When Halifax native Michael Donovan, then chairman and CEO of WildBrain Inc. (formerly DHX Media), left the company he founded last fall, there was concern it might mean the Halifax-based family entertainment firm would relocate, as well.
After all, the international media company with such brands as Peanuts, Teletubbies, Strawberry Shortcake, Caillou, Inspector Gadget, Johnny Test and Degrassi has operations and offices in various strategic locations besides Halifax, including Toronto, Vancouver, London, Beijing, Paris, Los Angeles and New York, and trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (WILD).
Despite all that, Shaun Smith, who speaks on behalf of WildBrain in Toronto, told me in an email this week that the company still considers Halifax its home.
“We continue to be headquartered in Halifax and there are no other updates at this time with respect to Nova Scotia,” Smith wrote.
But there has been a lot happening with WildBrain over the last little while, including in August 2019 with the naming of veteran entertainment executive Eric Ellenbogen as CEO and vice-chairman.
Just last month, it was announced that WildBrain had teamed up with well-known filmmaker, screenwriter and actor Kevin Smith to develop an original animated series based on the comic franchise Green Hornet. The announcement from the company’s Toronto office indicated the series will target a family audience.
The collaboration with Smith appears to be one of the first under the new WildBrain plan to focus on its video-on-demand operations.
Another new venture is the company’s first efforts in augmented reality. By teaming up with South Korean AR specialist ANIPEN, characters from WildBrain’s Teletubbies, In the Night Garden and the WildBrain Spark original Boy & Dragon will be brought to life through technology.
It will enable users to create short videos that will incorporate the characters in real-world scenes shot on their phones. The videos can then be shared via social media. The project is in development and the characters are due to launch in Korea, Japan, China, Southeast Asia and Australia this year.
Earlier in July, WildBrain announced in a release from its Halifax headquarters that it had secured its first wave of international sales for season one of Malory Towers, a live-action series based on Enid Blyton’s book series about a British boarding school.
The series is co-produced by WildBrain and U.K. production company King Bert Productions for WildBrain Television’s Family Channel in Canada and CBBC (U.K.). The series has been picked up by broadcasters and streamers in the U.S., Australia, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Israel. Beginning Aug. 28, Malory Towers will be available to stream on the CBC Gem service in Canada.
Also last month, WildBrain’s New York office announced Snoopy Garden, an eight-hectare nature experience, would soon open in Korea. It is a theme garden that embodies the Peanuts comic strip.
The company’s London-based lifestyles division, WildBrain CPLG (formerly Copyright Promotions Licensing Group), which bills itself as one of the world’s leading entertainment, sport and brand licensing agencies, has signed a deal with the Metropolitan Museum of Art to exclusively represent it in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
WildBrain CPLG is assembling a licensing program for the Met designed to appeal to families, millennials and an international audience across categories, including homewares, apparel, accessories, stationery, gifting, toys and activities, health and beauty, and collaborations.
All this activity stems from WildBrain’s announcement in May that it had signed a term sheet with Fine Capital Partners L.P., its largest shareholder, for $25 million in debentures to fund growth initiatives.
At about the same time, WildBrain released its third-quarter results. Revenue for the period, which ended March 31, was $98.3 million, compared to $110 million in the same quarter the previous fiscal year. Year-to-date revenue was $332.7 million, compared to $331 million during the same period last year.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were $17.9 million in the quarter versus $20.1 million in the third quarter in 2019.
WildBrain recorded a loss of $221.7 million, due largely to a non-cash goodwill impairment of $184.5 million in the quarter, compared to a loss of $18.4 million during the same three months in 2019.
The company’s ad-supported video-on-demand streaming service, WildBrain Spark, reported that views grew 19 per cent to more than 10.3 billion in the third quarter, compared to Q3 2019.
Ellenbogen said in May that the company had taken measures to contain costs and to address working capital and cash flow. The $25-million financing it raised is focused on the company’s internet strategy and was “exclusively growth capital to fund strategic, accretive transactions across the company.”
At the end of June, WildBrain revealed that the initial closing of the previously announced financial arrangement with Fine Capital was denominated in U.S. dollars and, as a result, Fine Capital agreed to purchase up to US$18,497,500 (C$25 million) of exchangeable secured debentures issued by a newly formed subsidiary of WildBrain called Subco.
Ellenbogen acknowledged that a global pullback in advertising due to COVID-19 did affect revenue late in the third quarter, and he anticipates those conditions extending into the company’s fiscal 2021.
