Pinkfong's 'Kikipuppup' Follows Baby Shark with 800 Million YouTube Views in First Year

The Pinkfong Company has a new hit on its hands. Its next-generation intellectual property ‘Kikipuppup’ has surpassed 800 million cumulative YouTube views within a year of its launch, extending the run that began with Pinkfong, Baby Shark and Bebefinn.

According to a report by Sports Kyunghyang published on October 31, the company announced the milestone on October 30. ‘Kikipuppup’ was first released worldwide through YouTube on October 31 last year, as a global project jointly planned and produced by The Pinkfong Company and TBS, one of Japan’s five major terrestrial broadcasters.

The viewing figures span four language channels: English, Japanese, Korean and Spanish. The English channel alone accounts for about 490 million views, with the United States, Indonesia, Brazil and the Philippines named as its leading viewing countries. Viewers in the United Kingdom, Mexico, India, Vietnam and Malaysia were also cited.

Subscriber growth has followed a similar pattern: the English channel hit 100,000 subscribers in 42 days, then passed 1 million on October 10, 344 days after launch. The Japanese and Korean channels each passed 100,000 subscribers in 265 days and 256 days respectively.

The series has moved beyond YouTube. ‘Kikipuppup’ began its first overseas television run on TBS in Japan in January, and has aired on KBS 1TV in Korea every Saturday since October 10.

The show centres on Kiki, a proud cat; Puppo, an optimistic dog; and the mischievous Vex. Episodes run about three minutes and pair slapstick comedy with songs in a “Laugh & Learn” format, relying on visual humour and emotion-driven storytelling rather than heavy dialogue. The season-two opener, released on October 9, drew about 5.4 million views in three weeks.

A company official said the YouTube results and the terrestrial broadcasts in Korea and Japan show that “another next-generation IP” after Pinkfong, Baby Shark, Bebefinn and Sealook has proven its growth potential in the global market. The official added that the company will continue to nurture new intellectual properties and diversify its content distribution and business areas.

The Pinkfong Company, formerly SmartStudy founded in June 2010, reports about 250 billion cumulative YouTube views and about 320 million subscribers across its channels, while its “Baby Shark Dance” video remains the most-viewed video on YouTube. With 800 million views banked in its first year, the next measure will be whether season two can turn a fast-starting YouTube series into another long-running Pinkfong franchise.