Benny Bunny LIVE · pre-launch
Kids' nursery-rhyme Shorts starring an original AI character. Pipeline proven, episode 001 in the can — channel creation is the next (human) step.
01Description
Benny Bunny is a white bunny in a yellow polka-dot tee who sings original, Claude-written nursery rhymes in 24-second vertical Shorts. Every episode is fully AI-produced: Claude writes the rhyme (AABB, 4–8 words per line, a copyable action per verse), OpenArt renders keyframes and animates them with sung audio, ffmpeg stitches the final Short. Barry approves each video on Telegram before upload.
It is deliberately the portfolio's lottery ticket and brand asset, not its earner — made-for-kids ad revenue is structurally tiny, but a kids' character that catches has licensing, music-distribution and merch upside no other channel in the portfolio can match.
Full production plan: MASTER-PLAN.md · ep001 build log: production-notes.md
02Episode 001 — "Benny Bunny's Sunny Day"
Produced 2026-09-06 as the pipeline proof. 24s vertical (720×1280), 3 scenes, sung audio. ~477 OpenArt credits ≈ $3–4, ~20 min wall time.
03Plan
- Phase 0 — account (Barry, ~30 min, one time): dedicated Google account, Brand Channel "Benny Bunny — Nursery Rhymes & Songs", channel-level "made for kids", 2FA, phone verify (unlocks custom thumbnails + >15 min uploads).
- Phase 1 — branding (Sage, day 1): avatar + banner from the character reference, description, trailer (reuse ep001).
- Phase 2 — production pipeline (proven): rhyme → 3 keyframes (Nano Banana 2 Lite + character reference) → 3×8s Veo 3.1 image2video with sung audio → ffmpeg stitch → Barry approves on Telegram → upload. ~630 credits ≈ $3–4/episode.
- Phase 3 — publishing: 3 Shorts/wk minimum, every video marked made-for-kids (COPPA, legally required), hook in first 2s, loopable ending (rewatch is the ranking signal).
- Phase 4 — monetization: YPP during 2026, then compilations, Spotify/Apple kids-music distribution, licensing submissions.
- 90-day milestones: day 7 — channel live with 3 episodes · day 30 — 12 episodes + analytics review · day 60 — double down on winning format, first compilation · day 90 — YPP application if thresholds met, go/no-go on economics.
04Research results
| Finding | Number |
|---|---|
| Kids Shorts RPM (made-for-kids: Shorts pool + COPPA no-personalized-ads double penalty) | ~$0.02–0.10 / 1K views |
| Kids long-form (compilations) RPM | $1–3 / 1K views |
| 10M Shorts views pays roughly | $200–1,000 |
| YPP full ads (Shorts path) | 1,000 subs + 10M Shorts views / 90d |
| YPP early access (fan funding only) | 500 subs + 3 uploads/90d + 3M views/90d or 3,000 hrs |
| Thresholds double for new applicants | Feb 1, 2027 |
The July 2025 "inauthentic content" policy demonetizes mass-produced AI spam, but AI content with an original character, original scripts and storyboarded production stays monetizable — exactly our lane. Pipeline research (ep001): startFrame trick holds character consistency on the Veo lite tier; audio continuity across cuts is approximate — ep002+ will use a single overlaid music bed or Wan 3.0 single-pass 30s generation.
05Why this project
- Cheapest lottery ticket in the portfolio: ~$4 per Short means a year of content costs less than one freelance video.
- The only channel with real downstream IP: a character that catches unlocks licensing (Kidoodle, Amazon Kids+, Roku), Spotify/Apple kids-music revenue and merch — upside the other three channels structurally lack.
- Pipeline proof-of-concept: Benny proved the whole write→render→stitch→approve loop that the history, ambient and stories channels now reuse.
- Deliberately capped: ONE kids channel, 3–5 videos/wk max. We never scale kids Shorts expecting ad money — the strategy verdict on option (d2).
06Marketing plan
- SEO / keywords: titles in the fixed format "Benny Bunny — [Song Name] 🐰 | Nursery Rhymes for Kids"; descriptions loaded with "nursery rhymes", "kids songs", "toddler learning".
- Hooks / retention: hook in the first 2 seconds, copyable action per verse (kids imitate = parents replay), loopable ending — rewatches are the Shorts ranking signal.
- Cadence: 3 Shorts/wk minimum — the algorithm rewards consistency over volume; hard cap at 5/wk for the inauthentic-content defense.
- Compilations as the long-form funnel: monthly compilation long-forms from day 60 — they carry the $1–3 RPM (30–60× the Shorts rate) and build watch-hours.
- Cross-promo: winning rhymes/actions (from day-30 analytics) get sequels; character consistency makes every video an ad for the rest.
- Off-platform: Spotify/Apple kids-music distribution of the songs, licensing submissions (Kidoodle, Amazon Kids+, Roku) once the channel has traction — this is where kids content actually pays.
07Expectations
Ad revenue will look broken. It isn't — it's made-for-kids.
$0.02–0.10 per 1,000 Shorts views means even a viral 10M-view quarter pays $200–1,000. The ~$1K/mo steady-state target leans on compilations; anything beyond that is licensing/music upside.
Months of $0 are the plan, not a failure.
No revenue before YPP. Realistic YPP timing is 6–12 months (the Shorts path needs 10M public views in 90 days — top-percentile). Meeting thresholds then triggers a ~30-day human review where originality is judged.
Deadline: YPP in 2026.
Feb 1, 2027 the thresholds double (20M Shorts views / 8,000 watch-hours for new applicants). Miss 2026 and the bar doubles.