SME#27: The Superpowers of Kids-Only Streamers
Streaming Made Easy #27
Welcome back to Streaming Made Easy. I’m Marion & this is your weekly European take on the Global Streaming Video Business.
Every Friday, you get 1 analysis, 1 streamer snapshot & 1 content recommendation.
This week, we take a look at how Kids-Only Streamers fit in the global streaming landscape.
I’m flying solo on this one but not for long as Emily Horgan (THE expert in kids content) and I will be collaborating soon. If you don’t know Emily yet, check out her newsletter and tell us in the poll (at the bottom of this edition) what topics interest you the most.
Today at a glance:
Analysis: The Superpowers of Kids-Only Streamers
Streamer snapshot: Indie Streamer “Benshi”
Content recommendation: My favourite animated movies
💡Analysis :
Next week, it’s the 60th edition of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the world’s largest event dedicated to animation. It brings together the industry's leading professionals and celebrates the creativity and diversity of animation styles and techniques globally.
It got me thinking: does this creativity and diversity translate in the Kids Streaming space?
Streaming is more and more in the hands of a happy few as 6 US-based Platforms (Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Apple TV+, Prime Video, Paramount+) are on track to grab over 55% of global SVOD subs by 2028.
Source: Digital TV Research - May 2023
The Kids segment is a major focus for them. They all offer kids profiles, carry a significant volume of kids content and produce originals.
How do Kids Streamers fit into this landscape?
As Global Streamers aim to appeal to all demos, in all markets, they are generalists at heart and so the UI/UX, the content, reflect that.
These services are not designed for kids specifically, nor are they built to adapt to different age groups.
It’s often
the parent profile vs the child profile.
6
Within the child profile, you have it all and sometimes more than you actually care for (e.g. Disney+ actually features the exact same UI and content regardless of the profile).
They can’t be experts which leaves a gap.
Which streaming services feel that gap?
Over the years, I’ve encountered dozens of great streaming services geared towards kids:
→ Sandbox Group and its suite of brands (Curious world, Hopster, Play Kids)
→ Da Vinci
→ VOD365 (Ketchup TV)
→ Sensical TV
→ Playground TV
→ Happy Kids
→ Kidoodle
→ Noggin
→ The Reading Corner
The list goes on.
What makes them different?
They build bespoke streaming services for kids and it translates as follows:
Philosophy: It’s about entertainment but also education (or edutainment). Screen time that matters.
Curation: The philosophy flows into the curation process and each piece of content is carefully evaluated on artistic & quality criteria but also in light of the brand fit, the values carried and the different viewer segments etc.
Profiles: A lot of care is put in offering a safe space for kids and parents. Your 3-6 years old profile showcases a different line up than the 9-12 one. Features like parent verification, time spent control, consent collection, also bring piece of mind.
Editorialisation: Ratings are essential but lack the insights parents need to make the right content decisions for their children. I love Sensical TV’s approach to this with detailed notes on programs. It’s powered by their mother company Common Sense Media (a rating and review database).
Multimedia: It’s not all about video content, they offer podcasts, ebooks, games. Hopster is a great example of this cross-vertical approach to content.
Innovation: The team at Playground TV recently launched an app called Storyplai which enables kids to create their own stories.
The Reading corner reads you bedtime stories.
As you saw, there is plenty of content and services to go around.
So what is like to grow in this space?
Heated competition that’s for sure.
Competition with the deep-pocketed global players, the prominent local broadcasters and of course competition amongst Kids Streamers themselves.
These services must reach more end consumers but the world is big and fragmented.
Localization is a prerequisite but requires time and money.
Distribution is a struggle as distribution platforms often say they’re all set with kids content through Netflix and Disney.
Last but not least, prominence is key in streaming but again it’s costly.
Is everything all doom and gloom?
When you see the dedication and innovation behind these kids streamers, I think the space will thrive but it’s also our responsibility as Media & Entertainment execs and as parents to help our kids discover these services fully designed for them.
Kids deserve to be super-served, don’t they?
📺 Streamer snapshot:
Perfect segway into this week’s streamer snapshot: French Kid Streamer Benshi.
First, let me explain the meaning behind the name Benshi.
Benshi is a Japanese reference to the artist who was commenting movies and reading the intertitles of silent movies during screenings (mostly for the illiterate population). The artist was also leading the audience to pay attention to certain details of the movie.
The streaming service launched in 2017 on the initiative of Studio des Ursulines, an independent Parisian cinema specializing in Art & Essai film programming for young audiences.
At the heart of Benshi is a team of curators recommending hundreds of quality films suitable for children.
Not every film can be a Benshi film. They carefully select and apply a quality over quantity programming strategy.
Benshi also likes to champion more confidential films, little-known gems, artisanal productions that don't always get the promotion they deserve.
To check them out: Benshi
🎬 Content recommendation:
It’s crucial for me to share my passion for cinema with my children. Every Friday, we do movie nights or go to the movies.
Over the years, I’ve watched my fair share of children movies. So here goes, in no particular order, my favourite animated movies that aren’t Disney movies (not that I don’t love Disney movies too!):
That’s it folks. Enjoy your weekend and see you next Friday for another edition of Streaming Made Easy!
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Curious to see a focus on YT Kids Marion. It's such a highly developed ecosystem. Is there crossover for the kid creators to get picked up on other streaming platforms, or like most creators do they tend to stick to social? With TV being YT's fastest growing surface, really interested to see if the Streaming/Social divide starts to collapse.