Baby Shark is Getting an Animated TV Series on Nickelodeon

The viral YouTube video and song is being turned into an animated preschool series for Nickelodeon.

By Patrick Gunn June 26, 2020

SpongeBob SquarePants and Baby Shark will soon share more waves than just the ones in the ocean. The viral video from Pinkfong is coming to Nickelodeon under the working title Baby Shark’s Big Show! The series starts with a holiday special that will premiere on Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. this December, just in time for the holidays. The 2D-animated show will be fully released next spring with a 26-episode first season. In addition, ViacomCBS Consumer Products is starting a worldwide licensing campaign for the Baby Shark property.

The show will center around the adventures of the titular Baby Shark. He enjoys hanging out with his best friend William in the underwater community known as Carnivore Core. There, Baby Shark will meet new friends, sing new songs, and travel across the sea. Like the original song, the show promises a fun-filled adventure with plenty of jokes to be laughed at and lessons to be learned.

“Having the opportunity to dive deeper into this incredible world and create all-new storylines has been extremely exciting, and our head of preschool Eryk Casemiro and his team can’t wait to help grow the Baby Shark universe and fanbase with an amazing new series that captures the heart and spirit of this beloved property,” Ramsey Naito, Executive Vice President of Nickelodeon Animation Production and Development, said in a press release.

If you’ve been hiding in the middle of the ocean for the past five years, Baby Shark is a hit YouTube video playing along to an incredibly catchy children’s song that will likely be stuck in your head within the first 10 seconds of listening. Since it was posted in 2015, the original video has 5.7 billion views, which is now the second most-watched video on YouTube’s history, behind only Luis Fonsi’s music video for his hit song “Despacito.” From there, the song stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 charts for 20 weeks and inspired over a million cover videos across the globe. The craze even reached Major League Baseball. Last fall, the World Series Champion Washington Nationals used the song as a rallying cry when outfielder Gerardo Parra stepped up to the plate.

Pinkfong is a global entertainment part of the company, SmartStudy. The company is focused on making content for kids and families, including the viral hit Baby Shark. The brand has over 5,000 songs and stories within its library. Baby Shark joins a slew of iconic children’s works in the Nickelodeon library including SpongeBob, PAW Patrol, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Blue’s Clues, The Smurfs, and Star Trek (which has a new animated series coming to Nick soon).