VaynerWatt Production Banner Revs Up With ‘VeeFriends’ Animated Series Debut on YouTube Kids

The VeeFriends have finally made it to the VeeDome.

“VeeFriends,” an animated series aimed at the 6-11 demographic produced by VaynerWatt and “Cocomelon” shop Moonbug Entertainment, premiered its first three episodes on Sept. 30 on the YouTube Kids section of the streaming giant.

The series, created by Vaynerchuk, is designed to encourage kids to embrace challenges and competition and how to learn from defeat and missteps. Characters, including Dialed-in Dog, Emphathy Elephant and Perfect Persian Cat, compete in the VeeDome with the goal of finding common ground but also expressing their own voices. The character of Dome Master “ensures that each battle runs smoothly and that every character who steps into the VeeDome comes out a little stronger and a lot more self-aware,” per the series description.

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“VeeFriends” marks the first production to debut from VaynerWatt, the partnership formed in 2023 between serial entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk and CAA and Wheelhouse Entertainment alum Eric Wattenberg. The pair are looking for nontraditional sources of financing and distribution for TV shows at a time when the content marketplace is experiencing massive disruption.

“Eric and I are starting to sell shows and it’s getting exciting,” Vaynerchuk told Variety. “This has been a journey for us. It feels like a watershed moment to release our first creative work.”

For Wattenberg, the opportunity to take a different approach to content development and production has been an invigorating challenge that taps into the skills and relationships he built over 10 years as a top CAA agent.

“The company’s mission statement is owning and controlling our IP as much as possible with our creative partners,” Wattenberg told Variety. “Our goal is to work outside the established system to allow us to fully monetize our content to the maximum extent possible.”

VaynerWatt’s other projects in the pipeline include a scripted half-hour comedy for Fox’s ad-supported streamer Tubi, and numerous unscripted projects are coming to fruition. Vaynerchuk’s other businesses include creative advertising and brand management consulting services under the Vayner Media banner. Vaynerchuk’s years of working with Madison Avenue and blue-chip brands is a huge asset as the partners look for financing and marketing support. VaynerWatt also aims to deliver branded content projects, capitalizing on the pull that big brands have with consumers to assemble sizable audiences via online and social platforms.

“VeeFriends” is a natural starting point for VaynerWatt because the property is close to Vaynerchuk’s heart. He began hand-drawing the characters some years ago and turned them into a series of NFTs during the pandemic. “VeeFriends” developed a following via Vaynerchuk’s TikTok posts. The response from kids led Vaynerchuk to realize that the franchise had strong potential to evolve.

“For this first animated series, we use epic, action-packed stories to give kids the tools to handle their emotions, build resilience, and truly embrace who they are. That’s where the real win happens,” he said.

Moonbug Entertainment came into the picture after Vaynerchuk met with Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, the partners in Candle Media, which owns Moonbug. Candle Media and VaynerWatt are in sync with their approach to the content marketplace, which made them a natural partner on “VeeFriends” given the 2-D animation production capabilities at Moonbug.

“Gary and the VeeFriends team have built a vibrant and deeply engaged community, and we are proud to have co-produced a series that is highly entertaining, and also enriched with important life lessons for kids and families,” Mayer and Staggs said in a statement. “This partnership is perfectly aligned with that of Candle and our team at Moonbug: to create franchise content that both entertains and inspires.”

The process of working with Moonbug to build out the franchise that Vaynerchuk created from scratch was eye-opening as to how characters and settings are built to last, he said.

“I was humbled by the feedback of working with these highly capable animation professionals,” Vaynerchuk said. “It was a very open and collaborative process. For me, doing ‘VeeFriends’ now is giving me oxygen. This has been a goal and a dream of mine.”

Moonbug’s Kathy Power, who is an exec producer on “VeeFriends,” credited Vaynerchuk’s strong vision for setting the tone.

“Gary had a really clear idea of who these characters were and the Moonbug team took that and built that into both the stories and designs to really breathe life and depth into these characters and their world,” Power said. The end goal for all involved was to “ultimately build a series that could teach valuable life lessons to its audience in a really fun and engaging way,” she said.