Nickelodeon is turning the viral kids’ song Baby Shark into an animated series for preschoolers.
The network announced on Wednesday that it’s teaming up with SmartStudy, the company behind Pinkfong — the South Korean educational entertainment brand which created the song — to develop the show.
While there aren’t many details about the project yet, Ramsey Naito, Nickelodeon Animation executive vice president, said that the TV series will help Baby Shark reach new heights and attract bigger audiences.
“Baby Shark has captured the imagination of millions of fans around the world, so it’s no surprise it’s one of the top 10 most-viewed videos on YouTube ever,” said Naito of the song, which has already earned 2.9 billion YouTube views since it was launched on the video-sharing site in November 2015. “At the heart of any popular piece of content is a terrific character, and we have a great opportunity to further explore the world of Baby Shark and follow this family through some great animated adventures on Nickelodeon.”
In addition to the TV series, Nickelodeon will also release merchandise items based on the show’s characters.
“Baby Shark is a multiplatform phenomenon, and appetite for more content and products is strong around the world,” said Viacom Nickelodeon Consumer Products president Pam Kaufman. “Our outstanding creative teams are moving fast to get more Baby Shark product across multiple categories to retailers, and our content team is excited to develop a terrific original animated series that will bring this property to new heights and even more fans.”
Nickelodeon has yet to announce a release date for the project.