Fifty-five years ago, preschoolers were captivated by the TV performance of a fuzzy blue monster, two striped shirt-wearing best friends and a big yellow bird.
Today, in the now-crowded field of children’s media, one big-headed, animated toddler named JJ is running to the top.
Born from YouTube, JJ and his friends in the animated kids’ franchise “CoComelon” represent a new wave of children’s programming. Focused on songs, bright colors and a world with no sharp edges, “CoComelon” has become a children’s media juggernaut, spawning spin-offs, video games, toys, a live tour and a story-time podcast. Although its multimedia approach to kids’ content has helped expand its audience, it has also raised questions about screen time and what kind of content — if any — very young children should be watching.
Reflecting on the brand’s growth, CoComelon General Manager Patrick Reese said the company is thoughtful about the needs of its young audience and its own legacy in children’s media.
“We very much stand on the shoulders of giants in this space, like ‘Mr. Rogers’ and ‘Sesame Street,’” he said. “If you learn to be kind and open in those early years, if you learn that growth mindset way of thinking, that becomes your behavior for the rest of your life. And if we can create an environment and create these various shows and these various different streams of content that just make the world 1% kinder, 5% kinder, 10% kinder … we’re going to seize that opportunity.”
“CoComelon” has indeed taken the lucrative kids media market by storm.
In 2023, “CoComelon” ranked fifth on Nielsen’s list of top 10 overall streaming programs, bested only by the legal drama “Suits,” the Australian animated series “Bluey,” the long-running procedural “NCIS” and the medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy.” Beyond its presence on Netflix, the brand also commands massive engagement on its native YouTube.
“CoComelon” producer Moonbug Entertainment declined to share financial results for the franchise, but parent company Candle Media said Moonbug was the biggest and most profitable piece of its business, which also includes actor Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine production company.
The market for kids entertainment is “massive,” said Brandon Katz, senior entertainment industry strategist at Parrot Analytics. “It boasts probably the best re-watchability rates of anything in the market. What that represents is an incredibly long tail of engagement for whatever that one project cost.”
The genesis of “CoComelon” dates back to 2006, when commercial director Jay Jeon and his wife, a children’s book author, posted their first video to YouTube of a short cartoon played to music — alphabet-related animations that stemmed from videos they made to entertain their own sons.
By 2017, the videos had started to center on a toddler named JJ with a single blond curl. By 2020, “CoComelon” was the most-watched YouTube channel in the world, with more than 3.5 billion average monthly views, and had attracted potential suitors.
That year, it was acquired by the London-based Moonbug Entertainment, which also bought fellow YouTube children’s program “Blippi.” A year later, Moonbug was acquired by Candle Media, led by ex-Disney executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, for a reported $3 billion.
For “CoComelon‘s” Reese, who has worked on the franchise since 2018 and saw the dealmaking frenzy, the effect of the acquisitions has been stark.
There is now “CoComelon Lane,” a streaming series on Netflix that follows the adventures of JJ and his friends. In September, Moonbug released a live-action YouTube spin-off called “CoComelon Classroom,” which stars National Teacher of the Year awardee Juliana Urtubey as Ms. Appleberry. In the video series, Urtubey teaches lessons about letters, sings songs and interacts with an animated JJ.
Much of the creative team works at Moonbug’s office near the Grove in Los Angeles’ Fairfax district. A wall with three shelves’ worth of “Blippi” and “CoComelon” toys greet visitors.
“We’ve been able to grow so much faster,” Reese said. “We probably would not have been able to create all of these different shows, create all the different franchise moments that we’ve created, expanded consumer products and goods in the same way.”
But the franchise faces stiff competition in the preschool entertainment space from “Bluey,” which has generated 587 million hours of viewing through July, compared to 218 million hours for “CoComelon” and 45 million hours for “CoComelon Lane,” according to Nielsen data.
That disparity could be due to the difference in how “CoComelon” and “Bluey” are perceived, particularly by parents. Adults will readily admit watching “Bluey” with their kids, noting how the family dynamics feel real and relatable.
But “CoComelon” does have about a 50% co-watching rate with adults, said Staggs of Candle Media. Mayer said he and Staggs have been thanked by parents for their work on “CoComelon,” which provides relief and emotional stability for their kids during times of stress.
“It’s heartwarming, it’s easy to digest,” said Nancy Jennings, a professor at the University of Cincinnati and director of its Children’s Entertainment and Education Research Lab. “There’s not a lot of dialogue that you have to follow, and with the songs too, a lot of the characteristics of the show are attractive to kids in general.”
But even kids’ media is not immune to Hollywood’s recent struggles. Last year’s dual Hollywood strikes and the upheaval in the industry has touched nearly every company in the industry, including Candle Media, which is backed by Blackstone.
“Candle Media has come through a very difficult time, as the rest of the industry has … but as a whole, we’re profitable,” Mayer said. “And Moonbug is the main driver of that, and is, in and of, itself, very profitable too.”
The company must also grapple with concerns about children’s screen time.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that families avoid screen media, other than video-chatting, for children younger than 18 months, and that children ages 2 to 5 should get only an hour of screen time a day. The primary audience for “CoComelon” is kids ages 0 to 4.
Research, though largely correlational, has shown that heavy exposure to screens at early ages is associated with inattention and impulsive behaviors, said Drew Cingel, an associate professor in UC Davis’ communication department who directs the university’s human development and media lab. Programs with bright colors, repetition and songs grab hold of children’s attention, he said.
“There are 24 hours in a day, and when you’re a developing child, there’s a lot of things you need to do in those 24 hours in order to get you the inputs you need to develop normally and healthfully,” he said. “Anything that takes up a sizable portion of those 24 hours can displace the time that could be spent practicing these developmental capabilities.”
Reese said that the company works with educational consultants and that there are ways for families and children to interact with “CoComelon” beyond screen time, such as through books and live tours. The company says it takes seriously its responsibility of teaching and entertaining children for the amount of time they spend with “CoComelon” content.
“It’s for every family to decide for themselves what their level of comfort is with any activity,” Reese said. “We want to create the best environment and the best tools, and the most entertaining, enriching content that we possibly can. And use us how it makes you happy.”
Every episode must incorporate music and life skills, said Rich Hickey, chief creative officer. A so-called story trust meets weekly to discuss ideas, and themes revolve around milestones and lessons that families experience on a regular basis.
“You really want to meet kids and families where they’re at,” said Hannah Kole, senior development executive. “We really want to make sure that those are relatable experiences that we know kids are going through.”
That can include bath time, eating vegetables or experiencing something new for the first time.
“Every day, we’re reminding ourselves that we’ve got a responsibility to a huge audience, globally,” Hickey said. “We’re trying to make a meaningful connection, that parents and caregivers will trust us that we’re going to make content that’s enriching and warm and safe for their children.”