Image Credit: Nickelodeon/Netflix
The kids’ streaming wars are arguably one of the most overlooked but fiercely fought battlefields, and there’s a lot to be won and lost. With legacy franchises refusing to give up ground and YouTube-native creators making massive inroads, understanding what kids are actually watching — and why — is more complicated than ever.
Today, What’s on Netflix contributor, former Disney executive and independent Kids Media Consultant Emily Horgan released the “H2 2025 Netflix Kids Content Performance Report.” To understand the new data, we sat down (once again) with the report’s author, independent children’s media consultant and former Disney executive Emily Horgan.
Before we discuss some of the questions, some key findings this time around:
Key Findings from the H2 2025 Netflix Kids Content Performance Report:
- new champion:PAW Patrol claims #1 in hours watched with 344M hours watched since its Netflix US debut.
- preschool dominance:Gabby’s Dollhouse remains the dominant force with over 600 million hours watched throughout the year 2025.
- Creator led rise: YouTube-originating Ms. Rachel reached #4, the highest ranking achieved by a new children’s series within its first year on Netflix.
- heritage laughs: SpongeBob SquarePants dominates comedy animation with 143 million hours watched, 40% ahead of its nearest competitor (without US distribution).
You can find more of Emily in her newsletter, The Kids Streamersphereand this The full report is available directly here.
On the development of measuring success
What’s on Netflix (WON): Six Engagement Report, Has your perspective on watching children’s shows changed during this time? Has there been any major development?
Emily Horgan: Why does a data-nerd dream of a question! There’s been a lot of evolution in how we’re approaching content performance within the Netflix Kids content performance report. The first thing, which applies more broadly, is that we’ve moved away from the sum of “scenes” when watching a title with multiple seasons.
Netflix’s “views” metric is fabulistic by nature. When you aggregate metrics, as Netflix itself does, series with low episode counts can lead to ineffective inflation. As a result, we fall back on “hours watched” whenever we are looking at a brand’s performance over multiple seasons. This is the clearest way to determine engagement value. Views are also useful when you’re watching different movies or different seasons.
The other thing we had when we started doing reports was the “Elite Performance Series” designation. This applied to a handful of brands where engagement was so excellent, they dwarfed anything else in the charts, making it hard to discern insights among mid-tier titles (where the learning really happens). As the children’s category, especially preschool, has become more and more competitive, we have dropped this term.
Preschool Battleground: Is the Cocomelon Extinct?
WoN: You noted this in the report of comelan Despite new seasons and spin-offs, the decline is now a multi-year pattern. What do you think is causing this fatigue, and why is a similar YouTube-native show doing so? little angel Looking for a new pace in the same spot? Is it a reputation issue, or something else?
Emily Horgan: The thing with these types of nursery rhyme shows is that they have a very narrow audience. There is limited scope for them to reach older children or hold co-viewing appeal for adults. commelan Certainly, 2023 was on a brand high, aided by COVID. In the scheme of things it’s still a huge, top-tier show.
But I guess the question is whether this type of IP can survive for decades Peppa Pig And paw Patrol to pass? Or should the expected life cycle continue to glow for a robust period, until the next iteration arrives? commelan Did the baton go to him? little baby bomb. Is this the natural thing happening here now? little angel? We’ll be excited to track this in the next round of data.
Crossover Megahit: Kpop Demon Hunters
WoN: We have to ask about Netflix’s biggest hit of the year. Have you seen a movie like that? kpop demon hunter First, on Netflix or otherwise? Why do you think Netflix struggled early on to recognize that it was going to be a megahit?
Emily Horgan: the closest thing we have kpop demon hunter Was Encanto On Disney+, and although we can see that it had a strong performance from a US streaming standpoint, and had a lot of cultural cut-through, for various reasons it didn’t quite reach the level of the franchise. Me and another What’s on Netflix friend, the entertainment strategy boyThere was a back-and-forth on this recently.
I think Netflix struggled to identify this because they aren’t (or weren’t) in the kids’ franchise game themselves. They remain laser-focused on streaming, where a strong launch achieving success in 28 days is the typical benchmark. Children’s franchises don’t always work this way. Often these take more time to make.
Credit: Netflix
franchise blueprint
WoN: A few years ago, you wrote that for us gabby’s dollhouse There should be a blueprint for a Netflix kids show. Looking at H2 2025 data, is this still the case?
Emily Horgan: gabby’s dollhouse It remains one of the best examples of how to intentionally create a kids franchise in streaming. Five years later, DreamWorks is still appearing prominently in keeping pace with the IP, most recently with the theatrical film.
This intention and strategy is very important in the children’s scenario because, as I said, it is highly competitive. You’re trying to take over space from legacy franchises that have dominated for decades. Creating a show or series and assuming viewers will come is risky and wasteful, especially on premium streaming platforms like Netflix where discovery tools are limited. From creative, to distribution, to marketing, to multi-platform activities, gabby’s dollhouse Everything got it right and it still remains the best blueprint for creating a kids franchise on Netflix.