MUMBAI: Kids’ entertainment platform pocket.watch has raised $15 million in a funding round led by Viacom. Under their agreement, Viacom and pocket.watch will develop and produce long and short form content. Viacom will also become the exclusive third-party agent for ad sales on pocket.watch’s YouTube and creator footprint, which the media plans to package Nickelodeon inventory.

The two companies have already teamed up to develop sketch comedy show Skoogle, created by and starring Kenan Thompson, for Nickelodeon. They are also working on a variety of talent initiatives, including jointly identifying up-and-coming talent and creators where the companies are aligned to generate 360-degree talent partnerships. The creator partners of pocket.watch will also be invited to a variety of Viacom events such as the Kids Choice Awards.

Viacom’s Paramount Players has purchased a pitch from pocket.watch for a feature film known as The Unboxing Movie. The companies have further formalised a process for collaborative development and expect to work together on a number of content projects over the coming year.

“Pocket.watch’s unique and comprehensive approach to celebrating the new digital stars of today makes them an outstanding partner for Nickelodeon and our unmatched connections with kids around the world through video, digital and real-world events. It’s great to be in business with them and we are excited to be expanding our relationship with such an innovative new media brand,” said Viacom Media Networks COO Sarah Levy.

Launched in March 2017, pocket.watch has amassed a number of deals to bring its brand to consumers globally while growing its original intellectual property and creator partner brands, including Ryan Toys Review, the largest YouTube channel based in the US. The platform has raised $21 million since its launch and it gets over one billion monthly views across twenty YouTube channels, with a combined subscriber base of over 34 million.