Streaming TV for kids embraces iconic brands
New technology. Same furry faces. When Apple was thinking about what kind of children’s TV programming it wanted on its new streaming service, it doubled down on two multi-generational crowd-pleasers — Snoopy and “Sesame Street.”
Apple TV Plus has carved out prominent roles for Charlie Brown’s floppyeared beagle and for puppets from the famed Sesame Workshop in its slate of kid and family friendly programs.
“Both Snoopy and Sesame Workshop are crown jewels of the last decades in what family entertainment looks like. There’s a reason that we went proactively to those two entities,” said Zack Van Amburg, who is Apple’s head of worldwide video alongside Jamie Erlicht.
The decision to use existing children’s icons as the bedrock for the fledgling platform is one shared by several other streaming services, often with one eye on looming Netflix, the world’s largest streamer with an arsenal of titles attracting kids and families.
The services are competing for kids’ eyeballs not only from each other but also from shows on YouTube and traditional broadcast channels. Often the safest way forward is piggybacking on established titles that parents already know from their childhood and leaning into the nostalgia.
Amazon Prime Video has rebooted “Clifford the Big Red Dog “and has original shows featuring Kung-Fu Panda, Pete the Cat, and Rocky and Bullwinkle. CBS All Access has series built on the classic book “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” and the classic ‘toon “Danger Mouse.”
Disney Plus is offering shorts starring Forky from “Toy Story 4” and a reboot of the Hilary Duff-led “Lizzie McGuire,” another show built around Phineas & Ferb, plus a new series based on Marvel Comics’ “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.” And, yes, it, too, has Muppets — the unscripted series “Muppets Now.”
Netflix has embraced shows built around Captain Underpants, “Lost in Space,” the book “Green Eggs and Ham,” the comic book “Raising Dion” and even a youthorientated “Fast and Furious” series.
Apple TV Plus subscribers may not get as many shows as Netflix but executives are building a carefully curated list, including a dozen 8-minute “Snoopy in Space” animated shorts, as well as the brand new upcoming series “The Snoopy Show,” with each installment featuring three sevenminute cartoons starring the Peanuts crew.
They’ll also get two series from Sesame: the live-action preschool-aimed “Helpsters,” which mixes human actors and puppets, including Cody, a new puppet that loves computer coding. And there’s “Ghostwriter,” a live-action fantasy series that re-imagines the Sesame Workshop’s 1992 series.
Still to come are plans for kids’ programming from NBC’s upcoming Peacock service, as well as HBO Max. But not everyone is watching the explosion in streaming content uncritically. The Center for Digital Democracy is as wary of streaming content as it is of the Wild West of YouTube videos aimed at kids.
“It’s all about getting their attention so ads can be sold,” said Jeff Chester, the center’s executive director. “The global brands, such as ‘Sesame,’ ‘Clifford’ and others, use YouTube as a way to promote licensed content to sell their own and sponsored videos and branded merchandise.”