Of all the kid demos, tweens might be the toughest to reach. But Warner Bros. Discovery and NBCUniversal have a few strategies up their sleeve that just might resonate. 

It’s a cohort of kids who are between childhood and adolescence (hence the name), and for brands that means it can be tough to find ways to reach them. That’s according to wonderworks insights Group co-founder Jane Gould, who took the stage for a Kidscreen Summit session yesterday titled “New Tweens in Town: Understanding the generation transforming culture.” 

For her part, Gould presented a preview of wonderworks’ new report on tweens, while Meghan Maro, EVP of global franchise at Warner Bros Discovery and Caitlin Riley, VP of consumer products & experience at NBCUniversal, shared their company’s approaches to reaching this demo. 

“[Tweens] appreciate complexity and layers, and gravitate towards characters and products that really reflect that,” said Gould. “But they’re also notoriously elusive…especially in the licensed product space, where there’s real tension at this age between wanting to stand out [and] wanting to fit in.”

They’re figuring out who they are, so it’s no surprise that brands struggle to figure that out, too. 

From a reach perspective, the sheer volume of content available to kids means that discoverability is always a challenge. And with tweens, this is made even more difficult because 11- and 12-year-olds are both looking to their parents for recommendations and wanting to find their next obsession on their own (before sharing it with their parents).

The reality is that they’re not teens—they’re not supposed to be allowed to access social media sites that are 13-plus, for example—but they’re also not little kids anymore. And they want brands to recognize that. 

So who are tweens? It’s time to demystify this demo. Let’s set the stage with a clearer sense of what they’re about and what they like, so brands can better understand them.

The brands tweens feel good about 

There are multiple factors that define tweens’ lives, Gould said. First off, their worlds revolve around their family and home, forming the core of their identity. While they crave emotional safety, they identify as optimistic and stable, though they feel more vulnerability as they age. When they have hard days, it’s usually because of school and peers—and to cope, they turn to screens, calming routines and connections. (And it’s worth mentioning that AI is a big presence in their lives—so much so that some are starting to get concerned.)

So that’s a rundown on the demo. But what brands do tweens like? 

Disney is the brand that makes them feel the most positive, hopeful or inspired—and this is true across genders and among both younger and older tweens. Their runner-up favorites diverge by age and gender, with LEGO, Super Mario and Barbie, Spider-Man and Hello Kitty in the running. 

What do tweens want to see? 

Here’s the demo’s wishlist for what they want more of in content, according to wonderworks’ data: More action and excitement; recognition that they’re maturing; less adult content (swearing and scariness); and fewer interruptions and paywalls. 

Importantly, they want complex characters who go through arcs, not just simple good guys and bad guys, Maro added. “The industry thinks tweens want heroes, but they actually want humans,” she said. She notes that WBD can deliver on that with some of its characters, such as Batman and Draco Malfoy (who’s having a moment in China).

Harry Potter is an especially good example of a brand that makes tweens feel the most positive (among all tweens, it was seventh out of 10). Kids in this group are embracing the franchise for their own reasons—the story about a tween moving into a new space and figuring out who he is really connects with kids who are at the same stage and experiencing similar challenges. 

Now, WBD is stoking a wave of new interest from today’s tweens, whose parents were the first generation of Potter fans, said Maro. WBD is tapping into this intersection of tween interest and parent nostalgia to revive Harry Potter in a big way, including the new the Audible series and the multi-season TV series for HBO Max. If this bet pays off, WBD will have secured a whole new audience for the IP, which hasn’t had new content in years. 

NBCUniversal has the Wizarding World-themed land in its Universal Orlando Resort, and the company is seeing the property as a bridge between tweens and their parents, added Riley. 

“We love having Wizarding World as a part of the franchise, for sure,” she said. “From our perspective, what really makes the franchise so special for tweens is that balance between fantasy and reality, and between playability and aspiration.” 

This plays out in products like wands—which give tweens some of the interactivity they crave—and wizard robes, which offer a role-play opportunity that lets them express their identity, added Riley. 

How to tap into tweens’ interests? 

Maro’s advice: Don’t try to chase trends, but deliver on the things tweens want: fun, humor and excitement. 

For WBD, this is playing out across both social media and content, with WBD creating animated Krypto shorts for YouTube. Made as part of the company’s effort to age-down its historically adult-skewing superhero IPs, these shorts are meant to give kids the cartoony humor they crave, said Maro. And it’s paying off—one of these videos (titled “Package Pandemonium!”) has racked up 14 million views after only two months on the DC Kids YouTube channel. 

Tweens also have a lot of different interests, including co-creation. Some days they might just want to lean back and watch episodes of their favorite show on YouTube, and other times they’ll want to create their own play patterns around it, said Maro. WBD sees this with Teen Titans Go!—kids are watching episodes in the morning and then dressing up as their favorite characters in the afternoon—so brands need to find these additional touchpoints that let kids immerse themselves into a show’s world. 

This isn’t an easy mission, though. “The joy and the horror of tweens is that they’re so deeply unpredictable,” said Gould. 

But when it seems especially complicated or hard to reach these “elusive” kids, keep in mind what they want most of all—”the fun humor that’s kind of ridiculous,” she said.