SAN FRANCISCO — One of the keys to being successful as an independent digital studio lies in striking international licensing deals, said John Evershed, CEO of Mondo Media, in an interview with Beet.TV at our online video roundtable in San Francisco.

He explained that Mondo Media will both sell foreign rights for its shows and pick up rights for international Web shows and then nationalize them for a U.S. audience. He added that Mondo Media has also been successful by scouring the Web regularly for emerging properties and then partnering with them on distribution, Evershed said.

The company’s flagship show is the popular animated series “Happy Tree Friends.” Collectively, Mondo’s shows for the teen and young adult audience pull in about 40 million views a month across YouTube, MySpace, DailyMotion, iTunes, and other sites.

Daisy Whitney, Senior Producer