How to Create Animated Series for Streaming Networks in 2025

Creating an animated series for streaming networks is a nuanced task. From generating your first idea to turning it into a complete animated series and then pitching it to streaming networks, it’s a whole journey with many intricacies along the way.

In this article, we will cover everything that you need to know before you begin your journey, with all the important steps and considerations laid out in a detailed manner. Plus, some tips and tricks that will come in handy during the whole process.

Let’s jump in!

Concept and Story Development

This is the single most important part of the whole process and will set the tone for everything that follows. While concept and story development is a whole science in itself, we’ll try to conclude it succinctly to give you a gist of what goes down into it:

Key elements of a compelling animated series story

An animated series story follows similar storytelling techniques to any other medium, with a touch of fascinating depiction of the impossible with the power of animation.

Just like any other medium, it all starts with a strong core concept and an excellent storyline. This storyline is then added with supporting elements like a well-written script, a well-defined world, and thoughtful character arcs to make it more fascinating.

Of course there’s a lot that goes into each of these important elements of a story, but that’s conversation for another day. If there’s one thing we can tell you for sure—you cannot compromise any of these!

Concept alignment with the audience demographics of the streaming network

Every streaming platform attracts a different audience based on their age, interests, and location. This simply means that content that works on one platform might not be able to attract a lot of viewers on another. In other words, content made for CrunchyRolls cannot get the same attention on Netflix!

In order for your content to work, it must align with the demographics of your targeted platform. You can easily identify these demographics by studying popular genres and formats of the streaming network, along with analytics available within the platform or on third-party resources.

Based on your collected data, you can employ a number of strategies to ensure your content fully aligns with what the audience prefer to watch. Those include leveraging cultural diversity if you’re targeting a global audience, optimizing story pacing and length, and creating flexible, cross-demographic themes that appeal to everyone.

Tips for creating an original story that stands out in a saturated market.

If you’re thinking of a story, chances are someone has told it already. So the question is then, how do you come up with something that’s entirely unique? Something that stands out? While it entirely comes down to your creativity, here are some strategies you can follow to supplement your efforts:

Start with a “What If?”

All new stories are basically old ideas presented in different packaging with some twists and turns to give them a unique touch. It’s all about thinking about the what-ifs—exploring the unexplored combinations and then diving deep. Think about the last story you read or the last movie you watched. Was there any “what if” that came to your mind?

Defy the norm

It’s fairly easy for your audience to recognize a repeated trope. Deviating a little from such a trope can also help you catch your audience’s attention instantly. For example, a protagonist is always the “good guy”. But what if he wasn’t? What if there were some “greys” in his character that make him shady? Now wouldn’t that be interesting? The Japanese anime series “Vinland Saga” is a great example of such a story.

Focus on immersive world-building

Building a detailed, well-thought-out world can give your viewers an experience that they’ll never forget. It also gives you the opportunity to showcase your animation skills, making a virtual world that instantly captures attention.

Use a Distinct Voice and Tone

Your story and its writing style should never ever be an imitation of someone else’s. Making your story completely yours with a unique tone helps you make your story recognizable, different, and new, helping you stand out in the highly competitive market of streaming.

Art Style and Animation Techniques to Use

Your art style and technique highly impact the appeal of your animated series. Generally, there are three types of animations used in animated movies and series. Those include 2D, 3D, and stop motion.

Each of these animation styles complements different stories and appeals to different people. For example, 2D is a classic animation that has a nostalgic touch to it. Although old school, it is still a loved medium among children and adults as it easily adjusts across genres.

On the other hand, 3D animation  is more suited for modern audiences. It’s especially for stories in which visual realism is necessary to make an impact. 3D animation is excellent for family content and is also very popular among children.

Compared to 2D and 3D, stop-motion animation (e.g Teen Titans) is a niche medium. It has that nostalgic, warm feel to it and also helps you showcase your artistic abilities to the max. Fans of Indie, experimental, and artistic animation love stop motion. However, it’s not something we would call a mass pleaser.

The question then arises: which form of animation should you use to make your series? Well, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all suggestion. It entirely comes down to which style complements your story. 2D, 3D, and stop motion, all of them can turn out to be awesome if used the right way.

Serialized or Episodic Format: Which One to Choose?

The series structure and episode format largely depend upon the type of your audience, your particular genre, and your viewer engagement goals. Based on what you want to achieve with your series, you can either go with serialized format or episodic format.

Both come with their advantages and disadvantages!

Generally, a serialized format works best for streaming platforms, as it makes your series more binge-worthy. By building the story up slowly and gradually, viewers become emotionally invested in your characters and their arc, ready to sit for hours just to see the story progress.

Serialized format also helps with strong narrative continuity, with intricate plots that offer a rewarding experience in the end for viewers. This way, it helps you retain your audience for long and potentially develop a fanbase, which translates into long-term engagement.

Episodic format, on the other hand, is a complete opposite. In it, each episode is a self-contained story with a definite end with the same recurring characters. Compared to serialized format, it’s very easy to watch and attracts a lot of casual audiences who don’t have the time to commit to a longer story.

