Hulu secures Curious George streaming rights as battle for quality children's programming heats up
The battle among HBO, Hulu, Amazon, and Netflix for streaming rights to high quality adult content is well known, but just as important – if not more – is the fight over quality kids programming.
On the heels of HBO’s recent five-year partnership with Sesame Workshop for the rights to air first new episode of Sesame Street, Hulu last week announced that it has secured the exclusive subscription streaming rights to Curious George for both past and future seasons of the show.
This gives Hulu a library of over 100 episodes and TV specials of the show, which has been the top children’s animated preschool series across all TV networks for five of its nine seasons , and which will be accessible via the commercial-free environment of Hulu Kids.
“Curious George is one of the most beloved characters in kids programming and we are delighted to bring the TV series to Hulu,” said Craig Erwich, svp, head of content, Hulu. “As we continue to add the best of premium television to our service, this partnership represents both an expansion and a commitment to our kids and family offering.”
Children’s viewing habits are becoming more network agnostic; meaning, children do not know to go automatically to Nickelodeon, PBS, or Disney for content. Instead, their viewing habits are starting to skew more towards platforms and services like YouTube, Hulu, and Amazon, which feature a mix of original and acquired shows. For these services, gaining the trust of parents and the favor of children can pay dividends for years to come.