Angry Birds games have been downloaded more than 1.7 billion times now on smartphones and tablets, with 263 million people playing them last December alone. A decent chunk of those players are children, for whom the angry birds and cheeky pigs are already well-loved characters.
That’s why we know plenty of parents will be keen as mustard on news of the long-promised Angry Birds Toons cartoon series. It’s set to make its debut this weekend, and there’ll be several ways you and your children can watch it.
The easiest will be in the Angry Birds games you already own. Updates to the games will add a button on their homescreens which, on Sunday 17 March, will unlock access to the Angry Birds Toons channel.
The game’s developer Rovio is making 52 episodes of the show, and will be releasing one a week from this weekend (i.e. there’s a year’s worth). “We’ve long wanted to tell our fans the story of the Angry Birds and the Bad Piggies, to introduce their personalities and their world in detail,” says Rovio’s boss Mikael Hed.
How else can you and your children watch? If you’ve got one of Samsung’s ‘Smart TVs’, there’s an Angry Birds channel already through its app store which will give you access to the cartoons. If you’re in the US, you’ll also be able to watch the series through Comcast’s video-on-demand services and apps – if you’re a Comcast cable subscriber.
Oh, and the episodes will also be airing on traditional TV in some countries, although not yet here in the UK. FOX8 in Australia, JEI TV in Korea, ANTV in Indonesia, Cartoon Network in India, MTV3 Juniori and MTV3 in Finland, the Children’s Channel in Israel, 1+1 networks in Ukraine, Gulli and Canal J in France, SUPER RTL in Germany, TV2 in Norway, Canal 13 in Chile and Gloob in Brazil are the channels who’ve signed it so far.
It’s going to be an exciting weekend for Angry Birds fans, that’s for sure. And also an interesting one for people who are sceptical about the birds’ ability to hold people’s attention as a cartoon, rather than as a game.
We suspect the doubters will be proved wrong, but from this Sunday we’ll know for sure. Here’s a video teaser though: tell us what you think!