Thirty years after Kidscreen launched, the evolution of kids entertainment feels less like a straight line and more like a series of sharp turns. Some were obvious at the time. Others only made sense in hindsight. And a few are still unfolding. 

Platforms have risen and fallen. Business models have stretched and snapped. And through it all, kids kept moving faster than the adults trying to reach them. But one thing has remained true through it all: This industry never stands still for long.

Every day for the next week, we’ll be marking Kidscreen‘s 30th anniversary by looking back—and looking ahead. To launch this series, we reached out to the leaders of the industry—many of whom have been featured in our pages since the very beginning—to get their perspectives on how far the business has come, and how they plan to embrace whatever comes next.

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What would surprise your 1996 self most about where the industry is now?

Agnes Augustin, president and CEO, Shaw Rocket Fund: My younger self would be amazed at how dramatically kids’ roles have evolved, from passive viewers to active creators shaping the stories and experiences they consume. Back then, children were limited to watching what broadcasters offered. Today they use technology to engage, influence and drive content across every platform. While content is still king, kids today are the emperors.

The world of content is now limitless, with endless opportunities to create meaningful experiences for young audiences. We still need to ensure that kids have access to and can discover quality content, but it’s exciting to have the means to create new ways to engage and inspire them. 

Julien Borde, president, Mediawan Kids & Family: My 1996 Disney Channel scheduler self would be utterly floored by anime’s global, mainstream dominance—a true cultural titan that’s no longer niche! But the real jaw-dropper is the emergence of AI in animation. The notion of computers assisting artists, generating designs or creating entire sequences would seem like pure science fiction.

My optimism for kids content and animation remains strong. Animation’s presence on every streaming service is undeniable, yet established evergreen IPs often benefit from algorithm recommendations. However, daring new ideas are breaking through in new ways, forming vital connections with kids and families. This proves that good ideas truly come from everywhere: Content is king, data is queen, and ‘glocal’ is the secret sauce. 

Ayo Davis, president, Disney Branded Television: Young people have always shaped culture, but what would have surprised me then is how fundamentally their behavior is now driving the entire industry. Today’s kids move seamlessly between formats and expect worlds to be available everywhere. That kind of fluid engagement has pushed all of us to think in ecosystems, not episodes—broadening how stories are built, sustained, marketed and shared. 

What keeps me optimistic is that even as technology and platforms change, children’s curiosity and wonder never do. They’re engaging with stories in smarter, more dynamic ways, which pushes us all to innovate. Great content always breaks through, and today we have better tools to understand what kids respond to. 

When you combine strong creative instincts with real behavioral insight, there’s enormous room to build characters and franchises that last a lifetime.

Amy Friedman, founder and president, Redhead Consulting: What would thrill my 1996 self is how much choice, control and community kids finally have! Back then, we tried to engineer that with all sorts of creative hacks, but technology finally caught up with ambition. 

What might trouble that younger me is how difficult discoverability has become—reaching kids at scale is now quite the puzzle. Obviously, two sides of the same very valuable coin. 

Athena Georgaklis, freelance executive producer (formerly with Nelvana and Teletoon Canada): What happened to television? I loved TV…I watched it all the time. I was so enthralled with appointment viewing—gathering with my friends to watch what now are the classics. There was a sense of community when sharing time with the people you love to laugh at the same fun content. And for a while, I was hard-pressed to find it again…until I looked a little closer. Until I watched my teenager during the pandemic share screens with her friends on FaceTime while they watched some soapy reality TV together. Or when I could hear my younger kid arguing, laughing and playing with his friends on Roblox, as if they were in the same room. 

The delivery system has changed dramatically, and that would have seemed impossible to my 1996 self, but the experience is the same. Sharing ideas, reactions, emotions and experiences is still important.

I have always focused on who our audience is and encouraged my team to do the same. If we all have the same end goal, to entertain and ultimately put a smile on a kid’s face and heart, our day-to-day tasks will fill our soul. 

