YouTube stars ‘The McCartys’ ready for animation and competition show

YouTube stars “The McCarty’s” expand their universe.

In addition to the Spooky Special, their first live interactive show – “which illustrated their ability to do a half-hour episode,” according to Catherine Winder (Wind Sun Sky) – animated series and unscripted competition series with Kevin Healey as presenter are already in development, they revealed at industry event Mipcom in France.

“We’re looking for really innovative ways to expand the brand,” says Viral Nation’s Paul Telner.

“There’s really nothing like them on YouTube. They’ve really cornered this kind of scary Halloween content.” An e-commerce site has also been set up, all within the same “cohesive” universe of Camp McCarthy, Stephanie McCarthy said.

The family also looked back on their beginnings.

“Before all this started, I was a high school history teacher. I had no ambitions or desire to do what I do today. I didn’t know it existed!” Kevin McCarthy admitted. The COVID pandemic has changed everything.

“Stephanie was working in healthcare, she had left home and I was stuck with a four-year-old and a six-month-old. To keep our sanity, we started making crazy videos and those videos started becoming popular. We grew and grew on TikTok, but we knew YouTube was the place to be.”

Ultimately, he decided to focus on their channel full-time.

“I had 8,000 subscribers on YouTube. That was in 2022. Today we have 16.1 million subscribers and over 22 billion views,” he said, while Telner called “The McCartys” “one of the fastest rises in the history of social media.”

“I started looking [them] and went: This is one of the quirkiest, funniest, weirdest things I’ve seen on YouTube and social media in years. They run the channel together with their children and storytelling is central. It is not an influencer channel. It has a story and characters that are so much closer to traditional production considerations.”

Winder also appreciated their creativity and “great foundation for storytelling.”

“It’s crazy. It’s creepy. I thought, this is like ‘The Addams Family’ and ‘Beetlejuice’. We were looking forward to something new and fresh for the animation space. It was a no-brainer to partner with them,” she admitted. Also because they were willing to work ‘out-of-the-box’.

“It used to be very difficult to land a property like this and say, ‘Okay, let’s start producing animated series.’ We had to find ways to test and learn, and create an unmistakable package so that when we engage our partners and funders, we are in a position where you can stay in control of what you do.”

As Stephanie McCarthy noted, their established fanbase came in handy.

“One of the great things about social media is that you get all that data in real time. We don’t have to wait – it happens immediately. We can base what we do on that feedback. Animated characters will also be no strangers to fans.

“They’re in my live-action videos. You see them every day and they already have their own established fan base,” said Kevin McCarthy. This also applies to Jingle Jangle the clown.

“I was lucky enough to go to Catherine’s studio in Vancouver, put on the mo-cap suit and animate Jingle Jangle. We really wanted to prove that this works. Last year we posted videos with animated Jingle Jangle and animated Audrey to our live-action feed. They have been viewed just under 200 million times and we have over 3.3 million subscribers from these videos alone received.”

As Stephanie McCarthy – also known as Demon Mom – argues, while their content is “popular in the kids world,” it is actually for “all ages.”

“Kevin doesn’t necessarily write for kids. He writes what he thinks is funny. Kids tend to be drawn to it, but it’s completely co-viewing. It’s relatable,” she noted, as her husband added some tidbits.

“The reason [for Demon Mom] was that it was mostly a father-daughter thing, occasionally with my son, and then the audience kept asking, ‘Where’s the mother?’ They even thought she was dead! We’re crazy, we’re weird, we’re funny. I said, “Why don’t we make her a demon?” It blew up and she got millions of views.”

Because the family was already a “human cartoon,” he argued, expanding the universe felt natural.

“It fits so seamlessly with our type of content. At some point you reach a point where you’ve cornered that market. That’s exactly what Stephanie and I have done on YouTube and other platforms. We want an animated series because I can only throw my son so far in the air in the videos – why not throw him into space as a cartoon?”

“Today we’re in the business of long-term careers. The McCarthys are in this forever and we’re helping them build their business,” said Telner, with Winder adding, “That’s where animation comes in: it’s timeless and transcends global boundaries. It’s an incredible way for these guys to be in it for the long haul.”

“We are building a gigantic brand.”