The creator of the children’s song Baby Shark, which has become a global phenomenon, said that his company is eyeing the Chinese market, where the tune did not quite catch on, with a new production featuring dinosaurs.
The popular song about a family of sharks has been a rallying cry at Lebanese anti-government protests, played at the White House and become the unofficial anthem of the baseball World Series champions Washington Nationals. It has also prompted parodies and a dance craze.
The cofounder and chief financial officer of the South Korean publisher behind the viral song and video, the fifth-most viewed all time on YouTube, said it is targeting China next to make sure that it does not end a one-hit wonder.
Photo: Reuters
“Who would have thought sharks could become this popular?” Ryan Lee of SmartStudy said in an interview. “Children who like dinosaurs definitely exist around the world, but there’s no brand name attached to them.”
The Baby Shark song, which has had 3.9 billion views on YouTube, is a under copyright to SmartStudy, a South Korean company that is planning an initial public offering.
The company sees the song to Baby Shark as “evergreen content,” SmartStudy said.
It is planning a Baby Shark-themed animated TV series with the Nickelodeon television network.
SmartStudy sees the limitation of the domestic market and is eyeing China, where the absence of YouTube and the clunky local word for shark, shayu (鯊魚), did little for Baby Shark’s appeal.
Dinosaurs, on the other hand, will be a different story, Lee said, citing China’s active research into the reptiles as a sign of great interest.
“China is not an easy market, but there’s no market more attractive other than China. More than a billion people speaking a single language and this is a country that evolved into a market from a factory,” he said.
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