It’s been several months since the US government cuts, and PBS KIDS now has a clear picture of how hard the org has been hit. And it’s looking to form new partnerships and work with the kids industry in creative ways as a way to survive and thrive.

Over the summer, President Donald Trump’s administration axed all funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which was the largest single source of financial support for public media in the US. As a result, the CPB shut down in August. The government also killed the Ready to Learn grant, which had funded PBS KIDS content for 30 years. PBS typically got 15% of its annual budget from federal funding, so the cuts were deep—but not ruinous, since it also relies on grants, donations and corporate sponsorships.

As a result of losing its government funding, PBS KIDS had to cut roughly 30% of its workforce, says division head Sara DeWitt. It also retired 20 apps, removed 14 games from the PBS KIDS Games app and pulled 78 from the PBS KIDS website. And it had to scrap all research in the works, and pause all R&D. (This work often led to learnings about how kids consume media and was the basis for new experiments like the pubcaster’s interactive Lyla in the Loop episodes.)

Previously, PBS KIDS could deliver one or two new series a year. But now, it’s not entirely clear what sort of capacity it has for development, says DeWitt. Prior to the cuts, PBS KIDS would map out how much funding from Ready to Learn a show could get, how much PBS KIDS could contribute, and what the producer could bring to the table. Now DeWitt’s team has to be more flexible: “We are open to a much wider variety of ways of acquiring and developing content.”

“We are going to continue to have new content rolling out, but what’s at risk right now is that development pipeline because we don’t have a perfect sense of what our funding situation is going to be,” she explains. “It’s harder for us to do that long-term planning, and that’s where we’re fundraising in a different way right now and really trying to think about how we continue to serve this mission of bringing high-quality content to kids.”

The org is looking to commercialize and drive revenue in new ways that it didn’t have to explore when it had federal funding support, she notes. PBS Distribution continues to sell series, including home video rights, which does recoup some money.

PBS KIDS is also open to new kinds of partnerships, especially in gaming. “The games have always been primarily funded through our federal funding and without much commercial exploitation,” DeWitt notes. “Are there opportunities there? We are talking to potential partners just to think about what else we could do in the game space that would be a revenue opportunity for us.”

Another challenge the pubcaster has been quietly battling is the exaggerated news of its demise. A YouGov research study conducted this fall found that 17% of the US public believes PBS KIDS is shutting down. So on top of everything else, part of its strategy has to be focused on telling the industry it’s still here.

Expect to see marketing for new shows focusing on discoverability in a much greater way, with messages like: “How can you find us?” And the org will be highlighting that the PBS KIDS app is free to download, says DeWitt. It all comes down to making it clear to viewers that they’re the ones who keep PBS KIDS afloat, now more than ever.

“Yes, we had federal funding and that was a big chunk and it’s going to change what we do,” she says. “But viewers are in fact the primary funder of PBS.”

Sara DeWitt, head of PBS KIDS, says the org is exploring partnerships in games, and new ways to drive revenue, as it adjusts to losing government funding.

More than anything, DeWitt’s team wants the industry to know there are still good opportunities in partnering with PBS KIDS. She says its videos continue to average 14.6 million viewers every month, in addition to 41 million gameplays on its website, and another 42 million on the app.

“We have a tremendous audience,” she says. “And I think because we are non-commercial, those numbers aren’t always as obvious to everybody in the industry. But we have this huge reach. We can bring a lot of possibilities to producers.”

Another bit of good news came just ahead of US Thanksgiving, when PBS KIDS received 20 Children’s and Family Emmy Award nominations.

The channel premiered original series Weather Hunters in September, and it has had a strong reception with its take on teaching kids about the weather, DeWitt says. Next up is Phoebe & Jay (pictured), another original IP from relatively new creators Genie Deez and Thy Than. It’s set for a February launch.

“We may not be greenlighting as often as we have in the past, but we still are thinking about how we can meet the needs of kids today,” says DeWitt. “We need to be telling stories about digital literacy and AI literacy and helping kids navigate those worlds. We’re really committed to continuing with that kind of storytelling.”