For Apple and its boss Tim Cooks, India became their go-to destination, whether it is to get their iPhones manufactured or to promote their streaming platform Apple TV Plus. As a follow up, the company has brought one of urban India’s favourite cartoon characters Charlie Brown to enthral both adults and kids in the holiday season.
Early in September, the streaming platform had taken over Apple’s India website and issued a warning to competitors about. The company announced that it had done a deal with WildBrain, Peanuts Worldwide and Lee Mendelson Film Productions to bring together the new original series and specials along with earlier editions.
A press statement on Apple’s website says the new animated “Peanuts” originals on Apple TV Plus would include a second season of the Daytime Emmy-nominated “Snoopy in Space,” and a slate of brand-new specials that will find the “Peanuts” gang marking Mother’s Day, Earth Day, New Year’s Eve and going back to school – all to be produced by WildBrain’s animation studio.
The new series and specials join the previously announced “The Snoopy Show”; a brand-new “Peanuts” 70th anniversary documentary film from Imagine Documentaries and WildBrain; and the Daytime Emmy Award-winning “Peanuts in Space: Secrets of Apollo 10.” These would stream alongside other Peanuts specials starting October and would be available worldwide.
The other “Peanuts” specials, including “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” and “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” The statement further said that Apple TV Plus would launch “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” on November 18 which would be available from November 25.
The Peanuts gang will also deck the halls with the premiere of “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” streaming exclusively on Apple TV+ on December 4. The holiday special will be available to enjoy for free from December 11 until December 13, the press release said.
Apple’s streaming service has had a steady release of programming all year that includes the likes of game development sitcom Mythic Quest, US football coach-turned-soccer-manager comedy Ted Lasso and the documentaries Boys State and Beastie Boys Story.
In India, some of the shows that attracted attention include Central Park, Home, and the Elephant Queen. Of course, Apple’s biggest catch yet came in the form of the Tom Hanks World War-2 saga Greyhound, which saw subscriptions spike by 30% worldwide with several Indian households shelling out Rs.99 a month to watch it.
Charlie Brown’s adventures and cartoons have a huge fan following among the urban middle class in the big metropolitan cities and Apple TV Plus appears to be pushing in the right direction by getting the series on to the platform.