Kids' TV is no longer on your television. What the future of TV looks like for the iPad generation

Increasing numbers of young viewers are abandoning traditional kids TV shows, with networks such Nickelodeon and Disney Channel watching their viewing numbers drop by nearly 90 per cent since 2016. Instead, kids are turning to their iPads to watch short-form, creator-produced content on YouTube, such as Ms Rachel or Cocomelon. 

Today on Commotion, Elamin Abdelmahmoud speaks with TV reporter Kayla Cobb to talk about her deep dive into this phenomenon for The Wrap, and to explain the impacts of this shift on both children and the entertainment industry at large.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: What was the catalyst for the reporting on the state of kids' TV in this particular moment?

Kayla: First of all, I want to clarify: I don't have kids of my own. That's always a common question I get. But I do have a young cousin, and I'm someone who has covered the TV industry for almost a decade of my life. And I was on vacation with him [the young cousin] recently, and I watched that he just consistently watched YouTube. There was no SpongeBob, there was not even Bluey, no PAW Patrol. It was all YouTube videos. And I'm like, "This is fascinating." So as someone who has staked their career on the future of television, I was like, "This is for sure something to monitor." And then my associate editor, Adam Chitwood, has children and he was like, "Let's do it. Let's get into."

Elamin: YouTube has been around for 20 years, it's not a particularly new phenomenon. When you think about the ways that it's taken over the children's entertainment space, what's changed in recent years that you think has allowed it to become this magnet for younger viewers? 

Kayla: The things that do well on the YouTube algorithm tend to be very splashy, very loud, kind of ridiculous. And all of those things really appeal to children. So there's that. 

It takes a very long time for an episode of SpongeBob to get made. That's just that the animation pipeline takes a while. But it doesn't take nearly as long to create something like an episode of Blippi or Ms. Rachel. So what YouTube offers is this nearly endless stream of content. And if you're a parent who's trying to entertain your kids, it seems like a win-win. And also YouTube is on your phone, it's on tablets, it is exactly where your child is at all times. And it's very easy to access — just from a technological perspective — versus figuring out the kids' section of the Paramount+ app or navigating the Netflix section. So it's just a lot of factors that have come together to make this the new reality. 

Elamin: I think it's worth talking about Bluey for a moment, because Bluey is, to me, a signal of something that is working. For people who don't know what it is, Bluey is an Australian animated show about a family of dogs. It became the most watched television show in the U.S. in 2024. I don't mean among children shows, I just mean it's the most watched show in the United States in 2024. That's a big deal. 

As we talk about this conversation of the slipping grip that traditional animated shows have on children's attention, you also have this counter-world where Bluey announced this week that they're making a Bluey movie that is going to come out in 2027. That's really exciting, that's a significant deal in my house, you know? I want to counterbalance the two things: on the one hand, you have YouTube content that has risen all the way to the top; but then there's something about Bluey's ongoing success that tells us some things can still thrive in this YouTube era of children's entertainment. What do you think it is about Bluey that makes it work in that way? 

Kayla: Bluey has a lot of things going for it. First of all, it doesn't talk down to children. You see this a lot with children's entertainment, the shows that don't talk down to kids, who aren't condescending to them, typically tend to be a bit more successful. Kids are incredibly intelligent, and sometimes I think that's forgotten.

Aesthetically, it is just really beautiful. So it's great animation, soothing colors, it's bright and it's fun without being too overwhelming for younger viewers. 

Then they're about seven-minute episodes. And typically, for younger viewers, they do not have the attention span to understand subplots, so they can only comprehend one plot at a time, so that is really helpful. And it's helpful because it's so short, it's such a concise little story, parents like to watch it as well. So it becomes this parental family bonding thing.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Kayla Cobb produced by Stuart Berman.