Since its debut, Disney+ has grown at an incredible pace, earning over 86 million subscribers within a year of its launch. With the COVID-19 pandemic hitting worldwide a couple of months after its launch, millions of homebound children watched and enjoyed popular Disney Channel shows like Amphibia and Big City Greens on the new streaming service.
As an outcome, the linear TV channels owned by Disney have seen a drastic decline in viewership. According to a recent report by Variety, viewership of Disney Channel is down 33 per cent, Disney XD is less by 23 per cent and Disney Junior is down 27 per cent.
Internationally, the House of Mouse has also discontinued its kids linear TV channels in the UK, Singapore and Australia, making way for the much talked streaming service. Come 1 January 2021, traditional Disney Channels will shut down across Scandinavia and South East Asia.
Today’s kids are growing up in the VoD era and have every desired content available at their fingertips. This is a major reason why Disney is focusing on its streaming services, mainly Disney+.
However, it’s not just Disney suffering from a decline in viewership for its children’s TV channels. Nickelodeon too is down by 32 per cent. Nick Jr. is less by 17 per cent, and Nicktoons is down by 42 per cent, which is why ViacomCBS is pushing for more of its children’s content onto its own streaming service, CBS access, which will be rebranded to Paramount+ in 2021. Discovery Family, Universal Kids and Baby First TV have also seen small growth.