Owners of character-based properties for children have recently been investing in the creation of robust YouTube channels that support their properties with new content and reach their young consumers in a place where they spend significant time. Examples of licensors that have recently launched, relaunched, or expanded YouTube channels or multi-channel platforms based on their […]
Archive | Content
Crossover Events Age Down
By Karen Raugust on June 30, 2025 in Character/Entertainment, Content, Demographic groups, Licensing
In the character and entertainment world, crossover events pairing two different universes have long been regular occurrences in sectors such as comic books, superhero movies, and tween and adult sitcoms and dramas. This technique has historically been rare in the preschool and younger elementary-grade landscape, but that has changed in a big way in the […]
Classic Toons Assist in the Classroom
Owners of character properties, mostly of the classic variety, continue to forge deals that bring their IPs into PreK-12 schools by way of educational content. Some of the efforts are targeted toward families at home, too, but all have at least some presence in school systems. In the past, such tie-ins would have been perceived […]
Language Learning Through Licensing
By Karen Raugust on January 2, 2025 in Celebrity, Character/Entertainment, Content, Digital, Education
Language-learning apps have been entering into promotional deals with licensed properties for close to a decade, with many of the partnerships having a content component. Properties involved tend to skew toward character/entertainment and celebrity IP, although there are other examples as well. For the language-learning platforms, such pairings spur sampling and potentially new subscriptions, while […]
Read All About It
Read-alouds of licensed books have become key components of the YouTube channels operated by owners of kids’ character and entertainment properties. The read-aloud genre, which consists of video productions depicting children, celebrities, or other narrators reading published books, one per episode, saw a boost during the pandemic lockdowns and has continued to thrive. The experience […]
Scrolling Through Webtoon Opportunities
By Karen Raugust on February 8, 2024 in Character/Entertainment, Content, International, Licensing, Publishing
Webtoons, or webcomics, are digital comics designed to be read on a smart phone, with consumers scrolling vertically to progress through the panels. The market got its start in the early 2000s and has exploded in the last few years, both in the medium’s country of origin, South Korea, and in other countries such as […]
Casting Children’s Characters In Podcasts
The market for podcasts featuring children’s favorite characters in original audio storytelling continues to grow. Just this year, IP owners in the children’s entertainment space—including some of the biggest names—have launched new productions: Disney jumped into the original children’s podcast market for the first time with Forces of Nature, a 12-episode Frozen podcast released during […]
The Value and Variety of VTubers
By Karen Raugust on June 22, 2023 in Celebrity, Character/Entertainment, Content, Digital, International, Licensing
Consumer interest in VTubers (“virtual YouTubers”)—which got their start in Japan in the mid-2010s—has expanded significantly since the start of the pandemic, both in these digital influencers’ country of origin and abroad. VTubers are anonymous creators who use motion-capture and other technologies to create an animated avatar, usually anime-like in style, that does everything a […]
Cakes, Cookies, and Competitions
In the unscripted TV world, competition shows and how-to shows about baking have been two vibrant sectors for some time now. Both genres intersect in a growing list of competitive baking shows, from The Great British Bake-Off (The Great British Baking Show in the U.S.) to Nailed It!. And companies involved in licensing have been […]
Controversial Content Through A.I.
Artificial intelligence has long been used for a variety of purposes, from automating contract reviews to personalized shopping to voice assistants, and it holds promise for much more. Lately, with the advent of consumer-friendly A.I. chatbots, image-generators, and other tools, such as ChatGPT and MidJourney, A.I. is increasingly—and more controversially—being utilized to develop and produce […]