PBS Kids Plans to Debut 26 New Series or Seasons This Year as Streamers Pull Back on Content for Kids
It can be hard to be a parent in this media environment. Plenty of streaming services offer kids content, but it can sometimes be difficult to find, or parental controls on streaming devices can stop working correctly at random, leaving parents guessing as to the best ways to provide child-safe content to their kids.
Availability of content for children is a factor for 66% of parents when making streaming decisions, showing how important it is for families with kids to find good programming. That won’t be a problem with PBS Kids during the 2023-24 TV season, according to PBS Kids SVP and GM Sara DeWitt.
DeWitt spoke at length to The Hollywood Reporter about PBS Kids’ upcoming plans for expansion. As part of the wide-ranging interview, DeWitt confirmed that PBS Kids would unveil 26 new shows or new seasons of existing shows in the 2023-24 TV season, and is also expanding the number of episodes users can watch for free on the PBS Kids app and pbskids.org.
“As we have been watching other networks and the streamers really pull back in the kids space, we have been on this mission to try to get even more out, and it spurred us to push a little harder,” DeWitt told THR. “We are expanding the library of free streaming content available to kids on the PBS Kids Video apps. It’s a pretty significant increase in the number of episodes. We’ve been wanting to do that and have been talking to producers and working on our rights situation to do that.”
Shows like “Work it Out Wombats!” and “Lyla in the Loop” have 14 episodes available to stream for free, but soon that will expand to 40. It’s all about reaching as many kids as possible in as many places as PBS can manage, whether it be via streaming, games or even podcasts.
PBS’s strategy stands in stark contrast to what other streamers have been doing with their kids content. Max has been the most notable streamer to spurn kids shows, purging even highly-recognized brands like “Sesame Street” and “Scooby-Doo” from its platform last year, as part of a wider content slashing spree. Once upon a time, WBD had plans to compete with Disney with a wide variety of animated and other children’s programming, but those ambitions were shelved for good last winter.
In DeWitt’s view, too many streamers are thinking about kids content as just another way to boost engagement, missing the point of offering shows for children in the first place.
“When you think of kids media as just a marketing tool or if you think of it as a way to boost your subscribers, you’re missing a huge opportunity to really use the creative potential of these formats to enrich lives, to help kids want to learn more, and to show them worlds that they might not get to see otherwise,” she explained.
The amount of educational and enriching kids programming on PBS Kids is one of the reasons it ranks highly among the top streaming services for children available. The service is expanding itself even further, allowing parents a sigh of relief as the school year and new fall TV season approach.
PBS Kids
PBS Kids is a free online streaming platform serving toddlers and preschoolers. All content here is kid-friendly and safe. Children will learn lessons about emotional regulation, creative thinking, and problem-solving, with shows focused on science, reading, and more. Standout shows include “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,” “Wild Kratts,” and “Molly of Denali.” It’s a must-have service for anyone with young children.