Michael Levine, children’s learning & media expert (formerly with Noggin and Sesame Workshop): The 1996 me would be floored by the sheer abundance: Kids now carry a global studio in their pockets, with tens of thousands of shows, channels, games and creators just a swipe away. But I’d be just as shocked that discovery and quality control have gotten harder, not easier—parents are swimming in choice while many of the biggest platforms feel like a digital Wild West. We traded guided choices with limited doses for chaos, while trusted brands—not parent agency—became the most valuable currency in kids media.

The next frontier is co-creation with guardrails: Kids using AI, games and immersive worlds not just to consume stories, but to make them and connect them to real-life passions while learning to be critical, ethical and resilient digital citizens. Done right, this is a golden age of creativity and personalized learning. Done wrong, it’s disturbing manipulation and more inequality. 

Tatiana Kober, president, Bejuba! Entertainment: I wouldn’t have thought that so little regard would be put on children, considering they’re our future, or that the broadcasters would be so risk-adverse. Broadcasting should be focusing on this area because it is easier than ever to target kids and parents by marketing to them through all available media platforms. Children need strong programming and attention-building content. I wouldn’t have thought it would be such a struggle!

However, I see our business as cyclical. The buying will come back from broadcasters. I do think that as creators and distributors, we have so much power right now to be gatekeepers ourselves and to build content using focused campaigns that include L&M and direct marketing campaigns from the onset. We also see brands as buyers breaking through to attract audiences.   

Roz Nowicki, global head of consumer products, Miraculous Corp: My key takeaway is ‘compression.’ It began in the ’90s in retail, product categories and age demos. Regional retailers that failed to innovate either perished or were acquired by larger competitors. Video games—both handheld and console—emerged, capturing kids’ attention and stealing shelf space from traditional toys, accelerating their growth out of dolls and action figures. 

This shift likely fueled the rise of ‘kidult’ trends, as children quickly aged out of toys and now seek to recapture nostalgic aspects of their youth that flew by too quickly.

I am inspired by the rich content in the market today, emphasizing messaging around empathy, teamwork and caring for our world—themes that resonate with both kids and parents, and more importantly, that encourage kids to act. In the case of Miraculous, I want to create licensing programs reflecting the compelling content we create that encourages kids to feel like they can be a hero and make a real difference in the world. Kids today are more aware than ever of global issues, and they genuinely want to contribute to positive change. That gives me tremendous optimism for the future generations. 

What has been the biggest creative risk that paid off in the industry?

Evan Baily, president, Consolidated Baily: If you define ‘the industry’ as traditional players only, I’m surprised at how little innovation there has been in formats and genres. But if you draw the circle more broadly (YouTube, vertical video, video games, apps, podcasts, plus all the stuff kids are watching/playing/listening to that isn’t made for them), there’s been an explosion. 

And that’s nothing compared to what’s coming. AI will usher in an era of hyper-tailored content, further empower creators, and collapse the boundaries between formats. We need to invent new business models that align with what’s coming—or at least catch up to what already is.

Craig McCracken, animation producer, Warner Bros. Animation: Trusting artists. The creator-driven era that started in the late ’90s and early ’00s ushered in a new wave of talent and cartoons that still is felt today. I grew up in the ’70s and ’80s, when there were no contemporary cartoons made by individual creators— everything was a toy commercial.

In this era where success is defined as ‘phenomenon or nothing,’ there is so much fear of not succeeding that the testing and data has become the rule, and there is not a lot of room for gut instincts anymore. But from my perspective, true phenoms are totally unique and stand out; they’re like nothing that came before.

What does “kids entertainment” mean today that it didn’t 30 years ago?

Keith Chapman, founder, Keith Chapman Productions: Kids entertainment is more sophisticated and varied than it was 30 years ago (when I first assigned my Bob the Builder rights to HIT Entertainment back in 1996). Today, there are many more TV shows, movies and games to choose from. The storylines are more advanced, less patronising, more diverse, more inclusive. The animation is more advanced, too, with more exciting action.

It’s been a tough market selling original content these last few years but I’m optimistic that 2026 will see a change.

Linda Simensky, Cinema & Media Studies lecturer at University of Pennsylvania (formerly with Duolingo, PBS KIDS, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon): If someone told me in 1996 that streaming gamers and unboxing videos would be kids entertainment in 30 years, I probably would have hoped they were joking. On the other hand, it also means new approaches such as immersive experiences, and I’m excited about those.

