How Bluey killed Sesame Street

“This is not a refusal of Sesame StreetAND Sesame Street He’s not going away, “he said.” But we absolutely have the responsibility to change while the world around us is changing if we want to continue to deliver our mission “.

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Sesame Street He has been broadcast since 1969, making him one of the longest -lived programs on television. The organization behind it – originally called The Children’s Television Workshop – has already hit the financial winds. Just a decade ago, DVD sales collapsed. They were a key source of revenue and sesame workshop was to look for an anchor of salvation.

It was then that HBO, who had just debuted with an autonomous streaming service, paid the license tax from $ 30- $ 35 million to broadcast new episodes and episodes and specials in back-Library, two people with knowledge of the agreement.

The allowed manna Sesame Street To add episodes every season. PBS, which had aired Sesame Street From the beginning, he would therefore transmit them many months after they appeared on HBO.

The agreement started the dispute, but gave its financial fruits. Also in 2022, Sesame Workshop generated $ 271 million revenue and over $ 20 million profits, according to financial modules.

The end of the HBO agreement, however, coincided with a big change in the streaming sector. Wall Street dried in pursuit for subscribers instead of profits, leading companies to reduce the shopping. The peak TV era died, the number of new shows that have been precipitated and a contraction at the sector level has taken hold.

When Max, HBO’s streaming service, announced his intention to abandon Sesame agreement last year, his managers said that children’s planning was no longer “fundamental for our strategy”. Instead, Max made a two-year agreement of $ 6 million a year to transmit non-exclusive backy backy episodes, according to internal documents.

In April, the managers of the Sesame workshop met the main streaming companies to start negotiations for a new distribution agreement. The managers anticipated to reach one within several months.

But the reality of the post -peak television environment became quickly evident and the temporal sequence was rejected several times. Almost a year later, Sesame Workshop remains under discussion with the main streaming players such as Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Prime Video, according to internal documents. It is also in discussions with other stores such as tubes, Roku and PBS.

Even before the search for a new distribution partner, Sesame Workshop had recognized that it was to make changes for a rapidly competitive and deeply competitive landscape.

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The 56th season of Sesame streetIt will come into production next month and will be renewed. The show will drop its traditional format similar to a magazine in favor of three segments: two 11 minutes stories to open and close a show and a shorter animated feature in the middle. The show will also try to increase comic elements, music and animation.

Sesame Workshop has discovered that parents trust and respect Sesame Street But that children love a show like Blue Because it is more likely to provide larger laughter and lead them to play after the end of an episode, according to internal documents. Children are also engaged with brands and shows such as PAW Patrol, Mouse clubhouse, Pago Paspa, Baby frame, Cocomelon AND Blip more than Sesame Street Last year.

Then there is YouTube, which is flooded in the contents of children, partly of high quality and most of it.

Pediatric and media experts for children give Sesame Street High signs for his commitment to educate children with each episode.

“The environment around the Sesame seminary is changing in such a dramatic way that what they are doing and doing well may not be desirable as something that gives you a faster success of dopamine,” said dr. Michael Rich, director of the Digital Wellness Lab of the Boston children’s hospital.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.