International Kids Channels Thread

[2 quid is good]

Blame Sony for POP Max and the binning of Kix, blame Narrative for the weird choice of turning Tiny Pop into a FAST channel. Weird choices all around, huh.

Ohhh believe me, I definitely blame Sony. I know a lot of people like to prop them up and say that they saved the Pop channels, but honestly, those channels were always gonna get to this point of popularity organically. If anything it might have taken a bit longer but it would mean Kix and Pop Girl might still be around in some capacity.

Again - I know Pop Girl has some weird bad rep surrounding it from people outside the demo - but speak to any viewer of the channel and they'd tell you they loved it. This is from every era of that channel btw, it honestly feels like cutting "The Spotlight" strands was serious sabotage in the guise of "embracing trends". "The Spotlight" WAS embracing trends!

Not to mention how by 2015, every single CSC kids website was a serious shadow of itself. No avatars, no leaderboards, no comment sections. Netflix did get popular at this time in the UK but not "well we can definitely stop appealing to the girls 8-14 demo" popular!

We can all keep saying as much as we like that "trends were moving away" but the facts are that viewership of these channels only increased year-on-year. Much of the content Pop Girl aired is stuff that's not very easy to find on 1-2 streaming services NOW let alone in 2015. The fact is, Pop etc had made a good ecosystem for itself that catered all the way up to the Teen market. They willingly chose to abandon that market - for what, I'm not sure as Linear was still king up until very recently, and if any kids channel was in a good position to fight that trend it was these channels.

We're seeing it play out again in real time with Pop. Instead of bothering to fight for it, they're throwing in the towel already. Despite having a huge market share and doing BETTER now than a decade ago, they're clearly ready to give it all up. Why?

We know Kids like doomscrolling Youtube and Tiktok but that's not even good for US, let alone THEM. Isn't there anyone in the commercial Kids TV market that's doing this from a place of care?

I honestly feel the time is perfect for a new player/existing channel to seriously rebrand and take control of the market by offering some serious interactivity and baller line up for kids. As recently as 2022 kids in primary school would talk about shows on CBBC, CITV and Pop/Tiny Pop but that primary school market is fading soooo fast.

IDK, maybe I'm delusional or too optimistic but I fully believe the opportunity is there to create a small, but loyal and dedicated fanbase amongst kids for a good linear tv channel

 

[harry580]

I feel like sony wasted a great opportunity of making pop their own nickelodeon/cartoon network/disney channel

 

[themidnightlore]

I see! Maybe, Narrative is falling in the same trap that Sony fell in, doing disasters (while believing that would improve POP).

My issues with Sony are way way different. My issue is that they closed two okay channels (AXN Italy and AXN Sci-Fi Italy, that also was the last one of its type, maybe if they still were around, we still could have another Sony-operated AXN?) for jump into the DTT... With disastrous results.
Cine Sony Italy and POP Italy lasted very short. And POP was a blur, no one even remembers it (well, almost no one. The LCN it used, 45, was quite a strange one. And someone did a series of video essays on that, linking all three parts, not only the one related to POP Italy. You can see that they did their research, as they do even name Narrative... and that oddity of POP Pakistan.)

 

[Review Metabee]

Ohhh believe me, I definitely blame Sony. I know a lot of people like to prop them up and say that they saved the Pop channels, but honestly, those channels were always gonna get to this point of popularity organically. If anything it might have taken a bit longer but it would mean Kix and Pop Girl might still be around in some capacity.

Again - I know Pop Girl has some weird bad rep surrounding it from people outside the demo - but speak to any viewer of the channel and they'd tell you they loved it. This is from every era of that channel btw, it honestly feels like cutting "The Spotlight" strands was serious sabotage in the guise of "embracing trends". "The Spotlight" WAS embracing trends!

Not to mention how by 2015, every single CSC kids website was a serious shadow of itself. No avatars, no leaderboards, no comment sections. Netflix did get popular at this time in the UK but not "well we can definitely stop appealing to the girls 8-14 demo" popular!

We can all keep saying as much as we like that "trends were moving away" but the facts are that viewership of these channels only increased year-on-year. Much of the content Pop Girl aired is stuff that's not very easy to find on 1-2 streaming services NOW let alone in 2015. The fact is, Pop etc had made a good ecosystem for itself that catered all the way up to the Teen market. They willingly chose to abandon that market - for what, I'm not sure as Linear was still king up until very recently, and if any kids channel was in a good position to fight that trend it was these channels.

We're seeing it play out again in real time with Pop. Instead of bothering to fight for it, they're throwing in the towel already. Despite having a huge market share and doing BETTER now than a decade ago, they're clearly ready to give it all up. Why?

