During the first half of 2023, children’s blocks on generalist channels have progressed, and animated series have maintained their strong positions. In terms of content, trends evolve around creativity and learning, involvement in the community and a more sophisticated content for tweens, according to data from Médiamétrie.
In 2023, animated series consolidated their leading position: they represented 77% of the top programmes over the five countries studied (+5 points vs. the first half of 2022), notably thanks to their significant increase in Spain. Only the United Kingdom saw a drop in animated series, in response to its entertainment programmes’ increase.
Meanwhile, in the first half of 2023, entertainment programmes slightly raised their share compared to the best-performing children's content a year before, ranking now as the second most popular genre after animation (vs. fourth genre in the first half of 2022). In France, “Frogger” and “Lego Masters” stood out, while “Oti’s Boogie Beebies,” “Gigglequiz,” and “Justin’s House” were successful in the UK among children's demos.
Over January-June 2023, 28 new shows (-2 shows vs. the first half of 2022) appeared in the national tops 20 and tops 3 by channel rankings of best performing children programmes, across the five studied countries. Spain asserted its leading position with a total of 11 launches, partly thanks to its main channel Clan. It was followed by France and Italy, with respectively seven and six shows launched. Animation accounted for 20 of the 28 launches. In Italy, Spain and France, content about little monsters was a common theme: for example, “Momonsters” on Rai Yoyo, “Monster High” on Nickelodeon and “Trollstopia” on Boomerang.
There was a relative stability on the top 10 programmes in all five countries. However, “Grizzy and the Lemmings” entered this top ranking for the first time at ninth place. Also, “Bluey” was for the first time the most watched show in the first half of 2023, totaling 46.8 million viewed hours among the children audience, based on linear channels only. “Bluey” is broadcast on both linear channels and Disney+, with complementary viewing patterns. In the UK, for example, “Bluey” reached an average of 1.5 times more children aged between 4 and 9 each month on Cbeebies than on Disney+. However, in terms of viewed hours, children spent 1.7 times more on Disney+ than on Cbeebies.
Furthermore, in 2023, there was an increase of children's blocks on generalist channels compared to children’s channels. On those channels, several kids’ block such as “Okoo” on France 5, “Latte+Cartoni” on Italia 1, and the “CITV” block on ITV1 are achieving significant growth. “Kids blocks on generalist channels have well performed, and linear TV for kids are a good flagship for the shows, completed by the digital offers. Channels adapt their linear and digital strategies according to the countries,” commented Candice Alessandra, Client & Research Manager at Glance.
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In terms of contents, Glance has highlighted three major areas into, across and beyond the “kids-verse.” Creativity and learning is a strong dimension around which programmes have developed. Titles illustrating this category included “Get Set Galactic,” “Lyla in the loop” and “Wildlifers.” Helping to protect the community and trying to fit in marks another popular trend with series like “Mystery Lane,” “Kiya and the Kimoja Heroes” and “Kids on the Block.” The third trend is about offering tweens more sophisticated scripted series. One of the shows representing this last trend is Norwegian thriller series “Husky.”