Good storytelling and humor have been around since humans could communicate. We still need these to make sense of the world. And they’ll always be a part of entertaining kids.

What’s been the biggest creative risk that paid off in this space? Trust. That’s the best bet we’ve made. Trusting artists, writers and show creators to make creator-driven series.

How has your personal philosophy about kids audiences evolved?

Margie Cohn, president, DreamWorks Animation: My personal philosophy has remained the same: We have a mission to fuel kids’ imaginations with relatable, engaging and entertaining content that provides joy, laughter, community and thought. 

Kids still attach to characters and stories. They want to get immersed in imaginary worlds through series, movies, imaginary play, games and experiences. This seemingly doesn’t change—although how content is delivered continues to evolve.

Patrick Egerton, co-founder and chief content officer, Cheeky Little Media: The change from linear to on-demand viewing has been a societal coup, transferring power to the audience to decide what they watch, where and when—and the impacts of that are still manifesting. Kids audiences still want the same things: authentic relatable characters, action, laughs and great stories. The key question now is whether we’re serving the audience or the algorithm, and are they the same thing? I suspect not. 

Fundamentally, the anatomy of a hit hasn’t changed. When an IP resonates so profoundly with an audience that they don’t just want to watch it, they want to share it, play it, read it, eat it, wear it, sing it and experience it immersively IRL—essentially join a swelling tribe of fellow fans—then it’s a hit, regardless of how it’s consumed or what platform it’s on.

David Kleeman, SVP of global trends, Dubit: Coming from a background in child development, my philosophy about young audiences hasn’t really changed in 30-plus years. I still look to Piaget and the idea that kids’ growth path doesn’t change; only the context does. I’m also fond of quoting Jeff Bezos, who says that few people ask him what’s not going to change, which he finds more important than what will.

Part of me believes that Generations Alpha and Beta will seek new balance with media. While their parents are eating up The Anxious Generation and applauding technology and social media bans, kids themselves are rethinking their relationship with devices (‘rawdogging boredom’), perhaps driven by paralysis of choice. 

My other mind, though, sees the social gaming platforms becoming ‘everything’ spaces—the lounge and the cinema, in addition to the game room. How will this change communal cultural experiences? 

Suzy Raia, EVP of global consumer products, BBC Studios: I’m not sure if it’s that kids are getting older faster, or if they were simply not given the credit that was due in past decades, but it’s very clear to me that they are becoming sophisticated at a young age, with the ability to process complex ideas and emotions well beyond what was recognized previously. 

The conversation is no longer a one-way street! The idea of building a franchise has to be an iterative process where brands engage with fans and truly listen. Tuning into the fandoms and understanding with great clarity the foundational elements of your brand that are resonating with audiences is key to ongoing success. 

That emotional connection is exactly that…it’s emotional and can’t be taken for granted. And it’s critical to build on that connection by staying true to those values; otherwise you risk losing them and the community they’ve built.

Chris Williams, founder and CEO, pocket.watch: This industry is transforming faster than ever. My advice is to not just embrace the change, but lean into it. The entertainment landscape is no longer defined by traditional studios or linear models; fandom now emerges from unexpected platforms and personalities. 

With AI and new creative tools democratizing production, talented new storytellers with a vision can build world-class creative with high production values at low cost. Success today comes from understanding where audiences live and how they engage—and being bold enough to experiment ahead of the curve.

Kay Wilson Stallings, EVP and chief creative development & production officer, Sesame Workshop: Kids aren’t passive viewers; they’re insightful, curious collaborators in the storytelling process. Honoring their voices, embracing their imaginations and creating with a deep sense of responsibility for their experiences isn’t just important; it’s essential.

One of the hardest leadership lessons has been finding the balance between protecting the essence of our work and evolving how we deliver it. Staying rooted in the mission is critical, but so is trusting our teams to experiment and innovate. You can’t navigate industry change by clinging to what’s familiar. You have to embrace transformation with purpose.

How has the definition of a ‘hit’ changed for you?

