To quote its theme song, can you tell us how to get to Sesame Street?
Sesame Street, the iconic children’s television show that hits generations of adults right in the nostalgia, is looking for a new distribution partner, placing a giant question mark over whether there will be new episodes after this year.
Warner Bros. Discovery announced last month it would not renew the show’s contract with HBO and its streaming partner, Max. The show first aired on what would become PBS in 1969 and started airing on HBO in 2016. In 2020, new episodes moved off HBO to stream on HBO Max, since renamed Max.
The upcoming 55th season of Sesame Street this month will be the last to debut on the streamer, according to Variety, although Max will continue to license old episodes from the Sesame Street library through 2027.
The decision comes as Max pivots from children’s content toward adult and family programming, the New York Times reports.
Classic characters Big Bird, Elmo and Cookie Monster are looking for a new home after HBO Max ended its partnership to air new Sesame Street episodes, forcing Sesame Workshop to look for a new distribution partner.
“Based on consumer usage and feedback, we’ve had to prioritize our focus on stories for adults and families,” a Max spokesperson told the Times. “And so new episodes from Sesame Street, at this time, are not as core to our strategy.”
CBC News has reached out to Warner Bros. Discovery for comment.
But this shift away from kid’s programming isn’t unique. Worldwide, there’s been a decline in children’s shows on traditional television, Craig Reed, executive director of the Tucson-based consulting firm TRAC Media Services, told CBC News Network last month.
“And that’s not Sesame Street’s problem. That’s just the way it is,” Reed said.
Networks Nickelodeon and Disney watched their ratings fall about 90 per cent between 2016 and 2023, according to Nielsen ratings reported on by The Wrap, Instead, kids are turning to YouTube, according to Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge, which reported that in the month of July, kids and teens made up 28 per cent of YouTube’s massive ratings.
In a statement to CBC News Network, Sesame Workshop, which produces the show, said it was looking forward to announcing new distribution plans in the coming months, “ensuring that Sesame Street reaches as many children as possible for generations to come.”
A change in platforms
Aimed at pre-schoolers, Sesame Street created Muppets like Elmo, Big Bird and Cookie Monster that have become cultural icons around the world. The show has won more than 150 Emmy awards and is broadcast in some 140 nations.
But in recent years, children’s television programming has become a tough sell. And what’s happening with Sesame Street is representative of the challenges faced by kids content creators, J.J. Johnson, co-founder of Toronto-based kids programming creator Sinking Ship Entertainment, told CBC News Network.
“Sesame Street has kind of become a little bit of the canary in the coal mine,” Johnson said. “Kids are obviously watching on different platforms. And so how do you find them where they’re at?”
Meanwhile, YouTube offers an endless stream of shows like Ms. Rachel, Blippi and Cocomelon, TV reporter Kayla Cobb told CBC’s Commotion podcast last month. YouTube content is also quick to produce, flashy, easily accessible, and available on phones or tablets, making it more appealing to kids and their parents, she said.
“So it’s just a lot of factors that have come together to make this the new reality.”
That’s why Johnson says he thinks YouTube would be a “beautiful companion home” for the show.
“I would hope that YouTube is reaching out to them as someone that arguably has the largest kids audience.”
What happens now?
The end of its partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery doesn’t mean the end of the show. As Sesame Workshop noted, it plans to announce new distribution plans.
The New York Times reports that other contenders to pick up Sesame Street could include Apple TV+, Netflix and Amazon. Apple, for instance, already had a deal with Sesame Workshop where it aired three seasons of its show Helpsters.
And old episodes of Sesame Street are still available to stream on several platforms, including YouTube.
But to no longer have new episodes would be a massive loss for families around the world, Reed said. Part of what has always made Sesame Street so valuable is its up-to-date element, he explained, and how it tackles current social and cultural issues in ways kids can understand.
Some say Julia’s character is a more realistic portrayal of an individual with autism than most of the roles we’ve seen from Hollywood.
“That educational element, that entertainment value, that interest of what’s currently happening in the world and in people’s lives would be lost by using just older shows,” he said.
Reed didn’t want to speculate on who might pick up the show, but he said he was hopeful it would continue to move forward in some way.
“Sesame Street has been an astounding performer over the years,” he said, noting that through his many years in the business, it has always been a top ranked show, even as other children’s programming has come and gone. “Sesame Street just keeps cranking along.”