Your Kid Prefers YouTube To Netflix. That's a Problem for Streamers. (wsj.com) 52
Major streaming services test releasing children's content on YouTube and cut back on fare for kids. From a report: Netflix's share of U.S. streaming viewership by 2- to 11-year-olds fell to 21% in September from 25% two years earlier, according to Nielsen. Meanwhile, YouTube's share jumped to 33% from 29.4% over the same period. That reality is changing major streaming services' approach to children's entertainment, from what shows and movies they make to where they release them. Many are pulling back on investments in children's content, and some streamers have started content for young viewers on such platforms as Google-owned YouTube and Roblox.
[...] Netflix has also slimmed down its slate of animated children's originals, opting instead to rely more on third parties such as Skydance Animation, with which it just signed a multiyear deal to do animated films. Now, Netflix is focusing its youth programming resources on bigger swings, such as the animated film "Leo," starring Adam Sandler, its biggest animated debut ever in terms of views. The eight largest U.S. streamers, including Netflix, Warner's Max and Amazon Prime Video, added 53 originals catering to children and families in the first half of the year, down from 135 for the first half of 2022, according to Ampere. That represents a decrease of 61%, compared with a 31% decrease in overall originals across these streamers for the same period.
[...] Netflix has also slimmed down its slate of animated children's originals, opting instead to rely more on third parties such as Skydance Animation, with which it just signed a multiyear deal to do animated films. Now, Netflix is focusing its youth programming resources on bigger swings, such as the animated film "Leo," starring Adam Sandler, its biggest animated debut ever in terms of views. The eight largest U.S. streamers, including Netflix, Warner's Max and Amazon Prime Video, added 53 originals catering to children and families in the first half of the year, down from 135 for the first half of 2022, according to Ampere. That represents a decrease of 61%, compared with a 31% decrease in overall originals across these streamers for the same period.
Oh no! (Score:5, Funny)
What will the streaming services do if the 2-11 year old demographic chooses to spend their hard earned allowance dollars on something else?
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Their revenue comes from ads.
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Their revenue comes from ads.
Are they? The services that have subscriptions are hiking the prices on the subs they already have and previously subscription only services like Netflix are rolling out ad-supported plans. Meanwhile, formerly ad-based only YouTube is literally using pervasive ads to drive people to get a YouTube Prime subscription just to escape the ads. Seems to me that it's a mixed bag.
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What's with with that? YouTube never ever warned me a single time about ad blockers, both as a logged-in google user nor in "anonymous" mode on other computers/user name.
Re: Oh no! (Score:2)
I block ads on YT and even skip sponsors too. If I stopped blocking I would also stop visiting YT. And I am fine with that if that is ultimately how they want it.
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Re: Oh no! (Score:4, Funny)
Ahh yes, the pay to see ads modelâ¦very effectiveâ¦not
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What will the streaming services do if the 2-11 year old demographic chooses to spend their hard earned allowance dollars on something else?
Kid sees ad. Kid pesters parents. Parents buy the stuff just for the peace and quiet.
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And your evidence for this accusation is what, precisely?
Sarcastic trolling does not require any evidence.
Re: Netflix Wants Your Kids To Be Trans (Score:1)
Re: Netflix Wants Your Kids To Be Trans (Score:2)
LOL, yeah sure , the media has always been inclusive has it sonny? I guess it would seem that way if you weren't born until the 21st century. Meanwhile some of us remember stuff like The Black And White Minstrel Show. Really inclusive that was. Not.
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Recent episodes of children's show Cocomellon. Gay dads have their young son wear a tutu and tiara and dance around.
Streamers? (Score:3)
Streamers aren't on Netflix. How is the kids' preference for Youtube a problem for streamers? You say streamers, but you seem to mean streaming services. Confused?
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Seems likely.
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It sounds to me like the Wall Street Journal is outsourcing its writing and editing of tech stories to non-native English speakers and AI.
Kids like to explore. (Score:2)
Kids like to explore.
YouTube has far more variety. Productiom value is good enough.
Kids Prefer Watching Interruptive Ads (Score:1)
This goes to show a correlation that children prefer to be bombarded with interpretive ads over the seamless Netflix viewing experience.
YouTube ads are not a sacrifice you must sit through, they are a feature!
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Copied from my other post because it directly fits...
Netflix probably doesn't have much to offer in the "kids yelling at Minecraft" genre. That seems to be as popular as any cartoon nowadays. I remember Nickelodeon used to have plenty of "kids yelling"/competitive sort of shows in the 90s, stuff like Legends Of The Hidden Temple. Or the brief bumpers they used to show "sliming" people between shows. Attention-span-wise, it seemed comparable to YouTube. A few minutes of kids yelling, a few ads, a 60-second s
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It's not that at all, Kids are normal people and don't like the ads either.
