a TV series based on characters created by JoeCartoon, including SuperFly, the Greenfields and Joe Momma. The JoeCartoon.com site will also be revamped and relaunched by the end of June.
The company has U.S. shows such as “Deal or No Deal”, “Fear Factor” and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” and then “Big Brother”. On the digital side, it recently tied up with Comcast on its user-gen video site Ziddio. Endemol is majority owned by Spanish telecom giant Telefonica, which has been trying to offload its stake for a while now.