2022 sealed the death for children’s television on cable and open TV. Viewers for kids’ channels have plummeted since 2014: between 2017 and 2022 the drop is 76%. It’s a much more significant drop than other cable formats: sports and news signals are down 19%, non-scripted content channels (reality) are down 34%, and movie and documentary channels are down 38%
And while children’s cable TV channels like Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Disney Channelremain major brands within their parent companies’ respective portfolios, generating profits from a combination of pay-TV subscriber fees and advertising revenue, the bottom of the pot is very close.
And this happens because basically, children no longer watch TV. Or rather, they don’t look like they did before: streaming and Youtube concentrate children’s hours in front of the television screen.
The children’s channels point out in their defense that still the market is a worthy generator of income. Between the three big ones in the aforementioned sector, they generate about 3,000 million dollars together. Disney Channel contributes a third with $1.1 billion from cable subscribers: unlike other networks, it does not play ads from third-party advertisers and therefore only has a single stream of revenue.
Nickelodeon generates more than a billion dollars a year in its chains for children, and it has very profitable franchises in merchandising such as “Paw Patrol”which is one of the stars also of Paramount+, marking the migration from cable television to streaming. And it is that children’s content continues to be a constant engine of viewers: that has not diminished, on the contrary, it grows with the decision-making power of children in front of the screens.
And this is reflected by the bid for children’s content in Hollywood, where the creators and producers of series and films for children are even more sought after than those who make products for adults. “Today streaming has taken over intellectual property for children’s content as well, and studios are competing fiercely for talent,” says Olivier Dumont, president of family brands at eOne, the Hasbro-owned production company behind children’s series like “Peppa Pig” and “PJ Mask”.
Writer and producer, Chris Nee earned a prominent place in the children’s content industry when she created “Doc McStuffins” (“Doc McStuffins”) for Disney. The animated series about a 6-year-old girl who fixes dolls and toys, and in the process teaches her young audience how to stay healthy and avoid throwaway culture, was applauded by critics, target audiences and parents. And Nee had a “great situation” at Disney, by her own admission. But she jumped to Netflix, when the streaming giant offered her an exclusive contract with artistic freedom. “The deal is a fairy tale, Ridley Jones It is the action-adventure series that I would have wanted to see when I was a child,” says the producer.
The show follows the adventures of the 6-year-old female lead character who, along with her mother and grandmother, protects the exhibits at the museum she calls home: elephants and the installation’s mummies come to life overnight ( plot identical to “A Night at the Museum: The Return of Kahmunrah”, which premiered on Disney +). And Nee also works on “Ada Twist”, a series focused on science for preschool children, based on the book series by author Andrea Beaty, co-produced by former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, through their audiovisual factory Higher Ground Prods.
A survey conducted by ScreenMedia found that 75% of parents watch videos with their children several times a week. And those two-thirds expect the time they spend watching TV with their children to stay the same or increase. Children’s and family content is decisive in the fight for a US$ 41 billion cake in which Disney managed to tie Netflix in just two years.
“They face strong competition, especially from Disney,” adds Kenny Ortega, the veteran director and choreographer behind the movie “Newsies,” and the “High School Musical” and “Descendants” (Disney Channel) franchises, which as Nee, jumped on Netflix. There he is the architect of “Julie and the Phantoms“, a dramedy from creators Dan Cross and David Hoge, about a teenage girl who teams up with a ghostly ’90s band to make music. A hit in line with the hit “Merlina,” featuring teenage monsters.
“Netflix put a lot of effort into reaching an audience that didn’t have this type of entertainment there. They were very intelligent and very creative, and they continue to be so”, celebrates Ortega, one of the favorites of Bob Iger, boss of Disneywho recognized him with a “Legends” award in 2019. His absence and that of other children’s content creators is felt in the segment leader, but Gary Marsh, president and chief creative officer of Disney Branded Television, has brought in a wide range of talent from ABC Signature and 20th Television studios, which joined the company after the merger with Fox.
by RN
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