Sony Pictures Television is looking for its next generation of viewers.
The studio's kids division has launched a YouTube hub called Kidzuko targeted at children ages 3-8 that will offer them (and their parents) free access to some of Sony's kids content. The channel, which went live Thursday morning, features episodes of Sony-produced series Octonauts, The Creature Cases, Peter Rabbit and Chico Bon Bon: Monkey With a Tool Belt, along with clips, compilation videos, educational content and shorts showing how to draw certain characters, among other offerings.
Kidzuko is part of a strategy at Sony Pictures Television -- Kids, headed by Joe D'Ambrosia, to meet young viewers where they are -- which is most often YouTube -- and introduce them to the studio's content.
"The watch time for kids on YouTube is just growing every year," D'Ambrosia, executive vp and general manager for SPT -- Kids, said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "One of the reasons we wanted to launch Kidzuko is today, almost 60 percent of kids are most likely to discover new IP on YouTube, so we knew we had to be there."
Sony will look to expand Kidzuko with more content in the future, and the studio would also like to take the brand to FAST channels and "things like Roblox and other areas where we know that kids are," D'Ambrosia said. But since kids spend about a quarter of all their TV time on YouTube, according to Nielsen, that was the logical place to start.
The name Kidzuko came as the result of market testing with kids and parents, D'Ambrosia said: "We really wanted to pick a very distinct name that was fun for little ones to say. We tested numerous different monikers for the channel, and Kidzuko was the clear winner, because it made kids smile. They giggled and they laughed when they said it, as did their parents."
The YouTube channel is also part of a larger strategy at the studio to create global franchises from shows like Octonauts and The Creature Cases (both of which also stream on Netflix). "We really do want make sure our shows can travel globally in order to be successful," D'Ambrosia told THR. With Creature Cases and Octonauts, those two shows became really huge, breakout hits because they were both great for kids and for co-viewing with their parents. We're always looking for an element of comedy tied in, and we also want it to be playable for kids since kids like to role-play the shows that they see. So we are constantly looking at new ideas and exploring ways to develop some of the really great and iconic IP that's in the Sony library."