By India McCarty
BLIPPI is officially part of the Netflix family, with new series BLIPPI’S JOB SHOW.
“We’re still obviously investing in BLIPPI as a core franchise that’s going to be on YouTube and other platforms, but what we’re doing with this show is trying to make something that’s going to be very specific and unique for the audience that we know Netflix has,” Courtney Holt, the managing director at Moonbug Americas, told The Wrap.
Moonbug Entertainment produces and distributes many popular children’s shows, including COCOMELON, LITTLE ANGEL and the animated version of BLIPPI.
“We think that we’re going to fulfill a lot of great demand for kids and parents really looking for something magical and premium in the live-action space,” Holt said of BLIPPI’S JOB SHOW.
Blippi GM Mike Katzman added, “We really want to do things that we know work for the character set, work for the platform and ultimately are going to give us the best expression of a show that’s going to work for the target audience, which is kids and their caregivers, because we want to make this show as impactful as possible.”
He shared that BLIPPI’S JOB SHOW will “focus a bit more than usual on the socio-emotional learning side of things, because jobs have different values. So we’re able to talk about, ‘What does bravery mean?’ if we have an episode on a firefighter, or creativity or doing your best. These are some topics that we reinforce in the episodes through the jobs” (trailer via YouTube).
So, could this mean more BLIPPI shows on Netflix in the future? Moonbug hopes so.
“We hope to continue to do bigger, better with them,” Holt said. “I think what I really appreciate about working with them is the spirit of collaboration. There’s a lot of symbiosis of how we think about family and reaching them. I really think that their kids and family team is best-in-business when it comes to understanding what their platform needs are and communicating that super clearly.”
Related: New BLIPPI’S JOB SHOW ‘Fuels Kids’ Curiosity’ About Careers
This move to bring BLIPPI to Netflix is the streamer’s latest move to compete with YouTube, the popular — and free — video site.
“We clearly do compete with YouTube in certain segments of their business, and we certainly compete with them for time and attention, but our services also feed each other really well,” Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos said in 2024.
A recent report from Variety noted YouTube is Netflix’s “most formidable opponent,” and a 2024 shareholder letter from Netflix devoted a large section of their report to YouTube.
“Netflix and YouTube compete for people’s time and attention,” the letter read, explaining that the two platforms are currently competing for “a larger share of the 80%+ of TV time (primarily linear and streaming) that neither Netflix nor YouTube has today.”
Netflix’s new partnership with BLIPPI and Moonbug will surely drive viewers to the streaming service — and possibly help them finally pull past YouTube for good.
Read Next: Will YouTube Win the Streaming Wars?
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