A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM THE HUB

*Source: Nielsen, NPower, 12/31/12 – 3/31/13, Mon-Sun 8P-11P, most current, (Kids & Family Cable Network defined as one with at least 50% of Primetime programming devoted to Kids 2-11 and Adults 18-54 watching together)

Cynopsis Special Report: Kids Co-Viewing
04/26/13

by Alison Gaylin

It’s still Friday, April 26, and the fastest growing demographic in children’s television isn’t children. It’s 18 to 49 year-old moms, dads and caregivers who gather around the flat screen with their kids. With parents urged by experts and lawmakers to take an active role in what their children watch on TV, co-viewing is more prevalent than ever – with programmers producing content that appeals not just to little ones, as in the past, but to their entire families.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM BLUE PLATE MEDIA

It’s such a widespread philosophy that the newest kids’ network, The Hub, proudly touts the fact that it was created specifically for co-viewing families. “We have research that shows children want to spend time with their parents and that similarly parents would rather be home with their children — this is a major shift from twenty years ago,” explains Margaret Loesch, President and CEO of the three-year-old joint venture between Discovery and Hasbro. “Today’s families are looking for things to do together at home, which is why co-viewing is such an important metric.”

Why the shift? “With the first generation of ‘digital parents,’ computers and such have become a shared interest, not a generational divide,” observes David Kleeman of the American Center for Children and Media. “The TV industry has seen this coming back together of parents and kids, and is producing content to honor and encourage it.”

Unlike the parents of the past, who ceded their kids to the “electronic babysitter” while they dealt with housework and bills, today’s moms and dads spend quality time with their children in front of large flat-screen TVs that double as home entertainment centers. As Kleeman sees it, co-play on X Box and Wii has led directly to co-viewing.

And the practice is being encouraged more and more. Recently, politicians on Capitol Hill reacted to the Sandy Hook elementary school shootings in December by announcing a sweeping parental awareness campaign — supported by industry organizations including the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), American Cable Association (ACA), geared toward educating parents about movie and TV ratings systems, so that they might better shield their kids from violent programming. One key element of the campaign, according to the press materials, is to, “encourage them to consume media together as families.”

And already, it’s proven an effective tool. With so many parents present in the room, it’s as though TV now has a chaperone. Content has become more responsible, in order to appeal to this watchful new group of viewers, with many new programs created with an eye toward learning. In the most recent upfronts, for instance, Nickelodeon announced its second literacy show – the Dora the Explorer Spin-Off Dora and Friends, as well as Blaze and the Monster Machines, in which an 8-year-old boy and his monster truck teach kids about all areas of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). The Hub encourages reading with Spookville – a new series based on Christopher Pike’s critically acclaimed children’s books. And Disney Junior has even recruited a council of academics called the Disney Junior Advisory Board, in order to guide the channel’s curriculum in such educational areas as storytelling, early education, language development, diversity, emotional learning and literacy.

Likewise PBS kids – long a pioneer in educational TV – is launching a new math series this fall that’s aimed at pre-schoolers, Peg and Cat, which follows the adventures of two pals who encounter a series of simple math problems. Co-created by Billy Aaronson and Jennifer Oxley in collaboration with the Fred Rogers Company, the series is meant to complement natural-science based series The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That and Curious George, which focuses on engineering.

But TV still aims to entertain. And in that area, kids’ programming strives for a more inclusive feel. Gone is the “no grown-ups allowed” attitude that pioneering kids networks Disney and Nickelodeon adopted in the 80s and 90s, in which the daily line-up became a sort of “clubhouse” for little viewers and, later, teens. “I call it the couch versus the shoulder,” says Paul DeBenedittis, Senior Vice President, Programming Strategy, Disney Channels Worldwide. “These days, kids are inviting their parents to sit with them on the couch and watch, instead of having the parent looking over their shoulders as in the past. Programming now reflects that.”

The Hub has had great success tapping into parental nostalgia – or as execs at the network refer to it, “now-stalgia.” By introducing re-imagined versions of familiar brands that many young parents grew up with  from My Little Pony to Transformers to Fraggle Rock – it quickly found a loyal following.
“When we were launching the network and first started meeting with advertisers about the joint venture, their excitement and affection for our brands was a pleasant surprise,” says The Hub’s Loesch. “The advertisers responded to us as parents and as fans who wanted to watch current versions of shows like ‘Pound Puppies’ and ‘Fraggle Rock’ and ‘Transformers’ with their children.”

And it’s paid off. Sixty-two percent of Littlest Pet Shop’s viewers are families, with other shows like Family Game Night (58 percent) Transformer Rescue Bots (56 percent) My Little Pony (55 percent) and Pound Puppies (54 percent) coming very close. “We have been the most co-viewed children’s network for the past 35 weeks,” Loesch says.

In the most recent upfronts, the network took “now-stalgia” even further by introducing a reboot of 90s hit Sabrina the Teenage Witch, titled Sabrina: Secrets of a Teenage Witch – and featuring ex-Disney star Ashley Tisdale in the lead role.

The Cartoon network appeals to nostalgic older viewers by pairing newer hits like Adventure Time and Annoying Orange (which has just been picked up for a second season) with vintage shows like Scooby Doo! MAD, and The Looney Tunes Show. And Disney Jr. is tapping into nostalgia in its upcoming line-up with Sheriff Callie’s Wild West, an animated series being touted as “the Andy Griffith show for the pre-school set.”

