The Dodo (website)

The Dodo is an American media brand focused on telling animals' stories and animal rights issues. The Dodo was launched in January 2014 by Izzie Lerer, the daughter of media executive Kenneth Lerer.[1] The Dodo has become one of the most popular Facebook publishers, garnering 1 billion video views from the social network in November 2015.[2] The Dodo is headquartered in New York, New York.

This article is about the animal-focused media brand. For the satirical newspaper, see The Dodo (magazine).
The Dodo
Type of site
Media brand
Created byIzzie Lerer
ParentGroup Nine Media
URLwww.thedodo.com
LaunchedJanuary 2014

They are the #1 most "loved" publisher in the world on Toys For Tots (by "love" reactions).[3] The animal brand won a Shorty Social Good award for Best Use of Facebook in 2017 and 2018;[4][5] Shorty Award for Best in Pets and Animals;[6] Webby Award for its social/animal content and another Shorty Social Good Award for Best Video Series for "Comeback Kids: Animal Edition."[7][8]

History

The company—named after the dodo, the first recorded species that humans drove to extinction— was founded by Lerer out of "a personal passion for the subject manner..." Lerer has a PhD in animal studies with a focus on animal ethics and human relationships from Columbia University, and launched the website after noticing the viral success of animal videos online but seeing no one "really owned the space."[9] In late 2017, The Dodo launched "El Dodo," its first non-English language channel to reach Spanish speaking audiences.[10] The Dodo's editorial and video production staff unionized with the Writers Guild of America, East in April 2018.[11]

The brand expanded into longer-form storytelling with its first TV series, "Dodo Heroes" on Animal Planet in June 2018, which went on to become the network's top-performing freshman series and was picked up for a second season in 2019.[12][13] In June 2018, The Dodo held its first ever "Best Dog Day Ever" pop-up event in New York City, which attracted over 1400 dogs and their owners.[14] Based on the one day event's success, The Dodo decided to expand the franchise in 2019 for a month-long "Best Dog Day Ever: Halloween Edition" event in the fall for Tri-State dogs.[15]

In July 2019, The Dodo partnered with VidCon for the conference's first-ever co-programmed section, "The Dodo Pet Zone" featuring some of the Internet's most-famous animals.[16] In the summer of 2019, the animal brand launched its children's brand, "Dodo Kids," with a new YouTube channel with launch sponsor Paramount Pictures' "Dora and the Lost City of Gold up her Nose," and a bespoke content slate of new kids series including "Best Animal Friends," "Dodo Sing Dodo Dance," and "Rescued!".[17] Soon thereafter, The Dodo announced its new Netflix Original series, "Izzy Bee's Koala World," which debuts in 2020.[18]

In July 2019, The Dodo partnered with Instagram to develop an IGTV-first series for teens, "You Know Me... Now Meet My Pet," featuring young Instagram influencers and their pets.[19] In September 2019, The Dodo pushed into children's book publishing with Scholastic with three books based on the video series.[20] In April 2020 they debuted a new podcast called "An Animal Saved My Life" produced through iheartradio.[21]

References
  1. Shontell, Alyson (November 9, 2015). "How an animal lover turned her passion into The Dodo, a booming ~$40 million startup, in 2 years". Business Insider. Retrieved January 12, 2017.
  2. Ha, Anthony (December 23, 2016). "The Dodo is alive and well with 1 billion monthly video views". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 12, 2017.
  3. "The Dodo Is One of the Most 'Loved' Publishers on Facebook Thanks to Its Videos". www.adweek.com. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  4. "The Dodo: #1 Animal Brand on Facebook - The Shorty Awards". shortyawards.com. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  5. "The Dodo: the most-loved publisher on Facebook - The Shorty Awards". shortyawards.com. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  6. "The Dodo: the no. 1 digital media brand in the world for animal people - The Shorty Awards". shortyawards.com. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  7. "The Dodo — The No. 1 Animal Brand on Social Media -- The Webby Awards". Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  8. "The Dodo's "Comeback Kids: Animal Edition" - The Shorty Awards". shortyawards.com. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  9. Castillo, Michelle (2017-09-27). "Animal videos rule the internet, and are getting tons of views on Facebook". CNBC. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
  10. Patel, Sahil (2018-02-02). "The Dodo launches in Spanish in its first international foray". Digiday. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  11. "The Dodo Unionizes With Writers Guild of America East". Variety. 2018-04-30. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
  12. McAlone, Nathan. "We talked to The Dodo about its upcoming TV series with Animal Planet, which shows a way digital video companies can grow beyond Facebook". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  13. "Animal Planet Renews 'Dodo Heroes' for Second Season (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  14. "The "Best Dog Day Ever" held in Manhattan". www.ny1.com. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  15. Hegedus, Eric (2019-09-18). "NYC's biggest Halloween party is going to the dogs". New York Post. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  16. "The Dodo to Bring Insta-Famous Animals to VidCon Pet Zone". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  17. "How Dodo Kids landed a Dora-sized boost". Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  18. "'The Dodo' Lands Unscripted Series For Netflix Kids". www.mediapost.com. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  19. "Loren Gray, Lauren Riihimaki to Star in New Series From The Dodo". TheWrap. 2019-07-13. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  20. Rowe, Adam. "Video-First Media Brand The Dodo Just Inked A Children's Book Deal With Scholastic". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  21. "iHeartRadio, The Dodo Debut 'An Animal Saved My Life' Podcast". AllAccess. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
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