Netflix, Dreamworks expand VOD pact to fresh series


Details

Michelle Clancy

| 06 January 2016




Subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) leader Netflix is expanding its children’s content rights with DreamWorks.



The deal will extend the rights, and second-window rights, of original series across Netflix’s global markets, except for China. Netflix also snags the streaming rights to the entire DreamWorks animation feature film library.

On the content production front, Netflix said that it will launch a reboot of the 1980s cartoon Voltron, and will become the home for the series Trollhunters from Mexican director Guillermo del Toro, the man behind Pan’s Labyrinth and The Strain.

The SVOD has been a partner with the Dreamworks studio since 2013, and is home to 300-plus hours of original series including The Adventure of Puss in Boots, a spin-off from the Shrek franchise, Dinotrux and Dragons: Race to the Edge.

“DreamWorks Animation is synonymous with great storytelling that families around the world enjoy,” said Cindy Holland, VP of original series, Netflix. “It’s with great pleasure that we expand on an already successful relationship with DreamWorks Animation to bring more premium kids and family television to Netflix members globally.”

The SVOD leader already has a dedicated section for kids, which it recently beefed up with teen content. It features dozens of original series as well as TV shows and movies from Dreamworks and from partners such as PBS, Disney Channel, Mattel, Hasbro, Scholastic and Lego, all in a commercial-free environment