“Take What Kids Love and Multiply It” Lifting the Lid on Booba and His Ever-Evolving Multiverse
THURSDAY 27 MARCH 2025, LONDON
We’ve been asked lots about the exponential growth of loveable YouTube sensation Booba. Hitting 20 billion downloads last year and reaching the 8th most popular kids animated shows overall and number one in the comedy genre on Netflix in the first half of 2024 (according to Emily Horgan’s insightful Kids StreamerSphere Report) puts Booba right up there with some of the world’s biggest (and most widely aired) kids series.
We went behind the scenes with executive producer and kids TV veteran Debbie Macdonald to glean a bit more information on Booba’s phenomenal success and find out what makes kids love the show so much.
Debbie Macdonald, Creative Director of 3D Sparrow
Starting life on YouTube as a 3-minute short, Booba soon became a favourite with the audience. Every episode achieved huge numbers and we could see the fan base was growing. We were keen to build on this success and the obvious conclusion was to extend the 3-minute format. The audience clearly had an insatiable appetite for our loveable Booba but, looking at linear tv habits, we knew that extending a 3-minute duration for a non-dialogue format could be risky. But, being on YouTube enabled us to be flexible and nimble, delivering what the audience wants and learning from it. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t but we knew it was a risk we had to take. We gradually crept up to 5 minutes and the audience continued to grow. We are now at 7 minutes and Booba is loved more than he ever has been, explains Debbie.
Booba from Season 1
Booba’s power and mass appeal lies in his personality and ability to communicate his wants and needs through physical comedy. He is the curious child that loves to explore. Everything he encounters is brand new to him, so the show theme of curiosity and exploration is immediately appealing to young children.
The production and creative team at 3D Sparrow work together across all aspects. From story ideas through to final delivery. We are a very small core team who listen, debate, disagree, agree and work hard to ensure every story is told from Booba’s unique perspective. Unlike traditional script writing, each episode is written in a unique way. From beginning to end you could read the story as if reading a story book with no technical jargon or huge amounts of stage direction. We establish the core idea. What does Booba want and how does he achieve it? The team finalises key plot points with the writer and then the director and his team take over. The animatic delivered takes the story to another level adding in multiple physical gags whilst keeping the clear relatable story thread exciting and concise.
YouTube has fast become one of the most popular places for kids, taking viewing habits to a whole new level with instant gratification. With kids engaging in online gaming and being in the driving seat, they don’t want to be dictated to by a viewing schedule. They want to watch their favourite shows when they want to watch them.
Booba and friends from season 5
Kids love Booba so we’ve given them more Booba characters to play with. We’ve created a Booba multiverse where Booba’s exist in alternative dimensions. We meet prehistoric Booba with his mischievous pet dinosaur, Bandit Booba with his own hobby horse and we even have a Genie Booba, often called upon to fix the mistakes by those around him. This allows for some truly exciting storytelling, keeping the audience entertained.
Season 5 delves further into the Booba multiverse, combining familiar situations with the gag-driven chaos the viewers have come to expect from Booba’s world. Take the familiar, mix in the unexpected and you have the ingredients for a Booba episode.
With new writers added into the mix, we’re able to deliver stories that are fresh and exciting to a global audience. What I love about Booba is that it isn’t afraid to stray from the conventional narrative and the success we’re having tells us that this is exactly what kids want!
For more information on Booba and its latest Season 5, please contact Batyr Aidarkhan batyr@kedoo.com or Nursultan Khatim at nursultan@kedoo.com.