All you need to know about Netflix Disney HBO Max children audiences - This is how Netflix, Disney+ and HBO Max are fighting for children's audiences as YouTube and TikTok take over the Alpha generation
When Hollywood made the leap to streaming, the creators of children's and family programs were the main beneficiaries.
Executives acquired youth-focused programs with the conviction that attracting children to their platforms would not only attract parents and their credit cards, but also protect companies from quick cancellations, since younger entertainment consumers are known for their loyalty.
The interest in children's programming also fuelled a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the sector. Netflix and Candle Media, backed by Blackstone, acquired CoComelon's production company, Moonbug, and Dr. Seuss Enterprises is also looking for a buyer.
However, a number of recent moves in Hollywood indicate that the streaming investment in children's content may not be paying off.
Netflix Disney HBO Max children audiences
In May, after the loss of subscribers sent its shares tumbling, Netflix scrapped 5 planned children's programs, including a series in production from the creator of Doctor Toys (Doc McStuffins), Chris Nee, and a high-profile project in development from Meghan Markle.
A person familiar with the cuts described them as part of the normal course of business, a creator in the children and family space, has pointed out to the source that they do not see Netflix fully committed to investing in and fostering new children and family franchises.
Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Discovery, as part of its restructuring following the merger, eliminated the role of Tom Ascheim, a veteran who had been overseeing all of HBO Max's children's and family programming.
Even Disney+, whose long legacy of iconic children's programming gives it an edge in the space, has started investing more in adult content, including shows like Dancing with the Stars.
Last year, Disney CEO Bob Chapek revealed that only half of the streaming service's subscribers are families with children, which allows him to "think much more broadly" about content, he said.
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On the Disney+ wish list for new series, for example, there are shows with extensive world-building that do not necessarily have child protagonists, according to a source at the agency.
Hollywood may be realizing that children's programming is "not the secret formula" for acquiring or retaining subscribers, notes Eric Berger, CEO of Common-Sense Networks, the for-profit subsidiary of Common-Sense Media that last year launched the children's platform Sensical.
YouTube and TikTok have become the playground of the Alpha generation
Netflix and Amazon can be credited with helping to stimulate early demand for streaming children's programming. In its first 5 years of producing original programs, Amazon Prime Video released more than a dozen children's programs.
However, since 2019, the company's studios division has stopped prioritizing content for children and has focused on developing "content for families, including, but not exclusive to children," according to a spokesperson told the Los Angeles Times at the time.
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Meanwhile, Netflix was quick to attract top talent from rivals such as Disney. In 2018, for example, the company signed a large global agreement with Nee, whose Magnificent, scientific Ada debuted on the service in 2021. Last year, Netflix's vice president of animation, Melissa Cobb, told USA Today that 60% of subscribers watch children's and family content every month.
But there are few children's hits that have premiered on subscription services, notes an expert in children's animation: "There is not so much "moderate success" in children's animation. Either it's a great success or it's nothing. It's fine as a 24/7 network, but it's a different environment than Netflix, where you can watch everything, you want on demand."
And it can take time for young viewers to discover - and fall in love with - new characters. "A real success in the children's space needs many years to build an audience. He needs 5, 6, 7 seasons to get a foothold and be able to sell backpacks at Walmart," says Cyma Zarghami, a former Nickelodeon president who now runs the children's media company MiMo Studios. "The streaming model is contrary to the franchise-building model of the past, because two seasons don't build a franchise."
Another challenge, Berger notes, is that subscription platforms lag free video platforms like YouTube when it comes to capturing children's attention. Common Sense Media found in 2020, for example, that children aged 8 and under spent 37% of their time watching online videos versus 29% of their time on subscription streaming services.
"YouTube and TikTok have become the playground of the Alpha generation," he says, explaining that children can easily search for content about their interests and delve into, for example, dinosaur videos, on those platforms.
Sensical's strategy aims to take advantage of this behaviour, he adds, by compiling a library of free videos based on the interests of the best children's programmers and digital creators.
# Netflix Disney HBO Max children audiences #
