Long gone are the days of Disney Channel saying something along the lines of “new episode at 8/7 central” like we understood what that meant as seven-year-olds.
With today’s kids born into a world of streaming, YouTube, and TikTok, primetime viewership of kids’ TV has fallen 76% since 2017, per Variety.
Interestingly, despite the declines, almost every kids’ network has seen affiliate revenues — the share of cable bills that goes back to networks — grow by double-digits, totaling $3.1B last year.
- Since 2017, affiliate revenues for Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Disney Channel have grown 19%, 31%, and 19%, respectively.
Disney Channel, for instance, brought in $1.1B in affiliate revenue last year. Though linear TV is increasingly outdated, expect media companies to ride this positive impact to their bottom lines as long as possible.
BTW: The best innovation in kids’ cable TV this decade, by far, is the NFL on Nickelodeon. It’s incredible.
