YouTube stars “The McCartys” are expanding their universe.
Apart from the Spooky Special, their first live interactive show – “which illustrated their ability to do a half-hour episode,” said Catherine Winder (Wind Sun Sky) – an animated series and unscripted competition series with Kevin Healey as host are already being developed, they revealed at industry event Mipcom in France.
“We are looking for really innovative ways to expand the brand,” said Viral Nation’s Paul Telner.
“There’s really nothing like them on YouTube. They really cornered this sort of scary, Halloween content.” An e-commerce site has also been set up, all within the same “cohesive” universe of Camp McCarthy, said Stephanie McCarthy.
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’m doing today. I didn’t know it existed!,” admitted Kevin McCarthy. COVID pandemic changed everything.
“Stephanie was working in the healthcare industry, she was out of the house and I was stuck with a four-year-old and a six-month-old. Just to keep our sanity, we started making goofy videos and those videos started to become popular. We grew and grew on TikTok, but we knew that 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 back in 2022. Today, we’re at 16.1 million subscribers and over 22 billion views,” he said, with Telner calling “The McCartys” “one of the fastest rises in social media history.”
“I started watching [them] and went: This is some of the quirkiest, funniest, weirdest stuff I’ve seen on YouTube and socials in years. They run the channel with their kids and it has storytelling at the center of it. It’s not an influencer channel. It’s got a narrative and the characters, which is so much closer to traditional production considerations.”
Winder also appreciated their creativity and “amazing storytelling foundation.”
“It’s kooky. It’s spooky. I thought: This is like ‘The Addams Family’ meets ‘Beetlejuice’. We were looking forward to something new and fresh for the animation space. It was a no-brainer to get into business with them,” she admitted. Also because they were willing to work in “out-of-the-box ways.”
“It used to be very difficult to bring a property like this and say: ‘Okay, let’s start producing animated series.’ We needed to find ways to test and learn, and create an undeniable package so that when we bring in our partners and financiers, we’re in a position where you can remain in control of what you’re doing.”
As pointed out by Stephanie McCarthy, their established fanbase came in handy.
“One of the great things about social media is you get all of that data in real time. We don’t have to sit around and wait – it’s immediate. We can base what we’re doing on that feedback. Animated characters also won’t be no strangers to fans.
“They are in my live-action videos. You get to see them on a daily basis and they already have their own established fanbase,” said Kevin McCarthy. That includes Jingle Jangle the clown.
“I was lucky to go out to Vancouver to Catherine’s studio, get into 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 within our live-action feed. They’ve gotten just under 200 million views and we’ve gained over 3.3 million subscribers just from these videos alone.”
As argued by Stephanie McCarthy – also known as Demon Mom – while their content is “popular in the kids’ space,” it’s really “all-ages.”
“Kevin is not necessarily writing for kids. He’s writing what he finds funny. Kids tend to gravitate towards it, but it’s complete co-viewing. It’s relatable,” she pointed out, with her husband adding some trivia.
“The reason [for Demon Mom] was that it was mostly a daddy-daughter thing, occasionally with my son, and then the audience kept asking: ‘Where’s the mom?’ They even thought she was dead! We’re twisted, we’re weird, we’re funny. I said: ‘Why not make her a demon?’ It exploded and she got millions of views.”
As the family was already a “human cartoon,” he argued, extending the universe felt natural.
“It’s such a seamless fit for our type of content. At a certain 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 sky in the videos – why not throw him into outer space as a cartoon?”
“These days, we are in the business of long-term careers. The McCarthys are in this forever, and we are helping them build their business,” said Telner, with Winder adding: “That’s where animation comes in – it’s timeless and crosses global borders. It’s an incredible way for these guys to stay in it for the long haul.”
“We’re building a massive brand.”
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