[Flux]

Absolutely, and I am not trying to say that my era or your era are better or worse than any other era. If my Grandad were alive, he'd probably say that Children's entertainment went down the drain when Watch with Mother was introduced. Nostalgia is a funny thing like that. Kids today will remember streaming their equivalent of 'my childhood TV'. I am just saying that it seemed like, when I was a kid (Born 1997, and stuck with kids TV up until 2010-2011), we had a lot more to choose from, and there were a lot of options that kids these days don't have.

I think that’s partly because you’re expecting those choices in the wrong places (i.e. Where they used to be!)

Kids today arguably have way more choices than were available in the 2000s, 90s, 80s (without a doubt the best era for kids TV ) or earlier and it’s available any time at their fingertips through apps, websites and streamers. That’s why more traditional forms of broadcasting - mainly linear channels or broadcasters - are struggling to find an audience with children.

CBeebies continues to thrive because it’s the parents who switch that on, and there’s always an ease in having a linear channel full of wholesome/worthy output for kids of an age where they aren’t yet tech savvy or independent. Turn it on, leave it on, the child will watch whatever plays. Older kids don’t sit and wait in the same way, they want to pick and choose. As soon as my (now 5 year old) nephew was old enough to understand his tablet, I hardly ever saw him watch a traditional channel again. He chooses to watch or interact with whatever shows or games take his fancy on a whim. iPlayer and CBBC are still a part of his repertoire, but he doesn’t see them any differently to content churned out on other services (See YouTube’s Blippi as a prime example).