But "seamless viewing experience" is trumped by Content. Content is King, and Netflix doesn't have it, as far as kids are concerned.
2-11? (Score:2)
Same thing for cats, they also prefer YouTube.
Because life is more interesting (Score:2)
Youtube is sadly a mixed bag of advertisers friendly content only, which is youtubes biggest source of income and also its achilles heel. On one hand you have unlimited access to the world of people uploading their lives, and on the other hand you have even more forced access to those influencers that wants you to watch mind-numblingly stupid content so they can live a life of luxury while you dream of becoming the next influencer (like most kids I've met in school when working as a sub. they all want the e
Lockdowns and Content (Score:2)
2 years ago, a lot of kids were at home on lockdown, in front of a TV, where a household typically has Netflix. Now they're more likely to be at school or somewhere else that they're using a smartphone. A smartphone that likely comes pre-loaded with YouTube out of the box, free of charge, without needing to ask the parents for a login. That's going to nudge the 2-11 demographic a few percentage points towards YouTube.
There's also the content, Netflix probably doesn't have much to offer in the "kids yelling
Who the fuck (Score:3)
I have four kids, and I donâ(TM)t trust any of them on YouTube unsupervised. The algorithm *wants* to get them hooked on inappropriate shit.
One of my kids (6 or 7 at the time) figured out how to get to Google and YouTube on his iPad, and was watching cartoon porn of characters from his favorite shows within a day. Heâ(TM)d started looking for episodes to watch, and very quickly it started serving up lewd fan art.
I was offered âoesee through challengeâ videos on YouTube on an account I almost exclusively use for watching news and politics.
anyone letting their kids loose on YouTube that young is courting disaster.
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Who said unsupervised? I'm sure plenty of work from homes types with toddlers let cocomelon run in the background of the room they share that their kids occasionally stop to watch before a 20 minute YouTube advertisement for tax accounting software drives them off. This counts as "watching"
Re: Who the fuck (Score:2)
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Not as if Netflix is any better. Netflix is pushing the LGBTQ agenda to children. Lots of parents unhappy with recent episodes of Cocomellon.
Oh noes! Gay people exist!! [forbes.com]
Far better to tell people who are different that they're wrong and not accepted at every opportunity.
Re: Who the fuck (Score:2)
Showing gay people exist is NOT the same as serving up hard core pornography. Implying that they are equivalent is pure bigotry.
Newsflash, asshole, not everyone concerned about kids accessing porn is a homophobe. Shit, some of those kids we are worried about are THEMSELVES gay. My oldest is gay, and non-binary, and neither makes them mature enough for porn.
In other words (Score:2)
Streaming services' business model regarding shows for kids is not profitable, so those services are adjusting their business model.
Why is this news? Why should I care about this any more than I care about some unpopular toy line from Mattel?
What can they access with school chromebooks... (Score:2)
They surf youtube because they can access it on the school chromebooks. Most of the rest of the streaming sites are blocked on them, even if 'kids mode' was available or access to educational documentaries was around. But many schools have youtube vids they want the kids to see so they open access and wham, the kids start surfing.
Once they get into that habit, they'll do it on personal boxes, too. They don't watch the big streamers because they don't know what's on it. Their peers keep sharing the YT links
I prefer YouTube to Netflix. (Score:2)
I'm watching more YouTube than Netflix. Netflix has become crap. If it wasn't for one other family member that still watches things on Netflix I would have canceled it already.
Parents tired of Netflix sexualizing children (Score:1)
Why can't they just let children be children and drop all the LGBTQ advocacy? This bothers a lot of parents.
Children are not cancelling Netflix, parents are.
Attention span (Score:2)
Shorter format streaming is more popular than longer format streaming among those with shorter attentions spans.
TLDR: ADHD
You mind telling me why I give a fuck? (Score:2)
I just can't be assed to, sorry. Mind giving me a reason why I should care either way? If Netflix and Youtube jump off a cliff, I don't care who hits the ground first, as long as both jump!
Kids moving away from scripted content in general (Score:2)
I see this trend with my own kids. They just simply have less interest in scripted content. If given the choice between scripted and unscripted they will almost always choose unscripted.. either YouTube or a reality contest.
It is hard to imagine where this will lead... it's also hard to figure out if this is a good thing or a bad thing overall. Like... is it WORSE to watch some random unscripted family for 30 minutes on YouTube than watch some scripted drama of some other family? Both are equally fake, just
Not just children! (Score:2)
Old farts too!
Oh, the horrors (Score:1)
Oh no! How will the techies ever afford both ALL of their vacations homes if they don't have the monopoly?!!??!
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So, youngsters are rejecting corporate schlock in favor of unique and creative content from individual humans -- kinda like how the old interwebs of the 90s worked?
Um, have you SEEN Youtube lately? The vast majority of it is neither unique nor creative :-)