Say hello hello to Again! Again! Gearing up to launch next month, this new YouTube channel is the brainchild of Acamar Films (Bing). It’s meant to provide families with a digital preschool destination driven by public-service values—that is, character and narrative-driven programming that promotes healthy development in kids. 

To emulate the look and feel of a TV channel, Again! Again! will feature regular livestreams, as well as presenters who help create smooth transitions between content titles. And CEO Mikael Shields says Acamar is looking to acquire high-quality catalogue programming for kids spanning live action, animation, music, factual, natural history, exploration and interactive. 

Since Again! Again! is a global channel, titles (including older ones) are welcome from anywhere in the world, but the team is only licensing English-language content at this stage. Producers/distributors interested in pitching should reach out via email to hello@againagain.tv.

The channel’s lineup will be curated by an advisory board including former ABC Australia and BBC Children’s programming executive Michael Carrington, child development expert and kids content advisor Natascha Crandall and BBC/Nickelodeon UK alum Debbie Macdonald. “We’ve developed a children’s checklist that brings together MESH, STEM and child-centric values,” Shields says.

Again! Again! will license content on a non-exclusive basis, and there’s a “well-designed revenue-sharing model” in place. Shields notes that Acamar will fund production, presenting, channel management, promotion, acquisitions, educational assessment and program selection. “We will not charge any commission,” he says. “We will cover our share of net revenue 50:50 with our content owners—assessed by proportionate share of running time within livestream or compiled programming.” 

Acamar has plenty of experience with managing channels and building engagement—to date it has launched more than 65 YouTube channels in 33 languages across 130 territories. 

The UK-based company also takes a uniquely gentle approach to channel strategy. “We know experts advise that a new YouTube channel requires fast music-based ‘dopamine sugar’ content to help it thrive. We profoundly disagree,” Shields tells Kidscreen. “We’ve proven that gently paced, audience-centric, high-quality programming with a patient ‘tortoise strategy’ can build a huge channel and algorithmic prominence,” he says, noting that Acamar’s channel network has generated a billion views in the last four months.

And while this clearly won’t be a Bing channel, there are plans to “include Bing in age-appropriate areas,” he says. “The algorithm will respond to that by increasing prominence for all adjacent programming.”