10 AI Platforms Innovating Animation in 2024

Aquifer helps Blue Studios increase video engagement and delight their fast-growing community of parents and students.

How the STEM edutainment company doubled video engagement with animation

Blue Studios is an online education platform where kids learn via live-streamed, on-demand classes taught by the best STEM instructors. Subjects range from coding, microbiology, botany, to microbiotics, and the team releases new videos every week.

Blue Studios has a superpower; they know that videos that entertain kids also make them smarter!

The Challenge

Giving students more choices in edutainment

The Blue Studios team is a talented group of scientists, researchers, creatives, engineers, filmmakers, and parents who created Blue Studios with the firm principle that STEM education shouldn't be cost-prohibitive because it provides kids with the most opportunities.

Behind the tech platform they use to deliver live and on-demand STEM videos to their community, Blue Studios is a media company with a managed process to produce high-quality videos with expert instructors at scale. The main priority when acquiring content from scripts to complete videos is always prioritizing quality to ensure their customers and audiences have the best experience.

One way Blue Studios delivers value to their customers is to ensure that kids can learn in ways that feel most comfortable to them.

"Education shouldn't be a one-size-fits-all approach. We noticed that certain students respond better to different instructors and types of media" - Emile Cambry, COO

According to Cambry, they are focused on three pillars of instructors to ensure they have curriculum that appeals to every type of learner: subject matter experts, peer instructors, and animated characters.

"If you're going into the entertainment space for kids, you gotta have animated videos, but existing solutions can fall short on quality"

In their search for a way to scale animation, they found solutions that didn't meet their quality and budget standards. Cambry said, "There are other tools out there that let folks make animated content, but they fall short in a lot of ways. We tested them all. We wanted something that looked like it was made directly for us and our scripts." Blue Studios also found that existing solutions didn't meet their content time-to-market requirements. "It can take a long time and require many steps just to produce 60 seconds of animation."

The Solution

Scaling animation production with Aquifer

"We are happy we found Aquifer because it allows us to scale high-quality animation production."

For Cambry, it's important that the videos feel crafted, high-quality, and true to the Blue Studios brand. Their community loves videos that feel handcrafted, not generic.

"It's nice to partner with folks who care about the production process. Software is important, but content and style are important too. When we saw the Aquifer videos, we were so excited because it fit our vision exactly."

"Our members are blown away. We got a message today asking for more animated content"

Cambry says, "This is a big differentiator for us. We noticed that the percentage of people who watch the entire video is higher with the animated series. We're getting some really good feedback from viewers. They want more!"

The Takeaway

Higher quality content grows engagement

The media landscape for kids is more crowded today than ever, and consumers want higher-quality content.

Cambry underscores the importance of content quality to build and engaging communities.

"Every company is a media company now"

Blue Studios is meeting and exceeding their customers' needs with a growing catalogue of live and on-demand classes that feature diverse casts, live-action, and animated options. By giving their community high-quality choices in classes, they're redefining what access to STEM education means.

Blue Studios was able to scale animation production with Aquifer at a quality that feels handmade and resonates with their audience. Students can not only choose when and what they learn, they can now also choose between live-action or animated episodes.

Cambry predicts that as a result of content demands and production limitations due to COVID, "3D animation is going to be a part of many businesses."

Blue Studios + Aquifer

"The percentage of people who finished watching the entire video doubled on the animated episodes" - Emile Cambry, COO at Blue Studios