Leslie Lee, consultant, Marvel Studios: The definition of a hit now means looking beyond ratings. When I first joined the industry, most of my deliverables were in the space of ratings KPIs and how that would affect not just the way curation, acquisitions and original productions were done, but also how our leaders were assessing a lot of our performance. 

Now, the definition of a hit feels a lot more well-rounded (and much more difficult to achieve, though the returns are exponentially higher). Today’s hit is defined by the franchise wheelhouse model—going beyond just a piece of content and how it rates on TV, to the content becoming a trendsetter, being everywhere, turning kids and families from mere viewers to ambassadors and evangelists. 

It’s no longer enough to have high ratings on a single platform or territory.

What’s the most defining moment you’ve witnessed in the kids space in the past 30 years?

Jennifer Coleman, SVP of licensing & marketing, Konami Cross Media NY: [For me it’s] the paradigm shift in how kids consume content. We moved from ‘appointment television’—where networks like PBS, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network dictated when and how children watched—to a fully on-demand, user-driven model. Kids now choose what they want, when they want it—whether that’s binge-watching an entire series or dipping into short-form, three-minute content. 

This evolution fundamentally reshaped storytelling, engagement and brand building, and it stands as the defining moment for both Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

Brands and IP owners are now meeting fans where they are and where they want to be, whether that’s on social platforms, in UGC ecosystems or at fan conventions. The landscape now demands a multi-platform presence and a higher standard of responsiveness. 

Fans are more invested, more vocal and more connected to the brands they love than ever before.

Jay Foreman, CEO, Basic Fun!: Thirty years ago, I would have said [the most defining moment was] video games in the home; 20 years ago, I would have said the rise of the internet; 10 years ago, the emergence of social and digital media; and today it’s surely AI and streaming.

This is as it relates to what is distracting kids. Where their eyeballs are going for advertising is clearly the move from terrestrial TV viewing to mobile short-form content. All of these are serious game-changers for the toy and kids business.

Tim Kilpin, president of toys, games, licensing & entertainment, Hasbro: One of the biggest shifts has been the eventization of content. Thirty years ago, a movie premiere or TV debut was largely a standalone moment. Today, it’s an ecosystem that spans platforms, products and experiences, all designed to build anticipation and participation. From Star Wars: The Phantom Menace to Stranger Things, Minecraft and Wicked, the coordination between studios, retailers and licensees has turned launches into shared cultural events. It has changed how we tell stories and how audiences connect with them. 

In the 1990s, content flowed in one direction, from studios and networks to audiences. Today, social platforms and streaming have given kids and families real power to shape stories in real time through creators and fandom. 

Properties like Toy Story, Jurassic Park and Harry Potter continue to evolve because they’ve stayed true to what made them beloved in the first place. It’s proof that great storytelling and strong brand worlds can endure for decades. 

What’s been the hardest leadership lesson through industry change?

Karen Miller, CEO, Hidden Pigeon Company: The only constant is change. The hardest leadership lesson has been learning to embrace that change rather than resisting it. Every disruption—and there have been many, and challenging ones, too—has produced new creative opportunities. Whether it’s emerging technologies (including AI), corporate consolidation, shifting audience behaviors, fewer content buyers or smaller budgets, we have to lean in, stay resourceful and find ways to tell our stories more efficiently…and sometimes even more effectively.

The creativity, tenacity and passion of today’s storytellers keep me optimistic. They’re using new technologies and platforms to ensure their stories are seen and celebrated by audiences around the world.

What advice would you give someone just starting out in this industry? 

Casey Collins, SVP and head of consumer products, NFL: Learn as much as you can and try to make the most of it. There are many opportunities out there, and being curious and sociable will open the most—and some of the best—opportunities. 

Focus on honing your skills, building a strong network and gaining hands-on experience. Be prepared for setbacks by staying persistent, cultivating a unique personal brand and style, and creating your own content to showcase your abilities and passion. Most importantly, have fun!

Ed Galton, CEO, CAKE: Learn the business as well as the creative. You need to understand rights, financing and how deals come together because that’s where good ideas turn into real shows. Stay adaptable because this industry changes fast, and you’ll need to adjust without losing your grounding. If you can mix creative thinking with commercial awareness and a willingness to evolve, you’ll find your place.

