CHILDREN’S VIDEO PROGRAMMING:

INTRODUCTION + STRATEGIC POSITIONING

Prepared by Therese Moriarty, August 2017

 INTRODUCTION

The ABCs and 123s of Kids’ Video

In this report, we’ll analyze data from the
top-performing content in children’s video
programming.*

Through our analysis, you will gain a solid

introduction to some of the major players,
trends, and themes in the genre.

You will also get recommendations on how to

enter this market and position yourself as a
competitive creator in the space.

Any person under the age of 13 qualifies as being

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* a child.
 CONTEXT

Some Metrics Explained...

Throughout this report, we will reference the following metrics in our discussion of successful
children’s video programming:

VIEWS A fundamental metric of video, a view is essentially a video start. (Not to be confused with a "resume" action that
occurs after a video is paused.) The total view count for all the top videos we analyzed is 21,851,603,184.

ENGAGEMENTS Engagements are a measure of overall viewer interaction with the video. They are inclusive of likes, comments,
and even tweets. The total engagement count for all the top videos we analyzed is 129,088,361.

ER30 This is an engagement rating that's assigned to a video after its first 30 days of being live. The average ER30 for the
top videos we analyzed is 0.51x.

INFLUENCER SCORE This measurement is calculated from a creator’s audience engagement, reach, number of subscribers, and channel
activity. The average influencer score for the top creators we analyzed is 523.14. The minimum is 431.64, and the
maximum is 567.88.

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 CONTEXT

How Children Watch Video

Children’s video programming tends to
generate high view counts, but its ER30 rates
are usually low by comparison.

Researchers speculate that this is because

children are more inclined to watch videos
over and over again. They could also be less
resistant to continuous play and more open to
viewing related content that they did not
actively seek out.

This behavior is important to consider when it

comes to measuring the success of content
that targets children.
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 EXPLORATION

About the Data...

The data we analyzed reflects the viewing activity of children’s video programming across YouTube, Facebook, and
Instagram between 11 May, 2017 through 8 August, 2017.
May 11, 2017 until August 9, 2017.

05 / 22 VIEWS BY PLATFORM
 EXPLORATION

Views and Engagement Activity

YouTube dominates in views, but Facebook and Instagram generate a significantly higher proportion of engagements.
They also produce stronger ER30 rates, which is likely due to their nature as social media sites.

Avg. ER30 0.46x Avg. ER30 1.05x Avg. ER30 0.57x

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 EXPLORATION

Global Activity
YouTube accounts for 91.7% of all viewing activity in the data set we analyzed.
The US claims 55.9% of of children’s video programming views on YouTube.

07 / 22 TOP 10 YOUTUBE VIEWS BY COUNTRY

EXPLORATION

View Times
Viewers tend to consume longer-form children’s video programming on
YouTube compared to Facebook and Instagram.

MEDIAN DURATION OF TOP-PERFORMING VIDEOS

638 secs 71 secs < 60 secs*

Instagram duration is not reported in the data set,

* but the platform’s video limit is 60 secs.

 EXPLORATION

Top 25 Topics Across Platforms*

Looking across YouTube, Facebook,
and Instagram, general topics like
entertainment, hobbies, and music
are predominant in popular
children's video programming.

More specific/niche topics begin to

emerge like Frozen, Pokémon, and
LEGO — all of which are names that
also show up in popular keyword
searches.

Bubbles sized according to the view counts of their

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* topics.
 EXPLORATION

Top 25 Keyword Search Values Across Platforms*

The top terms viewers entered to search for children’s video programming.

Bubbles sized according to the search frequency of

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* their terms.
 EXPLORATION

Top 5 Most Viewed Creators

Fun Toys Collector

CREATOR Ryan ToysReview LittleBabyBum Masha and the Bear Family Fun Pack
Disney Toys Review

YOUTUBE TOTAL VIEWS 14,764,914,732 13,760,203,259 13,187,715,332 12,529,268,907 10,205,301,989

YOUTUBE SUBSCRIBERS 8,619,267 12,011,534 9,352,520 10,805,896 5,539,626

INFLUENCER SCORE 563.67 555.34 516 542.39 551.02

Toy reviews featuring

A behind-the-scenes
Classic nursery rhymes products from from A Russian-language
Toy reviews for kids by a look at a real American
DESCRIPTION get the 3D animation Disney, Pixar, animated series about
kid! family with 5 children
treatment Nickelodeon, Play Doh, the original folk tale
under 13
and more

OTHER PLATFORMS — —

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 EXPLORATION

Top 5 Most Viewed Creators

Un Sentimiento
CREATOR Eh Bee Cute Babies Zitu The Holderness Family
Llamado Amor

FACEBOOK TOTAL VIEWS 1,736,414,832 307,215,180 300,975,784 264,586,639 219,143,718

FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS 11,357,962 8,746,250 1,272,744 928,867 4,438,384

INFLUENCER SCORE 559.61 — — 465.12 —

A Vietnamese-language
A behind-the-scenes A behind-the-scenes A Spanish-language page
A collection of UGC page dedicated to
DESCRIPTION look at a real Canadian look at a real American dedicated to “feel good”
videos featuring infants children’s lifestyle
family with 2 children family with 2 children lifestyle content
content