We know Kids like doomscrolling Youtube and Tiktok but that's not even good for US, let alone THEM. Isn't there anyone in the commercial Kids TV market that's doing this from a place of care?

I honestly feel the time is perfect for a new player/existing channel to seriously rebrand and take control of the market by offering some serious interactivity and baller line up for kids. As recently as 2022 kids in primary school would talk about shows on CBBC, CITV and Pop/Tiny Pop but that primary school market is fading soooo fast.

IDK, maybe I'm delusional or too optimistic but I fully believe the opportunity is there to create a small, but loyal and dedicated fanbase amongst kids for a good linear tv channel

Kix was a pretty ambitious channel prior to 2015... Shows such as Medabots, Oggy and the Cockroaches, Spider Riders, Roswell and Zorro Generation Z to name a few. Around the time of the Sony buy-out the diversity of the channel was pretty much gone they focused more on "comedy" and all the action stuff was moved to Kix Power (which was just Power Rangers episodes at that time) all of the action-centered shows were gone by 2016 besides Dinosaur King and the earlier mentioned Power Rangers (which FLOODED the 5pm-10pm slots by the latter half of 2016).



Pop on the other hand, I pretty much stopped watching in 2016 and only came back when they introduced old Pokemon seasons in 2019... They had a good after school lineup which i would tune into in 2015. When I was in primary school, Pop was a popular channel to watch

 

[Francisque]

It made absolutely no sense to shut down Tiny POP and not POP Max

There are many many parents who couldn't care less or even choose to boycott streaming for toddlers, and prefer the linear approach

Preschoolers are literally some of the most linear loyal audience around

 

[Review Metabee]

It made absolutely no sense to shut down Tiny POP and not POP Max

There are many many parents who couldn't care less or even choose to boycott streaming for toddlers, and prefer the linear approach

Preschoolers are literally some of the most linear loyal audience around

Not to mention Tiny POP had a 0.15% share in December 2021 (according to the BARB viewing) where as POP Max had about 0.02%. If that isn't good enough evidence that POP Max should of been taken off the air instead of Tiny POP then I don't know what is.

 

[RegularCapital]

I think Tiny POP was taken off conventional TV and made the move to FAST for a real test to see if FAST is the right move, they've noticed a lot of viewership via LG, Samsung etc. Whether Tiny Pop returns or not will be based on how sustainable FAST is to maintain an audience over a period of time.

 

[aegisrawks]

Ohhh believe me, I definitely blame Sony. I know a lot of people like to prop them up and say that they saved the Pop channels, but honestly, those channels were always gonna get to this point of popularity organically. If anything it might have taken a bit longer but it would mean Kix and Pop Girl might still be around in some capacity.

Again - I know Pop Girl has some weird bad rep surrounding it from people outside the demo - but speak to any viewer of the channel and they'd tell you they loved it. This is from every era of that channel btw, it honestly feels like cutting "The Spotlight" strands was serious sabotage in the guise of "embracing trends". "The Spotlight" WAS embracing trends!

Not to mention how by 2015, every single CSC kids website was a serious shadow of itself. No avatars, no leaderboards, no comment sections. Netflix did get popular at this time in the UK but not "well we can definitely stop appealing to the girls 8-14 demo" popular!

We can all keep saying as much as we like that "trends were moving away" but the facts are that viewership of these channels only increased year-on-year. Much of the content Pop Girl aired is stuff that's not very easy to find on 1-2 streaming services NOW let alone in 2015. The fact is, Pop etc had made a good ecosystem for itself that catered all the way up to the Teen market. They willingly chose to abandon that market - for what, I'm not sure as Linear was still king up until very recently, and if any kids channel was in a good position to fight that trend it was these channels.

We're seeing it play out again in real time with Pop. Instead of bothering to fight for it, they're throwing in the towel already. Despite having a huge market share and doing BETTER now than a decade ago, they're clearly ready to give it all up. Why?

We know Kids like doomscrolling Youtube and Tiktok but that's not even good for US, let alone THEM. Isn't there anyone in the commercial Kids TV market that's doing this from a place of care?

I honestly feel the time is perfect for a new player/existing channel to seriously rebrand and take control of the market by offering some serious interactivity and baller line up for kids. As recently as 2022 kids in primary school would talk about shows on CBBC, CITV and Pop/Tiny Pop but that primary school market is fading soooo fast.

IDK, maybe I'm delusional or too optimistic but I fully believe the opportunity is there to create a small, but loyal and dedicated fanbase amongst kids for a good linear tv channel

I just learned Pop Girl has been slandered and I will not stand for it. ABSOLUTELY NOT. Thanks for telling me.

 

[Review Metabee]

I just learned Pop Girl has been slandered and I will not stand for it. ABSOLUTELY NOT. Thanks for telling me.

