Angry Birds animated series hits smartphones, tablets Angry Birds apps have been downloaded 1.7 billion times. THE makers of Angry Birds have launched new ways to interact with those pig-hating fowls on your smartphone, from taking part in social tournaments to watching a weekly animation series. The Finnish company Rovio has teamed up with American video production company Brightcove to produce the Angry Birds Toons animated series that can be viewed directly through the Angry Birds app on your smartphone or tablet. A new episode will be released every Sunday at 6pm AEST. The first of 52 episodes was broadcast on March 17. Given Angry Birds apps have been downloaded 1.7 billion times and the game has reportedly more than 263 million active users a month, Rovio has called the animation series one of the world's biggest video networks. To view the series, Angry Birds fans just need to make sure they have the current version of the app. Rovio has also announced that next month it will launch an Android and iOS app version of its popular Facebook game Angry Birds Friends. Rovia said the Facebook game, which it launched a year ago, already attracted 1.2 million daily active users. The Angry Birds Friends app will allow people to take part in weekly tournaments on their smartphone and tablet just as they can now challenge their Facebook friends in the web-based version of the game.