Young audiences, with their well-documented multi-screen skills, are a strong part of Asia’s streaming mix. ContentAsia’s new Kids Online study asked streaming/online platforms about their children’s slates. Here’s what they said...

More than 70% of streaming/on-demand platforms in Asia offer a healthy percentage of kids programming, according to ContentAsia’s new Kids Online report.

Almost 67% said they had both commissioned some content targetting children for their platforms and intended to commission more in the next 12 months.

Animation is by far the most popular genre. Others, including live action, factual and music, trail at less than 20%.

Exclusive rights to kids shows aren’t showing up as a priority for online/streaming services in Asia. Just over 53% of platforms said they didn’t require exclusivity on their kids titles. Less than 10% said all their content was exclusive.

Asked what they would most like to see next, 47% of platforms put their hands up for more Asian production targetting kids. That topped the desire for lower licensing fees, which came second with 33%.

The study comes against a backdrop of experimentation – and more than a little success – across multiple platforms for kids creators in Asia. These include everything from a new kids channel on emerging markets streaming platform iflix to a new YouTube channel, nxTOONS, from Taiwanese animation house Next Animation Studio.

NOTES: The information was gathered from 14 online platforms that offer kids programming in Asia, including the on-demand/channels streaming services of traditional pay-TV platforms, country-specific platforms and regional operators. Respondents included one kids-only platform (Hopster). The others were all general entertainment platforms streaming a wide variety of content. Respondents were from China, Japan, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Hong Kong and regional platforms covering multiple markets. The survey was conducted between 28 July and 15 August 2017.

Published on Issue Four of ContentAsia's inprint+online (7 September 2017)