Each episode in this format offers a fresh narrative, which not only increases its rewatchability but also ensures there’s no viewer drop-off even if there are some underwhelming episodes. This format is best suited for you if you’re planning to make a comedy or anthology series.

Which format would we recommend for your series? Well, it’s all up to you. Streaming platforms benefit from both, as they have a huge and diverse audience to cater to. It all comes down to your interest.

Budgeting and Production Planning: The Must-Know Things

As easy as it might seem, budgeting is one of the most complex tasks of creating an animated series. Unlike live-action movies or series, you don’t have ready-made things.

You have to build every single thing from scratch, from characters to environments and everything in between. It’s an intricate coordination of many elements, each more important than the previous.

Breakdown of production budget

To give you a clearer idea, here’s a breakdown of the total cost with respect to three main stages of production planning:

Pre-production costs: This stage lays the foundation on which all the other aspects of your story build. It includes exploring different story ideas, character designing, storyboarding, determining art direction, etc. Not to mention script development, casting and talent search, administrative costs, and more. The more you invest in this part, the better will be everything that follows.

Production costs: This is the point where you bring all your concepts to life with moving characters and meticulously designed animated worlds. Your storyboard is not a storyboard anymore. It’s a complete animated series. However, it’s also the part that leaves the biggest chunk of your overall budget after postproduction. The bigger the budget, better the production quality.

Post-production costs: It is more about refining your overall animation. It involves rendering (2D or 3D), color grading, final composition, VFX, sound design, etc. On the contrary to live action, where production eats the biggest chunk of your budget, post-production requires more money in animation. The more nuanced the post-production, the better and richer will be the final result, no matter what type of animation you choose for your series.

Tips to effectively manage your budget

As mentioned, managing your animated series overall budget can be tricky to navigate. To make sure everything stays under control, here are some tips that will help:

Understanding the cost factors: The complexity and style of your animation, the length of each episode, production quality, and the timeline of the project are the prime factors that influence your budget. The higher the quality, the higher will be the overall cost. As for the timeline, the quicker the work, the higher would be your service charges that will add to your overall costs.

Budget determination: Now that you know the cost factors, it’s time to make some calculations. Identifying the total budget you are willing to spend on the whole project and then allocating a fixed percentage beforehand will help you a lot throughout the process when it comes to dividing your overall costs. Of course, this percentage is not always fixed and can be changed later based on your needs.

Setting your priorities straight: Keeping your priorities straight will help you big time in determining where you want to spend your budget and where you want to cut costs. For example, if your content is more reliant on high-quality visuals compared to audio, then investing more in animation compared to audio will help you the most.

Choose the right studio: Last but not least, choosing the right studio will highly influence your budget and production quality. Look for someone who offers a mix of experience, high-quality service, and competitive pricing. Don’t go too cheap, but don’t go extra expensive either. There are hundreds of animation agencies that offer premium services at competitive pricing, including us, Kasra Design!

Pitching to Streaming Platforms

Currently, every single streaming platform, including but not limited to Netflix, Disney+, and Hulu, is looking for unique stories that they can tell to their audience.

Could your story be the next? That entirely depends on how uniquely and convincingly you pitch your idea. While creating a pitch can be an extremely intricate process in all its practicality, following are some general rules to keep in mind for an impeccable pitch:

Keep it original

Your goal is to stand out in a highly saturated market. Make sure the story you present is entirely original, navigating fresh narratives that haven’t been touched before.

Add cultural relevance

Streaming platforms like Netflix love cultural diversity and relevance in content. Make sure to emphasize this point in your pitch, as it aids your content’s global appeal.

Include data-driven insights

Supplementing your pitch with accurate data shows the probability of your content’s success. If you could prove why your content will be successful based on data, there’s a higher chance your content will earn a place on any of the big platforms.

Emphasize your potential for multiple seasons

No matter which platform you are pitching to, they like content that has the potential to develop over multiple seasons. As it increases viewers’s engagement, pitching such a series will increase your prospects of earning the platform’s trust.

How marketing influences your animated series success:

Suppose you have got a great story to share. You also have successfully allocated your production budget. Your series is ready to release, and you have also found the perfect platform for it. Now the question is, how do you make people watch it?

The answer is simple: with strong marketing!

There are many marketing strategies you can use to build a buzz around your animated series. The first one is obvious: releasing short teasers and trailers of your series to showcase the key characters, visuals, and hints of your storyline. However, that’s the most basic thing everyone does.

What’s really going to double down your marketing success goes beyond that. It includes social media engagement, influencer marketing, early reviews and collaborations with media outlets, live streams, and many other strategies to reach your target audience.

How can you do all of this in a strategic way? It’s something that can’t be covered in a few paragraphs. So let’s just keep this discussion for another day. For now let’s just say you cannot ignore the marketing part even if you are an established franchise. You have to be everywhere!

Are You Looking to Create an Animated Series?

Make your first animation series with the best animation agency on your side! Whether you’re interested in making 2D, 3D or Collage  animated series, Kasra Design does it all! With over a decade of industry experience and a talented team of animators, we will help you create animations that are a direct reflection of your imagination. Get in touch with our team here:  Kasradesign.com/get-a-quote