Of course, for older networks Disney and Nickelodeon, parental nostalgia is a built-in benefit. Ron Geraci, Nickelodeon’s executive vice president of research and programming, says that co-viewing has gained significant strength at his network in recent years, with the first generation of Nickelodeon viewers coming of age and raising kids of their own. “It’s something we’ve noticed within the last five to six years, when we’ve started to see adults migrate to Nickelodeon with their kids in larger and larger numbers,” Geraci notes. “For parents who have grown up with Nickelodeon, the affinity is tremendous.”

Nickelodeon is aware of that, re-imagining much of its line up with co-viewing families in mind – and even introducing a new Nick app, by which parents and kids can interact with what they’re watching on TV – and with each other.

That desire for togetherness is a major force behind co-viewing, Geraci says. “Families are very busy, kids are very busy, they’re structured, overscheduled, and kids and parents both report they’re looking for places to share an experience,” he explains. “We’ve found that content is a great place for families to spend time together.”

Five-year-old Sprout takes that shared family experience to a whole new level, encouraging grown-ups and kids to interact directly with its on-air content. The morning program, “The Sunny Side Up Show,” features an animated chicken named Chica, who never can decide what to wear. Instead of just speaking to the camera about it, a la Dora the Explorer, Chica actually “listens” to her young audience’s wardrobe suggestions  and follows their advice. “Kids can send in the suggestions via an app,” explains Sprout President Sandy Wax.

Since little ones use the app with their parents help, viewing becomes a shared activity on a variety of different levels. “It’s not just co-viewing, but co-doing,” Wax says. And it doesn’t stop there. Parents are also encouraged to use the app to send in their children’s birthdays, which are then announced on the air, along with other parent generated submissions, such as special citations for helping out around the house. “We’ve had more than five million viewer submissions since we started and most are sent in by moms, dads and caregivers,” Wax says. “We get around ten thousand birthday submissions each month.”

It’s made for a distinct jump in ratings. According to Wax, Sprout just reported its highest rated first quarter ever. “We’re seeing strength across the board  but particularly within 18-49-year-old women.”

Sprout is pushing “co-doing” even further with the upcoming series Ruff Ruff, Tweet and Dave. Billed as the first-ever live, interactive pre-school game show, it enables kids and their parents to literally play along with the show on a smartphone or tablet.

But it’s not just about technology. Programmers are striving to be more inclusive of grown-ups in their storytelling as well – whether that means the sophisticated humor of shows like Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time, or making sure the content is, as Disney’s De Benedittis puts it, “kid friendly with family entry points,” such as the popular sit com Good Luck Charlie. “Good Luck Charlie is about a whole family,” DeBenedittis notes of the show, which focuses on the exploits of the large Duncan clan after they welcome baby Charlie into the world. “The Mom and Dad are often part of the ‘a’ storyline  not always b or c.”

And it’s been working. Buoyed by the success of Good Luck Charlie – along with other co-viewing favorites such as Phinneas and Ferb and the newer hit Dog with a Blog (which all feature family-based storylines) – the Disney Channel just wrapped its highest quarter ever with adults, and with women aged 18-49 who made up 44 percent of the viewing audience. (Topping Nick’s 42 percent and Cartoon Network’s 30 percent).

The preschool geared Disney Junior has posted similar results. Most notably, grown ups watching with 2-5 year olds made up for 46 percent of the viewership of the new show Sophia the First, which, DeBenneditis points out, “has elements of family” that not only appeal to parents, but to older siblings. “We’re finding that five, six, seven and eight year olds love the show.”

The Hub’s Loesch says that her network strives to “make shows with humor that both parents and kids can enjoy,”and cites a recent episode of ‘Littlest Pet Shop’ as an example. “We put the main character, Blythe, in ‘Braveheart’ makeup. Kids thought it was funny because Blythe had blue-and-white paint on her face. Parents understood and enjoyed the cultural reference.”

Advertisers enjoy the trend for more practical reasons. Since the FCC frowns upon ads that directly target kids, co-viewing has led to big ad and sponsorship sales in lucrative, “whole family” categories. Once the realm of toy advertisers only, kids’ networks are now a sought-after place to reach that most ardent pair of consumers, Mom and Dad. Carnival Cruise Lines has been a frequent advertiser on kids’ networks, as have clothing retail outlets that cater to both grown-ups and kids, like Old Navy and JC Penney. “Advertisers continue to look for safe content that’s appropriate for the whole family to watch,” says Brooke Goldstein, The Hub’s Senior Vice President, National Ad Sales, who explains that with this newfound closeness between parents and kids, “advertisers know that kids today have more power in purchase decisions.”

“Today’s family room still delivers family,” agrees David Becker, President of Blue Plate Media Services, a media planning and buying agency that specializes in connecting with kids and families. “The kid networks, and their cross platforms, are leveraging these kindred moments. Pull a run and you’ll see that it’s the kid networks that are scoring high in co-view. It’s about leveraging family day parts, and movie time, to tap into today’s highly coveted co-view.”

In other words, co-viewing and co-doing can also mean co-buying. Many kids have a say not just in what channel the family is going to watch, but what car they may drive or where they may go for their next vacation. “Reaching the whole family together is becoming even more important,” Goldstein says.

And whether that means throwing in a dose of nostalgia for parents, backing up TV content with interactive apps – or just adding a dash of sophisticated humor – today’s kids’ platforms are working the hardest to do just that.

Later,
Alison Gaylin
04.26.13

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