Launched in 2020, Scoobtober is a month-long celebration of all things Scooby – from social takeovers, and themed marathons to new product releases.
In 2023 the Little Dot Studios Entertainment team collaborated with our long-term partners Warner Bros. Discovery to deliver a special Scoobtober viewing event on the hugely successful WB Kids YouTube Channel.
Inception
Scoobtober is one of the biggest events in the WB Kids calendar and one of the best opportunities to highlight (one of their biggest IPs in an authentic way through the Halloween adventures of Scooby and the gang.
After an incredibly successful full-episode live stream in 2022 (the first ever one Little Dot Studios ran for WB Kids) the teams decided to up the ante for 2023 with not just a month-long full episode stream, but also a mega 48-hour Watch Party themed around ‘Scooby in the Big City’.
Planning
Months before the October launch the LDS and WB teams set the tone and goals for the big event. The stream would combine the best full episodes, top 10 best moments, karaoke moments, trailers, and product interstitials featuring the latest toys, gadgets, treats and apparel from Scooby-Doo!
The idea: to recreate the ‘Saturday morning cartoons’ experience of curling up on the sofa for a TV viewing marathon.
Scooby-Doo! has a hefty back catalogue of shows and films to choose from, step one was selecting what titles would best suit a 48-hour marathon as well as showing a range of series from the franchise’s history. The content was timed and programmed to ensure it was kept within the specific 48-hour period, and each piece was designed around central-themed graphics to link the‘ Scooby in the Big City’ theme across all content.
From here each bespoke piece of content was strategically planned around episode breaks, ensuring a smooth viewing transition between full episodes, top 10s, karaoke videos, trailers and consumer product interstitials.
With the runtime planned and replanned, the stream launched Oct 26th at 4 PM PST, timed to hit as many time zones as possible during the 48-hour weekend run.
Performance
In total, all Scoobtober content saw just under 9 million views during October 2023, and over 4.1 million hours of Watch Time.
The Scoobtober 48-Hour Watch Party not only had 1.5K more average hourly views than the month-long live stream, it also had the longest Average View Duration of any piece of Scoobtober content for 2023, keeping viewers engaged for an average of 37 minutes per viewer.
The teams also tracked average hourly viewing across Halloween and full episode streams from competitor channels like Disney XD, Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The 48-Hour Scoobtober Watch Party outperformed all competitor streams!
Why Live Streams?
Live streams are a big part of building an engaged, dedicated audience on YouTube, particularly for Kids channels. Of all formats on YouTube, live streams have the highest rate of engagement and are a crucial tool for building affinity and loyalty with viewers. Running regular live streams creates anticipation and desire for our content and encourages viewers to keep returning to the channels.
The Human Element
Livestreams are a limited-time event that makes viewers feel special for having been part of an event. As a brand, finding a way to use that to your advantage is a game changer. By live streaming we invite viewers to ‘watch with WB’, they feel like they are engaging with WB Kids in real-time.
What's Next?
Taking learning from the last two years the teams are excited to start planning the next big event for Scoobtober 2024!