Bluey: The Australian cartoon taking over the world

Sascha: [00:00:03] Welcome to the dive. I'm Sascha Kelly and where the podcast that asks whoever said business news needs to be all business. Here's one of the catchiest songs that I think's emerged in the last couple of years. If you or anyone under five, maybe even ten, you might be tempted to switch off right now, but please don't. For those of you who are drawing a blank, that is the bluey theme song. Bluey, the now seven year old blue heeler and her family Bingo Bandit and Chilli. They premiered on ABC Kids on the 1st of October in 2018. This Australian pre-school animated television series has well and truly become a global phenomenon. It was co-commissioned by the BBC, but now it's available internationally on Disney Plus. The list of famous guest stars has been quite extensive. So here at Equity Mates, it got us thinking, How much money is this small dog who lives in inner city Brisbane, Queensland, Australia actually raking in? It's Friday, the 30th of June, and today I want to know how big is the business of Bluey? To talk about this today I'm joined by my colleague here at Equity Mates. It's Simon. Simon, welcome to the Dive. 

Simon: [00:01:28] Thank you, Sascha. Great to be here. Excited to talk about Bluey today. 

Sascha: [00:01:32] Absolutely. And you've got a little one, so I'm not sure the blue is in your cycle at the moment, but it's on the horizon, right? 

Simon: [00:01:40] Yeah, not quite yet. She's still only six months and not on the TV yet, but I'm fully aware of it having many nieces and nephews. So let's get into it. 

Sascha: [00:01:49] Yes, sir. Simon, remind me, who is Bluey? Give me one on one. Yeah. 

Simon: [00:01:54] So as you said in the intro, Bluey is a popular Australian children's TV show, first premiered on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, or ABC in 2018. The show follows The Adventures of Bluey, a lovable blue heeler puppy. He lives a family in the suburbs of Brisbane. And Bluey is known for boundless energy, imagination and curiosity, which lead her on various adventures with her younger sister Bingo and their parents, Bandit and Chilli. And the show has gained widespread acclaim for its relatable and heartwarming stories that both entertain children and adults alike. 

Sascha: [00:02:38] Australia does seem to have a knack for children's entertainment exports. I mean, I grew up with the Wiggles, probably a little bit old for the Wiggles when they were huge. But those Skippy, those high five, how does Bluey compare to these other children's entertainers who've come before.

Simon: [00:02:56] Bluey is massive. 

Sascha: [00:02:57] Okay, well, the Wiggles were massive. So how massive is massive? Simon, Really? 

Simon: [00:03:02] Well, within 18 months of its Aussie debut, in a country with around 25 million people, the episodes have been streamed over 250 million times. And since then, Bluey has just gone on to break all the records for ABC's iView streaming service. 

Sascha: [00:03:17] And it's global, isn't it? 

Simon: [00:03:19] Yes. Not just in Australia. Bluey has become a significant presence in the world of children's entertainment. It's in the UK, the US, Spain, Italy, even China. In fact it's now in over 20 languages and over 60 countries in the US they really can't get enough of Bluey And the numbers don't lie. According to audience insights from analytics firms, Nielsen Bluey ranked in the top ten streaming programs in the United States by minutes, viewed last year, and it was streamed for wait lists more than 20000000000 minutes on Disney Plus.

Sascha: [00:03:52] That's massive. That is massive. 

Simon: [00:03:55] Yeah. We did the maths in the office and worked this out to be 38,000 continuous years of Bluey. If you're struggling to get your head around that, imagine if 38,000 seater stadium full of American children each watching Bluey for a full year straight.

Sascha: [00:04:14] Look Simon, It does resonate because I know that The Little Mermaid was my favourite growing up, and my parents must have watched that every day for a year. It is a thing that kids do is latch onto something they love and watch over and over and over again. So it's one thing to talk about it. Just being a TV show is minutes streamed, but that doesn't kind of capture the cultural impact that is hard. For want of a better term, we're going to say it. Bluey is a cult. 

