The children’s content business is being squeezed from two sides at once. Traditional broadcasters are ordering fewer titles, while YouTube-first owners and creator-led channels are consolidating their hold on how kids’ IP gets built and financed, according to research Ampere Analysis presented at MipJunior in Cannes.
Subscription streaming is becoming a bigger revenue line, but that growth is not translating into broad kids’ commissioning. Ampere forecasts global subscription OTT revenue of US$174bn in 2026, ahead of pay TV at US$163bn, with other online video advertising at US$292bn. Net subscriber additions have slowed from 270 million in 2020 to a forecast 110 million in 2026, after a brief recovery to 160 million in 2024.
Traditional commissioning keeps shrinking
In the 12 months to H1 2026, public broadcaster kids’ orders fell 9%, from 406 to 371, Ampere found. Pay TV orders dropped 40% to 74, while commercial free-to-air orders slipped 16% to 62. SVoD was the only segment to grow, rising 22% to 88 orders, though that is still well below the 196 recorded in the 12 months to H1 2022.
Animation is under more pressure. Non-PSB commissions of kids’ animation fell from 172 in H1 2022 to 67 in H1 2026, while public service broadcaster commissions inched up from 61 to 69. Ampere puts the overall animation decline at a 13% compound annual rate. Cyrine Amor, senior research manager at Ampere, said traditional animation financing is now “increasingly propped up by PSBs globally.”
YouTube is the new ownership layer
Ampere tracked 250 kids’ channels with more than 10 million subscribers, carrying around 300,000 hours of content; 80% of them are preschool channels. The ownership structure looks nothing like the legacy kids business. Digital specialists and animation studios control 55%, while individual creators or families own 23%. Major US studios and SVoDs account for just 2%.
Branding follows the same shift. Thirty-one per cent of these channels are branded around show or franchise IP, 29% around a creator or family name, and only 9% carry a company name. Amor called this “new rules for building distinctive channel brands.”
Meanwhile, the big streamers are leaning on older library content. In Netflix’s US kids’ catalogue, the share of content first released in the previous five years fell from 48% in July 2022 to 36% in July 2026. Prime Video dropped from 22% to 11%, and Disney+ from 23% to 13%. Exclusivity is also loosening: the share of Netflix kids’ hours held non-exclusively with other global streamers rose from 17% in January 2023 to 21% in July 2026, mostly franchise IP from Nickelodeon and toy brands.
Buyers are chasing creators, not just catalogues
The deal flow is moving toward YouTube-first names. Netflix’s 2026 list includes Alan Chikin Chow, Salish & Jordan Matter, Stokes Twins, Danny Go, Steve & Maggie, BabyBus and ChuChu TV; Disney+ has added Gracie’s Corner, Like Nastya and Pocket Watch; Prime Video has struck deals with Pinkfong and Pocket Watch.
Amor’s warning for producers: “the bar is now higher for kids’ IP to stand out.” The path forward, she argued, is to treat YouTube as an audience-proving ground and to bring downstream revenue lines into the financing mix much earlier.
- Diversify beyond commissioning — use wider kids’ brands and non-media partners to fund development.
- Bring merchandising, music, live experiences and cross-IP collaborations into the financing plan earlier.
- Use YouTube to build a demonstrable audience, then convert that into commissions, licences and other financing.
- Balance local relatability, which PSBs want, with international portability that global platforms can scale.
For buyers, the numbers point to a market where Gen Alpha accesses 14 media services per week, 18% above the average, and where gaming, YouTube and music each serve different needs. The gap between what kids watch and what legacy commissioners order is not closing on its own.
Source: C21media
