The Dodo, the animal-focused digital brand with over 25 million followers across its social channels, announced its first-ever content slate on Monday morning.
With three new series, including its first show with a human protagonist, “Ruff Life With Lee Asher,” the content slate signals a widening focus for the Group Nine-owned digital brand as it looks to build series with both human and animal talent.
“Ruff Life With Lee Asher,” for example, follows social media celebrity Lee Asher and his nine rescue dogs on their daily family adventures. The series will be distributed across The Dodo’s social media channels including its YouTube page, which has more than 3.7 million followers and 1.5 billion views.
Other shows included on the slate are “Wild Hearts,” which gives an up-close view of wild animals and bonds made with their human caretakers and “Cody the Tiny Alpaca,” which showcases what it’s like living with a tiny, princess alpaca. The programming is now available to view on The Dodo’s YouTube page.
In addition to the new content, The Dodo has also renewed nine of its fan-favorite series including: “Pittie Nation” (1.1 billion views), “Soulmates” (800 million views) and “Comeback Kids” (450 million views), which is being sponsored by the car insurance company Geico.
“We are excited to partner with The Dodo to sponsor ‘Comeback Kids’ season three and renew our sponsorship for ‘Welcome Home’ season two,” Geoff Troidl, senior marketing manager at Geico, said in a statement. “The Dodo’s volume of quality and brand safe content, highly engaged audience, and willingness to test and learn is what makes this a great partnership for Geico.”
Launched in 2014, The Dodo’s content highlights heart-warming, feel-good moments involving animals and humans. The brand has become a hit on Facebook where it is the no. 1 most engaged animal brand in the world, according to Tubular Labs which monitors Facebook and YouTube metrics. In 2016, the brand merged with Thrillist, NowThis, Seeker, and Sourcefed to form Group Nine Media.