Future business, ugly ads and aura farming
Kids are fully immersed in digital ecosystems where YouTube, Roblox, and TikTok aren’t just entertainment—they're identity-building platforms, discovery engines, and IP launchpads.
Welcome back to Fellow Kids, your go-to guide on the elusive and fragmented attention of Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Let’s dive into what’s new, what’s shifting, and what’s just plain wild in kid culture and media.
🎧 Kids = The “Future Business”
Highly recommend listening to this podcast about the future of Kids media and content with leading expert in the GenA space Jo Redfern. If you’re even remotely in the business of media, content, or kids—you’ll want to understand the fully digital world they’re growing up in. Some takeaways:
Key takeaways:
👉 Interest spans > attention spans
Kids don’t have short attention spans. They just have no interest in irrelevant formats or topics. YouTube, Roblox or topics they care about? They’ll engage for hours—if it matters to them.
👉 YouTube = Prime Time
It’s their TV, their search engine, it’s where they learn. And it’s not just on phones anymore—it’s TV. TV is the primary viewing device for YT !
👉 Friction = death
Exclusivity doesn’t build brand equity. Kids want seamless, cross-platform content. Subscriptions? Clunky UIs? If brands and IP don’t show up where they are hanging out, you will be forgotten. *more examples of this below re: Blippi case study
👉 Search = video first
Millennials Google. Gen Z/A search YouTube, TikTok. Period. Google noted their first decline in search.
👉 YouTube is the new IP lab
Cocomelon, Ms. Rachel, Blippi, Pink Fong... all started on YT. Don’t be shocked when Roblox starts being a discovery ground for new IP.
👉 Studios = creators now
If you're not thinking across TikTok, YouTube, streaming, merch, and live - you're falling behind. Creators iterate fast. Media needs to catch up.
👉 No more mass media
Fragmentation is the new normal. Success = serving many pockets of audiences well. Reaching broad audienes will still require numerous entry points. The sum of it’s parts will be what makes things ‘mass’.
😷 The Quarnatine Cohort
Worth a read - the “Quarantine Cohort” uncovers the huge earthquake in development experienced by a subset of the GenZ demo and how it impacts their relationship with the world, one another and how they experience the world.
So much so, that 52% of 12-18 year olds are reporting:
“Digital life is more real than real life.”
This is what she coins the Digital Primacy Syndrome - where humans are experiencing digital as a primary extension of self and the physical world as secondary. This has monumental impacts on how we engage with this group as well as how they experience the world and the institutions around us.
📊 Roblox = Not Just a Game… it’s also a market place
Roblox also reported significant increases in market share and time spend in their Newfronts.
Massive DAUs
211% higher unaided brand recall vs social ads
35x higher attention vs streaming ads
Even if the data is somewhat limited, the takeaway’s clear - immersive experiences deepen engagement and recall vs. more lean back or disruptive advertising. Roblox Q1 2025: Not Just a Game. A Growing Media Powerhouse.
Roblox has also announced that they will be rolling out their in-game marketplace to eligible Roblox creators. Shopify is the first “integrated partner” for the APIs, and if a creator or brand is a Shopify merchant, they can start selling digital and physical goods inside their experiences.
📚 Stream University & Uno Parties
So… Kai Cenat is opening his own “Stream” University. Considering up to 50% of Gen Z want to be professional influencers - this tracks. Courses about the art and business of influencing is not a new one - with Universities like Cornell offering programs in “influencer studies” already… but expect more traditional (high education) and non-traditional (online, brand white labeled learning, paid guides etc) on topics around the creator economy - such as the business of livestreaming cause there are not many signs of this slowing down.
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Also while we’re talking about Kai - he attended and live streamed a Met Gala Uno party (hosted by Pharrell). This is the first time fans got to peak behind the curtains of an exclusive ‘Hollywood’ elite event. The reaction? Not so great… with most calling it creepy and“get out” vibes from the party. Another sign of the disconnect between digital creators and Hollywood elitism.
Gone are the days of early social/ digital creators boom where money would have to come from traditional media validation. Creators have more agency in their careers outside of the traditional ‘Hollywood’ bubbles and ultimately aren’t as reliant on their dollars (or audiences to be seen!) - and as a result - expect to see more digital creators calling out the absurdities of Hollywood and in turn building more trust with their audiences.
🌍 iShowSpeed Goes to China
Last month, iShowSpeed visited China and has been credited for single handedly shifting an entire generations’ perception of the country! Fans say speed has undone decades of ‘American propaganda’.
YT even introduced him at their Upfronts this year - with a brand new ‘series’ on YT called iShowSpeed Goes Pro, which will have him competing against athletes. This show is being produced by OBB media (Sabrina Carpenter’s Netflix Special etc). So, don’t be surprised if this series also windows on Netflix (or is brand sponsored) eventually.
So what?
Unfiltered live streaming = deeper fan trust + cultural influence.
My prediction - YT-native shows will increasingly get windowed to streaming platforms. This works best with Kids verticals (for now) cause of some YT safety concerns and of course, cause of younger audience’s broader definition of ‘content’ and ‘formats’, but this will continue to evolve. I would NOT be surprised to see episode-like formats with built in audiences from YouTube to be windowed on streaming platforms such as Mark Robers Crunch lab or PinkFong, or even BebeFin on Netflix in coming years.