Letting go of certainty has been the hardest lesson. The industry moves quickly, and the models we rely on don’t always carry forward. You have to lead through that change with clarity, even while you’re adapting yourself. 

Staying open, guiding your team through uncertainty and making decisions without perfect information becomes part of the job. It’s challenging at times, but it’s ultimately what keeps you growing.

What has been the single biggest disruption to how content travels? 

Genevieve Dexter, founder & CEO, Serious Kids: The advent of SVOD, AVOD and TVOD platforms, and the ability to post directly to Youtube, Amazon Direct, Google Play and iTunes to monetize directly. If it weren’t for the restriction on interest-based advertising for kids content on Youtube, the acceleration to that model would have been conclusive. 

In 1996, there was so little animation produced that when we had an ITV or BBC commission, we signed the toy and home video deal pretty much the next day, and wide sales around the world were guaranteed for 10 years. Now the definition of a hit is a series that sells to the ‘big five,’ rates well and is commissioned for a second season; otherwise the property tends to fall to back catalogue within five years. 

What’s the most underrated skill today’s producers need?

Frank Falcone, president and creative director, Guru Studio: Addition and intuition. I’m not sure if intuition is a skill per se, but it is a natural awareness of truth and authenticity that requires a constant refocusing, away from distraction and noise (of which there is much!). 

A creative writing teacher mentor of mine at the University of Toronto called it your shit detector. Listen to it when it goes off!

Kids are far smarter than us. They’re little buddhas. You can’t lie to them unless they let you. They’re blank slates that can detect a cynical offering sooner than any of our ill-guided hopes to capitalize on it.

What’s the biggest format or genre that’s poised for reinvention?

Andy Heyward, CEO, Kartoon Studios: Over the last 30 years, I’ve watched children’s entertainment migrate through more eras than a geologic timeline—from Saturday morning appointment-viewing and first-run syndication, to the 24/7 kids cable boom, to streaming, digital and now whatever universe we’re currently inventing in real time.

Through all these shifts—technology, regulation, platforms rising and collapsing—the two constants were always great characters and great stories. But with AI now capable of generating both, convincingly and at scale, we may be witnessing the first true disruption of those constants. 

The pace of change today is staggering; it feels like we’ve compressed decades of evolution into a few short years. Hard to imagine where we’ll be 10 years from now…but I suspect that imagination itself may be the next frontier that gets reinvented.

What keeps you optimistic about the next generation of kids content?

Christina Miller, CEO, Spin Master: I am always optimistic and inspired by the audience we serve. There have never been more tools for kids to use to explore creativity and storytelling and to shape the world around them. 

Our purpose remains consistent: Create exceptional content and play experiences that resonate, bring joy and stand out with kids. However, the context in which we deliver on that purpose has shifted, with changing platforms of choice, greater expectations for interactivity and the accelerated speed at which ideas spread and take hold. That is the challenge ahead of us, and one we are excited about. 

For Spin Master, innovation is central to what we do, and our goal is to maintain a culture that prioritizes creativity and unlocks the full potential of our brands. That means investing in innovation and always challenging ourselves to find the white space. We stay open to experimenting and trying new things—all in the spirit of developing incredible storytelling, engaging digital playgrounds and entirely new categories of play, while keeping kids at the center of what we do.

Angela Santomero, co-creator and executive producer of Blue’s Clues, Blue’s Room and the Blue’s Clues & You: Our kids media industry has the most passionate and imaginative people—and that’s never changed. I’m optimistic because we are living in a ‘creator-first’ moment in time, and we care deeply about storytelling that teaches, inspires and connects. 

The next wave of content will fuse creativity, research and innovation to make high-quality, big-hearted stories at more accessible scales. 

Main image: Top to bottom, from left, Frank Falcone, Julien Borde, Tim Kilpin, Craig McCracken, Ayo Davis, Keith Chapman, Patrick Egerton, Amy Friedman, Linda Simensky, Margie Cohn, Angela Santomero, Ed Galton, Kay Wilson Stallings, Michael Levine, Leslie Lee, Suzy Raia, Athena Georgaklis, Roz Nowicki