The Dodo was launched in January 2014 by Izzie Lerer, the daughter of media executive Kenneth Lerer and journalist Kerry Lauerman. The company became one of the most popular Facebook publishers, garnering 1 billion video views from the social network in November 2015. The brand expanded into longer-form storytelling with its first TV series, "Dodo Heroes" in June 2018, which went on to become the network's top-performing freshman series.