Kids’ shows are secret weapons in streaming war

In the race to keep subscribers, kids’ content like CoComelon and Bluey is becoming essential for streaming platforms.

Children tend to rewatch shows repeatedly, reducing subscriber churn—a business word for losing customers. Churn has been a major challenge for OTT platforms.

Kevin Mayer, co-CEO of Candle Media, says reducing churn is more critical than gaining new users. Companies have to spend more marketing dollars to increase users or target ex-users.

Cartoons and animations help a lot in retaining subscribers. The Moana 2 movie alone racked up 7.2 billion minutes streamed on Disney+ since March 2025, Nielsen reports.

Bluey on Disney+was viewed over 25 billion minutes in the first half of 2025.

Parents stick with platforms
A TiVo report shows US and Canada households with children use an average of 13.6 streaming services versus 8.2 for child-free homes.

YouTube is a major player in kids’ content. It now leads in TV streaming, surpassing Netflix and Disney+.

Media giants are adapting by producing YouTube-first shows like Paramount’s Kid Cowboy. Even Netflix picked up YouTube creator Ms. Rachel, whose content hit 53 million views on the platform this year.