GENIUS BRANDS INTERNATIONAL ISSUES SHAREHOLDER LETTER - Seite 2

The answer is simple. No. The business of animated cartoons has proven over and over again, that its appeal is timeless. Like the Walt Disney Company, and as Bob Iger said at the Disney shareholder meeting last Wednesday, “What we create has never been more important or necessary.”  Animated entertainment has shown to be extremely insulated to factors that other asset classes can fall prey to: the price of oil, the price of gold, Brexit, impeachment, wars, elections, recessions, and today, even the COVID-19 coronavirus. 

We are a tiny company, but our model is similar to the Walt Disney Company.  However, unlike some entertainment conglomerates, we don’t have cruise lines or theme parks, or live Broadway shows to be shut down.  We make cartoons, and we sell licensed products from those cartoons. Kids watch cartoons through all weather and events. If baseball practice or soccer games or Girl Scout meetings are canceled, and even if school is closed down, kids will still watch cartoons, maybe even more cartoons. Our stories are uplifting, they all have positive messages and enriched content, from which kids learn, thus making our cartoons parent friendly as well.

In fact, we have witnessed an increase in viewership, which equates to more revenue, to more recognition and appeal of the characters. That ultimately equates to product sales at retail, and that is how our business makes money.

Cartoons endure. We announced Tuesday that Rainbow Rangers is now up to 26 broadcasts a week on Nick Jr.!!!  We intend to share a significant number of releases regarding Rainbow Rangers in the coming days, but let me say in brief, that it is now being broadcast, in the entire western hemisphere, on the best broadcasters there are. Not just Nick Jr. in the U.S. and Nickelodeon Latin America, but also in Mexico on top kid’s broadcaster Televisa, and on top kids broadcaster, Treehouse, in Canada. From, Italy, where we are on the top kid’s broadcaster, Cartoonito, to NOGA, the top kid’s broadcaster in Israel, we see the same story. Rainbow Rangers is gaining traction. We are closing a broadcast deal with Australia and expect to announce next week a major deal with the largest and most important broadcaster in China, where Rainbow Rangers will become available to be seen by an audience of 1.2 billion. Rainbow Rangers continues to grow, and we have increasing confidence that it will meet our high expectations, as we have spoken to right from the start.