With orders for new shows, specials and movies from some of Cartoon Network’s biggest franchises – including Ben 10, Teen Titans Go!, and The Amazing World of Gumball – HBO Max is working hard on children’s and family content in an effort to compete with top players like Netflix and Disney Plus.
At the heart of WarnerMedia’s plans to make HBO Max a mandatory streaming service for families, like Disney Plus and Netflix, is “revealing” Cartoon Network as the family’s flagship brand at WarnerMedia. The new series and specials ordered for HBO Max will join a library of programs and films that total 3,000 hours of content. Branding is important – and difficult – but it is what works for a studio like Disney. Disney Plus is built around its largest franchises, including Pixar, which makes it easy to sell to families. Leaning on the Cartoon Network, which already has a dedicated hub on the HBO Max homepage, and producing more content, WarnerMedia probably expects some families to spend more time on HBO Max instead of Disney Plus.
Children’s content is a hot commodity and it’s not hard to see why. A August 2020 Morning Consult study found that YouTube and Netflix were ranked as the top two platforms on which children ages 5 to 12 spend time. Approximately 65% of children choose YouTube as their favorite entertainment source, while 55% choose Netflix. At the same time, cable networks like Nickelodeon are losing much of their audience – seeing an almost 50 percent drop in their audience between 2015 and 2020, according to Forbes. While the audience on cable TV decreases, the time that children spend on the screens is very, very high. They are getting directly from streaming platforms and applications like YouTube or TikTok.
Another study found that about 55 percent of families are interested in having two subscription-based streaming services (think of two premium subscription services, like Netflix and HBO Max). If companies are trying to figure out how to scale their streaming platforms and then keep those subscribers, giving families everything they need in one place is crucial. Streaming platforms should be something for everyone when everyone is looking for something. This is especially true now, when people are stuck at home trying to keep themselves and their family entertained.
For HBO Max, the platform most associated with TV shows and films aimed at adults, it is more difficult to convey the message of the “family”. AT&T CEO John Stankey told a virtual audience during a Wall Street Journal conference that part of the new job of the head of content for HBO and HBO Max, Casey Bloys, was to find a way to allocate spending on content, which “will affect the whole family”. While HBO orders teen-oriented programs, such as Euphoria It is the next Generation, Cartoon Network (and programs like Sesame Street) will likely have a greater presence on HBO Max.
WarnerMedia isn’t the only company trying to find that out, either. Today, Apple announced a multi-year deal with Skydance Animation, which will include feature films and family-oriented programs. YouTube announced that its YouTube Kids app has over 35 million weekly viewers and is giving parents more personalization power to allow children to watch even more on the app. Netflix has a Tim Burton Wednesday Addams series that is likely to find a teen and teen audience. Finally, next week, ViacomCBS will unveil its streaming service Paramount Plus, including a conversation about how Nickelodeon and family content fit into the company’s strategy.
WarnerMedia has the right tools to be a leader in the children’s and family space as well. Cartoon Network is an IP treasure. Add to Sesame Street, Looney Toons, and streaming rights for the Studio Ghibli collection in the United States, and there’s a lot for kids and families to watch. This is beyond Warner Bros. films, HBO shows and more. The only problem that WarnerMedia still faces with HBO Max is getting that message across. Again, families know what they are getting with Netflix and Disney Plus – what they get with HBO Max is not always so obvious.