Simon: [00:04:43] Well, well, I'm not sure it is quite a cult, but it's definitely on the spectrum and has built a devoted following and not just from children. So from Hollywood A-listers Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendez announced they were devotees. Natalie Portman said she adores it. The Washington Post, NPR and numerous other publications have all written about how childfree adults are also loving the Australian cartoon. And there's even a podcast designed for grown ups which analyses and dissects every minute of it called The Bluey Pod. Wow. This huge fan base has made Bluey a cultural sensation in the US. The voice actors behind Blue are mum and dad. Chilean Banda recently appeared on Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show. A gigantic blow up replica of Bluey was featured in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, and it also won an international Emmy. 

Sascha: [00:05:39] Well, Simon, it really is incredible how people all over the world have become obsessed with this Australian children's cartoon. It's even weirder for me because I grew up in the neighbourhood that Bluey set in, and I know that blue cheese house actually exists in the Paddington Red Hill area, and you can go and stay there as an Airbnb. So it's just a wild ride to me that all these childhood memories are being referenced in this global hit. But on our business podcast, we've been talking about the cultural impact. Let's get into the numbers after the break. Welcome back to the Dive. Today, we've got a really fun topic. We're talking about Australia's latest greatest cultural export. It's Bluey, the blue heeler. Now before the break, I mentioned that Bluey wasn't just a popular TV show. Simon's arguing with me. He's saying it's not quite a cult, but it's kind of a cult like status of its impact and the devotees it's found around the world. But the business of Bluey isn't just contained to the small screen. It stretches far beyond that, doesn't it, Simon? 

Simon: [00:06:43] It certainly does. The bluey name and characters can be seen on everything from PJs to pushbike toothpaste to toys, books to biscuits. 

Sascha: [00:06:51] I love the alliteration you've got going on that. 

Simon: [00:06:54] The brand now has actually over 110 merchandise licences internationally and more than a thousand blue themed products are in the market. And it's not just merchandise. They also have a hit album and a touring play to boot.

Sascha: [00:07:09] So with all these spin offs and adoptions, the bluey business must be booming.

Simon: [00:07:14] Certainly booming. Celebrity manager Max Markson said the show's success will have translated into big bucks behind the scenes. He went on to say, and I quote, I think at the moment Bluey is earning more money than any other Australian personality, local or overseas. But exactly how much money Bluey has made for its creator, Joe Brumm and Queensland Production Group Leader Studio is unclear. And that is because there's a bit of a wrinkle here. An interesting business story behind the rise of Bluey, despite it being an Australian show of an Australian creator made by an Australian studio. The British seem to be making the most money from Bluey, right? 

Sascha: [00:07:50] I mean, I had no idea this is the case. Simon And it feels even more ironic that you, as a Brit, are telling me right now about how you've taken all this cash. And I feel like we need to call Mark Vignale his stuff The British Stole. New season is out at the moment. He could have put this in as an episode. What is the story here? Why is all the money going offshore? 

Simon: [00:08:13] Yeah, so there's a bit of irony here. Someone from Britain talking to someone from Brisbane about the British making all the money from Bluey. But a bit of the backstory here. Bluey was originally developed by the Australian public broadcaster ABC, as we said earlier on, and the taxpayer funded screen Queensland back in 2017 and at that time a total of around 52 episodes were commissioned, according to a report from the air. For several months later, Ludo Studios put the commercial rights to a tender process and this led to ABC getting the broadcast rights in Australia. But the BBC took out the global broadcast and commercial rights. Ludo opted to go to the commercial arm of BBC, Britain's national broadcaster, because the ABC simply didn't have the commercial firepower, particularly when it came to the publishing, distribution and merchandising of the brand. Meanwhile, the BBC had the track record with global reach and fast experience making fortunes for the likes of Doctor Who and Top Gear. So despite being the most watched show in ABC iView history, the Australian public broadcaster makes nothing from the show's commercial, and global success for the BBC has become an incredible revenue driver. As I mentioned earlier, now has over 110 merchandise licences international and more than a thousand Bluefin products in the market. 

