Beano Studios is a British content production company specializing in children’s entertainment and media based in Dundee, Scotland and London, England. A subsidiary of DC Thomson & Co. Ltd, it was launched in 2016 to expand The Beano franchise.[2][3]
History
Establishment and first productions
DC Thomson launched Beano Studios in June 2016.[4] The launch included a revamp of the Beano comic's cover and logo, and the launch of the beano.com website.[5]Nigel Pickard joined as non-executive director and Emma Scott served as CEO[2] until 2020, when she was succeeded by David Guppy.[1]
The Beano.com website includes games, videos, articles, and news about celebrities.[6][7] According to Mike Stirling, then Head of Beano Studios Scotland, the website aimed to be "a fun but trusted babysitter".[8][3] The website gained over two million visitors per year and is credited with increasing comic sales by 10% in 2018.[1][9]
2017–2021: Dennis and Gnasher: Unleashed! and wider expansion
Beano Studios produced the 3D-animated series Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! for CBBC, which premiered in November 2017.[10] The series was distributed internationally by Jetpack and was sold to over 90 territories.[11] It received an Emmy nomination in 2019.[12]
Other projects included a live-action Minnie the Minx series titled The Magnificent Misadventures of Minnie announced in 2018[13] and a Bananaman cartoon announced by Fox Entertainment in 2021.[14]
^Clarke, Steve (7 April 2018). "Beano, Revived and Rebranded for Today's Kids". Variety. Archived from the original on 17 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021. [Beano.com] features online games ("Spot The Beano characters from their jumpers," Scott says), videos ("How to draw a pug in 20 seconds") and listicles ("Explanations for the Bermuda Triangle") — all fashioned to tempt today's choice-saturated 6- to 12-year-olds.