📺 “What is TV?”
In 2025, digital video will account for 60% of total video ad spend. YouTube is the biggest player, and it turned 20 this year ! 🎉
TL;DR: YouTube doesn’t need Hollywood, they have a never ending pipeline of Creator content. Hollywood needs YouTube’s audience. The increasingly fragmented distribution will require an equally fragmented content offering. Hollywood needs to realize it’s not a black and white but a continued grind for relevance. If your brand, talent, or IP don’t get put in front of our audiences when and where they want it- you’ll be replaced. Hollywood, studios, and networks are competing with everyone and anyone with a computer and internet (don’t even get me started on GenAi)!!
👓 Blippi is everywhere
Blippi is going to Disney World! Blippi and his friend Meekha dropped a 40min special on May 15th and will roll out 4 additional weekly episodes on YouTube in partnership with Disney - showcasing the Walt Disney World parks and Disney Cruise Line.
Blippi is a YT grown franchise and continues to lean into fragmentation - with distribution across numerous streaming services - Netflix, Amazon Prime, Peacock, Roku, YouTube and now Disney. Blippi has a remarkable footprint beyond their streaming content too - with a live tour, merchandise, digital products/games/Roblox, localized language adapts, licensing (Scholastic) and more. Blippi is owned by Moonbug (Candle Media) and in my opinion, the only kids franchise that conitnues to take a social, digital and most importantly ‘everywhere’ approach that is most frictionless for audiences.
Blippi is rewriting the franchise playbook for the new generations of parents (and kids). From a content pov alone - they are not beholden to the traditional network exclusivities - they have different shows across different platforms (ex. Blippi’s job show on Netflix or Blippi’s toys on YouTube). They also have different episode formats (not beholden to the traditional lenghts etc.) and operate YT channels organized by audience interest (toys or education etc.) rather than against lines of business. They also have a deep awareness of the larger kids and family creator environment with big collaborations with Ms.Rachel or T.A.B.B.S (and more) - as well as integrating spinoff characters like Meekha in ways that allow for sharing outside of their core subscribers and audiences. Brands like Blippi understand that audience crossover is a necessity (even if they aren’t all owned by one entity *cough, unlike traditional media).
The takeaway? You cannot rely on a single product or piece of content. You must continue to reimagine your offering - everywhere the audience is.
🧠 Follow the Memes
Memes are by definition an expression of culture and most of it doesn’t include any references from traditional Hollywood: (this should be a 🚩)
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Kids are recreating digital creator memes: most of them based off of internet creators OR old millennial memes
F*** piece of bacon (an old David Dobrik sketch) or even the Ice Bucket Challenge (AGAIN!)
The memes are uniquely based in internet, digital video, influencer/creator culture
Not my name quarterback (based on a line from Noah Beck in Sidelined QB and Me, a Tubi movie) And fun fact- the IP comes from another UGC platform called Wattpad. Very random things like this too - hyperpigmentation.
Slang often manifests and/or is Game Culture
Aura Farming (example here), chicken jockey, gurt (examples here)
Surrealist humor, AI animation & trends
❤️ N is for Sesame Street
YAY! Great news - Sesame Street will be coming to Netflix, running day and date on PBS and the PBS Kids app. This is such wonderful new for the kid in me and for kids everywhere!! This continues to be a smart move by Netflix, once again retaining something with both strong cultural and trust value with parent audiences. As much as I love our general audience crime thrillers and films of the week - I truly believe that the foundation of a strong streaming/ entertainment platform relies on the gateway through kids programming. I have no concrete data to support this (at the moment), but a strong library (especially for kdis!!) can mitigate churn and value per minute. Of course, this is just my hypothesis, but we can dig in more on this in the coming weeks.
😵💫 Ugly Ads & Private Reels
As AI-generated content floods our feeds, people are starting to crave the real, raw, weird stuff. The things that show “proof of human”.
Expect a rise in:
“ugly ads’ The rise of AI is also going to create a counter paradox of raw, unfiltered, authentic ads.
Private content sharing (hello, Instagram’s “private Reels” + close-friends features)
Micro-communities as a way to create mass reach
Because the most powerful content? Is the one that feels personal and real.
🔮 Looking Ahead
📌 Every brand and creator is in the entertainment space.
📌 Video is the discovery and search engine.
📌 Be everywhere all at once. If you're not frictionless, you're forgotten.
📌 Gen Alpha is growing up fast—and their idea of ‘traditional’ media or TV is YT and social.
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*I want to sincerely appreciate everyone who has subscribed thus far. This was originally intended to be a bi-weekly or monthly edition, but I’ve been having so much fun, we’ll see if I can keep up with a weekly. Please do not hesitate to reach out and say hi!!
“Don’t be shocked when Roblox starts being a discovery ground for new IP.” Fully agree! This is something Gamebeast is helping countless companies identify, so hopefully we’ll be hearing about these down the pipeline!
Thank you so much for the shout out!