Sascha: [00:09:30] Simon, that's such an interesting clarification. So Ludo, the independent production company that's based in Brisbane, they've done remarkably well and the BBC have kind of taken it to the world and our public broadcaster, The ABC seems to be the one that's kind of missed out on this opportunity here. Look, you've mentioned how big this ecosystem is. I want to dive into that pun intended a little bit more. Give me a sense of how big this ecosystem actually is. 

Simon: [00:09:59] Yes, certainly. And again, it's massive. So the first products were books for Penguin, Random House, then a toy deal with Moose and a clove and deal with Barnes and on it rolled. Less than 12 months after the series launched, Bluey had even entered the cutthroat but lucrative world of fast moving consumer goods with a yoghurt product in Aussie supermarkets. 

Sascha: [00:10:18] Yoghurt, you mean? 

Simon: [00:10:21] When researching Bluey, there's been a couple of standouts for me. One you've already mentioned, Sascha, is the promotion of Airbnb, where one lucky family can actually stay an exact replica of the heater house. 

Audio Clip: [00:10:32] How would you like to stay in Blue's house? What I know that is what Airbnb is offering, transforming a Brisbane home into a replica from the hit children's series.

Sascha: [00:10:44] Yeah, it's incredible if you Google it. I mean, I have little ones in my life, so I haven't really watched a lot of Bluey, but it does look like a really fabulous place to stay. I've got to say. 

Simon: [00:10:54] It does look pretty cool and a great commercial partnership between those two brands. The Avalon for me, incredibly is a 65 day North American tour of the stage show Blueys Big Play, and it's kicking off in November at Madison Square Gardens in New York. 

Sascha: [00:11:09] Well, it's Billy Joel Taylor Swift. Move over. It's time for Bluey. So Bluey is less than five years old if you're counting in actual human years. And it seems like the little dog is everywhere. What? What could actually be next? And is this long term? I mean, there's very few children's products that have managed to make it through the fad period and into being like a long term product.

Simon: [00:11:34] Yeah, it's a really good question. What next? Well, I mean, first of all, we haven't seen a bluey movie and we know Disney Plus they've got a broadcast and rights and license in America and they love pushing franchises. So I won't be surprised if we see a blue movie coming out soon. You know, Disney is probably the best in the world at finding ways to monetise strong IP. So also don't be surprised if they give it the Marvel or Star Wars treatment and find a way to incorporate Bluey into their theme parks. Longer term? Who knows? Many kids shows have shown incredibly brightly and faded just as fast. Take something like the Backyard Wagons, which was incredibly well-received, loved by parents and children's alike. Nominated for eight Daytime Emmys. Yet despite its moment in the Sun, it didn't last more than four seasons. 

Sascha: [00:12:20] Yeah, and I think when I was babysitting, it was in the night garden and Teletubbies, which are both kind of fallen out of fashion. But then you compare that with Bobby or Lego, which have managed to survive generations. So it could be either of those. Really? 

Simon: [00:12:34] Yeah. We could just be living in Bluey's moment. But of course, Bluey's Creators and the BBC, they would hope this is the start of a long term media franchise. And I guess, yeah, what could that be if given a couple examples there. The one which came to mind for me was incredibly the Winnie the Pooh franchise, you know, the world's favourite honey loving bear from my childhood that's been around since 1925 and it's generated a whopping $80 billion in revenue, predominantly from merchandise. Bringing it back home to Australia. Bluey is starting to draw comparisons to Crocodile Dundee in terms of exporting Australian accents, stories and culture around the world. Much like Paul Hogan then became the face of Australian tourism in the 1980s with the Come Say G'day campaign. Maybe Bluey will be the drive of the next generation of tourists Australia. 

Sascha: [00:13:27] Simon I'm just disappointed you didn't commit to an Australian accent when trying to pull Hogan's campaign. Look. Bluey might be the next face of a campaign, but I can't imagine her saying anything like, That's not a knife, this is a knife or, you know, any of the Crocodile Dundee sayings, but seems like a good pitch. So I'd say, watch this space. Simon, Thanks so much for bringing this story for me today. It's been a great way to round out the week. 

Simon: [00:13:54] Yeah, thanks Sascha, it been good fun talking about it. 

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