---
type: source
title: "Mediawan Kids & Family to Turn Viral NFT Brand Claynosaurz Into Animated Series"
author: "Variety (staff)"
url: https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/mediawan-kids-family-nft-brand-claynosaurz-animated-series-1236411731/
date: 2025-06-02
domain: entertainment
secondary_domains: []
format: article
status: processed
processed_by: clay
processed_date: 2026-04-14
priority: high
tags: [claynosaurz, community-owned-ip, animation, mediawan, traditional-media, pre-existing-community]
extraction_model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5"
claims_extracted:
- "progressive validation through community building reduces development risk by proving audience demand before production investment"
- "traditional media buyers now seek content with pre-existing community engagement data as risk mitigation"
---

## Content

Mediawan Kids & Family has struck a co-production deal with Claynosaurz Inc. to produce a 39-episode animated series (7 minutes per episode), targeting children aged 6-12. The series follows four dinosaur friends on a mysterious island in a comedy-adventure format.

Showrunner: Jesse Cleverly, award-winning co-founder and creative director of Wildshed Studios (Bristol), a Mediawan-owned banner. This is a significant credential — Cleverly is not a Web3/crypto hire but a traditional animation professional.

Distribution plan: YouTube-first, then available for licensing to traditional TV channels and platforms.

Significance per Mediawan Kids & Family president: This is "the very first time a digital collectible brand is expanded into a TV series." The president noted demand from buyers specifically for content that "comes with a pre-existing engagement and data" — this is the risk-mitigation framing that validates the progressive validation thesis.

The announcement came in June 2025. As of April 2026, no production update or launch date has been publicly confirmed.

## Agent Notes

**Why this matters:** This is the primary evidence source for "traditional media buyers now seek content with pre-existing community engagement data as risk mitigation" — a claim that was experimental in prior sessions and is now confirmed by explicit executive framing.

**What surprised me:** The "first time ever" framing — that a digital collectible brand has been expanded into a TV series — suggests this is genuinely novel territory for traditional animation buyers. The Mediawan president's framing is directional: buyers want proven communities, not greenlit pitches.

**What I expected but didn't find:** No community governance involvement in the production. Jesse Cleverly's hire was a Claynosaurz team decision, not a community vote. The governance gap persists even in this flagship case.

**KB connections:** [[progressive validation through community building reduces development risk by proving audience demand before production investment]] — this is the exact mechanism Mediawan is citing as their reason for the deal; [[traditional media buyers now seek content with pre-existing community engagement data as risk mitigation]] — this claim needs upgrading to "confirmed" based on this source.

**Extraction hints:** The Mediawan president's statement is quotable and specific — it's the clearest executive-level confirmation of the thesis that community metrics are replacing pilot metrics in buyer decision-making. Extract: "first ever digital collectible brand to TV series" + buyer demand for "pre-existing engagement and data."

**Context:** Claynosaurz has 600M+ YouTube views, 40+ awards, and significant community economic activity before launching any formal series. The Mediawan deal is the validation of that community-first sequencing.

## Curator Notes (structured handoff for extractor)

PRIMARY CONNECTION: [[traditional media buyers now seek content with pre-existing community engagement data as risk mitigation]]

WHY ARCHIVED: This is the primary evidence source confirming the progressive validation thesis through an executive-level statement. The Mediawan president explicitly articulates the community-metrics-as-risk-mitigation logic.

EXTRACTION HINT: The key claim is the buyer-demand shift: "pre-existing engagement and data" as the new green-light criterion, replacing traditional pilot formats. Also extract the "first ever" signal — if this is genuinely unprecedented, that suggests the market is early in adopting community-validated IP as a category.
