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Phoenix666 writes:

When HBO decided to take the Internet seriously, it was only a matter of time before it started getting interested in your kids. The deal for rights to premiere the next five seasons of Sesame Street on HBO's cable channel and streaming services, alongside other Sesame Network content produced exclusively for HBO, shows just how important children's programming has become to anyone who wants to build and maintain a massive subscriber base in a marketplace being reshaped by cord-cutting behavior. To prove the point: Both Amazon and Netflix are launching new kids' shows today.
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The battle for kids, at bottom, is about keeping their parents around even when a favorite show about a murderous politician is on hiatus. Streaming services are far easier to cancel and resubscribe than cable-TV, notes Rich Greenfield of BTIG, so the goal is to make that decision harder. "Remember when Netflix launched House of Cards, dropping all episodes at once, and investors feared consumers would sign up for three days, binge the entire series, and then disconnect?" he observed recently. "Netflix combated this risk by adding a significant amount of content that targeted all members of the family, with children's content a critical 'glue' to its offering."

HBO didn’t have to worry much about using kids shows to retain customers until recently. Its streaming service doesn't even include Fraggle Rock, which premiered on the cable network in the 1980s, even though rival streaming services currently offer the old episodes. Cable channels are offered as part of larger bundles of channels and within other services, such as broadband and phone service. Getting rid of your HBO just because the latest season of Game of Thrones ended is, to most subscribers, probably more trouble than it's worth. But appointment viewing keeps people loyal to only a certain extent. It makes more sense to be all things to all people when your subscription service is an easily eliminated line item in the household budget.

Do you keep Netflix, Hulu, etc. for the kids?

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