OTHER PLATFORMS — — —

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 EXPLORATION

Top 5 Most Viewed Creators

CREATOR Eh Bee LEGO Nickelodeon Pokémon Turma da Mônica

INSTAGRAM TOTAL VIEWS 51,713,665 35,321,736 31,971,064 17,205,057 554,671

INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS 1,778,803 2,182,941 2,376,255 1,276,149 123,752

INFLUENCER SCORE 559.61 522.32 565.19 538.12 546.15

A behind-the-scenes Official content from the

Official content from the Official content from the Official content from the
DESCRIPTION look at a real Canadian Brazilian comic-book
toy manufacturer cable network video game series
family with 2 children franchise

OTHER PLATFORMS

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 EXPLORATION
Creator Trends Across Platforms
After examining the Top 5 creators for each platform, some general themes in children’s video programming
take shape...
Product reviews by Ryan
ToysReview and Fun Toys
Collector prevail with animated
content from LittleBabyBum and
Masha and the Bear. The blogger
family Family Fun Pack
rounds out the Top 5.
YouTube has the most diverse
short-list of successful creators.
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Blogger families Eh Bee and The
Holderness Family rank alongside
"feel good" content from
international publishers like Cute
Babies, Zitu, and Un Sentimiento
Llamado Amor.
The viewers on Facebook show a
preference for more personal,
intimate material.
Eh Bee re-surfaces on Instagram
with a strong lead in views over the
other rankings. Otherwise, the
most popular content is from
well-established brands like LEGO,
Nickelodeon, Pokémon and
Turma da Mônica.
Instagram is where existing shows
get a second (or third!) life.
 POSITIONING

Set Yourself Apart

Based on our analysis, we recommend the following tactics to
Adopt a MPV Strategy
develop your own children’s video programming and enter
the space.

Keep It Short.
These suggestions should allow you to produce effective
content at scale, with a broad reach and mass appeal. The
medium is also flexible enough to optimize for different child Game On.
demographics.

Get Animated!

Think Globally.

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 POSITIONING

Adopt a MPV Strategy

OPTIMAL ASPECT RATIO BY PLATFORM
Many of Top 5 successful creators distribute content across
more than one platform — yet only 10.1% of all top
performing content creators do this. Learn from the Top 5 and
adopt a multi-platform video strategy to get an edge in the
space.

16 : 9
Developing your content to work across YouTube, Facebook,
and Instagram may seem daunting, but it can actually be done
efficiently. Simply produce your videos in different aspect
ratios to achieve a “quick win” in this area.

A multi-platform video strategy will not only extend your

reach, it can also elevate your influencer score in return. 1:1

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 POSITIONING

Keep It Short.
Children’s video programming has a tendency to generate
high view counts, so capitalize on this behavior by producing
short content. Shorter videos yield higher completion and
replay rates, thus promoting more views. Retain your viewers
by serializing content and organizing it into playlists.

Keep your videos under 60 seconds so they can run in full on

Instagram, and not just YouTube or Facebook. This approach
also cuts down on production time and resources.

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 POSITIONING

Game on.
Gaming is a popular genre in children’s video programming,
so you can take advantage of this trend by gamifying your
content. You can even make this feature a part of a narrative.

Although none of these platforms offer interactive video

players, you can mimic interactivity in a way that promotes
retention, completion, and replays. Even a simulated
interaction can lead to more views.

Singer Namie Amuro invites viewers to interact with her video

by touching their screen with their finger. This is a clever (but
simple) ploy to engage viewers and it works on any platform.

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 POSITIONING

Get Animated!
Animation is a long-standing kid favorite and it’s a medium
that children clearly want to consume. Just look at the success
of Masha and the Bear and all the search words for Frozen.

While the genre is popular on YouTube, it’s under-explored on

Facebook and Instagram. And a lot of the available animation
is re-purposed from existing shows. Distinguish yourself by
offering something that’s original and native to these
platforms.

Animation that uses more “visual” storytelling would also work

well on mobile devices — which commonly play video on mute
by default.

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 POSITIONING

Think Globally.
Another advantage to animation is that it can be easier to
localize for other markets. Simply dub the voice track in
different languages to acquire an international audience.

Although the English-speaking countries account for more

than half of all views for top-performing YouTube videos,
many other countries are active consumers of children’s
video programming — especially Russia, Spain and Brazil.

You can even broaden the appeal of your animated storyline

by avoiding cultural references that some viewers may not
understand. One way to accomplish this is to use a fantasy or
SciFi narrative that does not reference a specific region.

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OUTREACH

Connect with Your Audience

Carefully plan and tease the release of your content, but be sure to keep the momentum going after it launches.
Here are some marketing strategies you can borrow to acquire your target audience and drive them to your content.

Strategic Cross Public Influencer Paid

Planning Promotion Relations Marketing Promotion

Launch your content at
the most opportune, least
competitive time of year.
Go live at the ideal time of
day.
Promote your content Partner with a relevant Collaborate with a Set up paid campaigns via
across all of your owned publisher to prepare compatible influencer YouTube TrueView
and operated media (e.g press coverage around who has a big following and/or Facebook Ads to
your websites, social your content. that fits your target target your desired
media properties). audience. audience.
Thank you,