It was a VERY creative channel and for it's time. Although I didn't watch it I can admire it for it's creativity. A shame outside of it's demographic never caught on

 

[aegisrawks]

It was a VERY creative channel and for it's time. Although I didn't watch it I can admire it for it's creativity. A shame outside of it's demographic never caught on

A channel doing great with its demographic? Shut it down immediately, the suits say!
So sad, I know people frown on "Girls Only channels" but without them, every single channel sans Disney Channel is just boys club. Much lip service is given to equality of gender but girls hardly see themselves on tv on any channel that isnt Disney.

 

[themidnightlore]

A channel doing great with its demographic? Shut it down immediately, the suits say!
So sad, I know people frown on "Girls Only channels" but without them, every single channel sans Disney Channel is just boys club. Much lip service is given to equality of gender but girls hardly see themselves on tv on any channel that isnt Disney.

Same here... But with teen oriented channels. (Stares to the original concept of AXN Spin and Sony Spin)

 

[Review Metabee]

Does anyone remember when Kix shows started moving to Pop's late night schedules back in 2017?

 

[PrevueLovesAnimeTV]

I think Tiny POP was taken off conventional TV and made the move to FAST for a real test to see if FAST is the right move, they've noticed a lot of viewership via LG, Samsung etc. Whether Tiny Pop returns or not will be based on how sustainable FAST is to maintain an audience over a period of time.

they got rid of it to make room for Great! Real

 

[themidnightlore]

they got rid of it to make room for Great! Real

They still could have used POP Max for that. (Also, as a liker of useless FTA channels that air true crime content, I'm happy that Great! Real exists. I got my Sony Crime revivial. Kinda.)

 

[Review Metabee]

A part of me misses the Sony era of POP, they would air movies from moviemix and vice versa on POP...

 

[Moleoman]

From July 1, MiniMini+ will extend its broadcast hours to 2:00 a.m. (until then it closed down at 9:00 p.m., though there is still a 9:00 p.m.-9:30 p.m. hole in the schedule). The new night hours will be filled with "Pikwik Pack", "Bing", "Gabby's Dollhouse", "Les QuiQuoi" and two Barbie movies: MiniMini+ - Program TV na Poniedziałek 1.07.2024

 

[Review Metabee]

Woah! For the first time since 20 years the network will take back the night!

 

[JulianRO]

They could have turned it 24/7, considering that there is only one hour and a half closedown, but it's still better than nothing.

 

[Francisque]

For me, preschoolers operation might well have a shut down "off time", since at one point, preschoolers aren't supposed to be watching TV

But I understand everything's different now: there's just so much choice these days outside of linear channel

Back in the oughties and 90s, many preschoolers channels in general would have a sign-off, and it somehow added a charm to them and a few other channels in general, especially some channels who would put up interesting slides

 

[2 quid is good]

A channel doing great with its demographic? Shut it down immediately, the suits say!
So sad, I know people frown on "Girls Only channels" but without them, every single channel sans Disney Channel is just boys club. Much lip service is given to equality of gender but girls hardly see themselves on tv on any channel that isnt Disney.

We only have BARB to go off on and Pop Girl was pulling similar numbers to Kix - until Kix started airing Power Rangers. Again, the channel's viewership didn't drive off a cliff - it just wasn't increasing as fast as their other channels. Seeing how Narrative haven't shut down Pop Max yet, I'm inclined to think they would have kept Pop Girl.

And let's not act like Pop Girl was some simpering "gurls 4eva!!xoxo" channel, it had an identity, it had a live action presenter who hosted "The Spotlight" and made content that viewers were interested in or requested. Pop Girl was one of the first channels to get interviews with One Direction before they went global, and NONE of their programming was as dull as any generic Disney channel kidcom that came out during that time same period. Sure they acquired like almost all of their programming but there's nothing wrong with that as long as you package it well - and they did! It's very rare to get programmes aimed at girls that aren't condescending, and even rarer to get a whole channel that pulls it off well and treats their audience with respect.

I think we should all seriously appreciate the Pop channels for what they pulled off from 2004-2014. Just a short 10 years and they managed to get increased viewership, 2 dedicated channels for a tween/teen audience, and did it all with a healthy respect for their viewers.

I remember in 2013 when Kix seriously kicked up a gear with what they offered, airing X men Evolution, Justice League, the Batman, Wolverine and the X Men, Inazuma Eleven, Transformers Cybertron, Bakugan, Yugioh Zexal, Power Rangers. And ofc, Dragon Ball Z. I'm sure i'm missing something but this lineup absolutely rocked and had me watching Kix right til I was 15. I was genuinely excited for the future of the channel.

I still can't believe how they cocked it all up.