Production company Time Studios, part of the Time Magazine group, announced it is expanding its presence in the non-fungible token (NFT) space by launching animated series based on existing NFT collections. The first will be a children’s series based on digital artist Pablo Stanley’s Robotos collection.
Similar to the Cryptopunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club collections, Robotos features a collection of 10,000 distinct robot character-like NFTs with over 170 different features. These features vary in rarity from common to super rare, which influences the market price of the NFT.
Despite some similarities with the other initiatives, Robotos have been trading at a much lower price, averaging $2,264. Outside of the crypto world, that would still be considered pretty pricey. However, Bored Ape Yacht Club sales average over $60,000 and Cryptopunks $232,917.
While Robotos look like the kind of content that children would be entertained by, launching a series based on digital assets will come with risks. For one, children wouldn’t necessarily be aware of the existence of Robotos before the show. One has to hope that young kids aren’t gambling on pricey NFTs. So there’s a potential ethical issue as well. Although NFT platforms like OpenSea aim to restrict access to those 18 years and older.
On the other hand, the series might just be looking to use Robotos intellectual property (IP) to build a story around it, and the added feature of having it based on NFTs can attract a wider audience. NFTs have certainly spurred significant new content creation.
“There is so much incredible IP being developed within the NFT space,” said Time President Keith A. Grossman. “As the ecosystem continues to develop and achieve mainstream adoption, we are proud of the role TIME can play by providing these creators with our platform and access to alternative mediums, including film and broadcast.”
The Bored Ape Yacht Club collection is also going mainstream with NFT owners signing deals with Universal Music and Timbaland’s music label. In contrast with the Robotos deal, the use of IP in these partnerships depends on the actual Ape NFT owner as opposed to their creator. This leaves an open door for hundreds of different outlets to showcase the assets. However, it can cause complications if those owners want to sell the underlying NFT.
Cryptopunks’ Larva Labs signed a very similar deal to Robotos with talent agency UTA to exploit the NFTs IP.
As for Time, it first entered the NFT space in March of this year with the auction of three magazine covers minted on the blockchain. More recently, it has been sponsored by Galaxy Digital to publish content about the metaverse.
