Episode Title: Netflix Playground: Is Netflix Building the Answer to YouTube Kids? — A Kids Media Club Bonus Episode

Episode Summary:

A short bonus episode with Andy and Emily Horgan, recorded to react to a significant announcement from Netflix that landed while Emily was on holiday — which she notes felt like being deliberately trolled. Netflix has launched the Netflix Playground app, a dedicated gaming environment aimed at preschoolers and young children, and Emily has thoughts.

The context matters here. Emily and her team published a Netflix gaming report back in December, identifying two structural problems with how Netflix games worked: first, users had to download games as separate apps and log in via their Netflix account rather than accessing them seamlessly within the platform; and second, kids games weren't available within kids profiles, creating an awkward tension between safety and discoverability. Shortly after publishing, the Netflix gaming team reached out to acknowledge the issues — and Playground is, in effect, their response.

The app is pitched at eight and under, though Emily reads it as skewing younger still. It's ad-free with no in-app purchases, and the integration with Netflix accounts is noticeably more seamless than what came before. The content mix is interesting: alongside expected IP like Peppa Pig and Sesame Street, there are a handful of Dr. Seuss titles, StoryBots (which Netflix owns outright), and — the pick that catches Emily's attention most — Bad Dinosaurs. She reads that inclusion as a signal that Netflix is thinking about underleveraged IP: shows that proved sticky and connected with audiences but were left as one-and-done, with all that demonstrated audience value sitting idle. The same announcement also included a renewal for Trash Truck, a soft preschool show with no new content since 2021 that has nonetheless been quietly hanging around in the Netflix data — the kind of quiet buoyancy, Emily argues, that deserves attention.

The bigger question the episode circles is whether Netflix Playground could become a genuine walled-garden alternative to YouTube Kids. Emily's instinct when she first saw the announcement was that this could be exactly that — a fully curated, safe digital environment for young children. At launch it's games only, with no video streaming, and the games themselves lean gentle: jigsaws, colouring, slow-paced play. Emily is genuinely on the fence about whether combining video and games in a single environment would be a good thing for that age group, and notes that parents she's spoken to tend to want a clear distinction between screen-time modes. But the underlying observation stands: YouTube Kids, for all its reach, is algorithmically curated and carries a lot of content that isn't exactly nutritious. If Netflix were to go further with Playground, there's a real gap it could fill.

The app launched in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand — but not Ireland, which Emily takes as a personal slight.

Key Takeaways:

1. Netflix Playground is a dedicated kids gaming app aimed at eight and under, ad-free and with no in-app purchases — a direct response to the discovery and safety problems Emily's team had identified and published in their Netflix gaming report.
2. The login and access experience is significantly more seamless than Netflix's previous gaming setup, which required separate app downloads and created friction for both parents and kids.
3. The IP selection is telling — Bad Dinosaurs and Trash Truck both signal that Netflix is paying attention to underleveraged content with proven audience buoyancy, rather than defaulting only to its biggest franchises.
4. Quiet persistence in viewing data is worth watching — Trash Truck has had no new content since 2021 yet continues to hang around in Netflix engagement numbers. Emily argues that this kind of staying power without activation is a meaningful signal.
5. The walled-garden question is the big one — Netflix Playground has the potential to position itself as a curated, safe alternative to YouTube Kids, but at launch it's games only, and whether video content follows remains to be seen.
6. Netflix's gaming momentum is deliberate and sustained — this isn't a one-off launch left to find its own level. The Playground app is the latest in a series of iterative moves that suggest gaming is a genuine strategic priority, not an experiment.
7. YouTube Kids has a quality problem that a well-executed Netflix alternative could exploit — algorithmic curation means content of variable quality gets through, and parents of young children are an audience actively looking for something more controlled and curated.

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Okay, so this is a bonus episode of the Kids Media Club Podcast.

I'm here with Emily and we wanted to, we wanted to chat about Netflix and some of the changes that they're making in the kids space.

Emily in talking about Netflix, shocker.

And yeah, no, really, it's an interesting time.

I felt like I was being trolled last week because I was on holidays, I was on leave.

And yeah, Netflix decided to make a big announcement in the kids segment.

So they have released the Netflix playground app.

So Netflix had been working on a gaming strategy for a number of years.

And we ran, me and the team put together a Netflix gaming report looking at the games that they had and how you access them and all this kind of stuff.

One of the main issues being the way you access Netflix Netflix games is you have to go and download the app separately and then log in via Netflix account.

So it's, it's not like seamlessly within the platform.

Yep.

And the other thing about that is we were seeing that their kids games also weren't available within kids profiles, which, you know, it's, that was a tricky one to solve because, you know, you don't want to have kids.

You don't want to have a gateway for kids to exit the environment that they're in, a digital environment that they're in, and to go to the app Store and start clicking, going mad.

But at the same time, it's a major, it was a major discovery hurdle as well.

So we put together a report, a report on Netflix games, and that went out in December of last year to clients of the Netflix Kids content Report.

And actually I wrote about it in my newsletter and subsequently had outreach of Netflix game, the Netflix gaming team saying, hey, yeah, we know about the problems and we've tried to fix it, fix them this weekend, actually.

And they were like, they were, you know, they were kind about it and they were like, we just, we wanted to let you know because, like, we, we hear you, we hear your pain on some of this.

So Netflix have four main pillars when it comes to games.

They have kids games, mainstream games, party games and narrative games.

Now what they define as a kids game is really narrow and you know this, it's around 3% of the games.

So what do they define as a kid's game?

Like, like Peppa Pig.

Right, like, but whereas, okay, you know, what we define as kids games from the Netflix, the independent Netflix Kids Content report point of view is anything that's going to appeal to a kid.

Like genuine kid appeal.

Right.

A kid could play solitaire, but solitaire isn't really going to appeal to kids that much.

Right.

But like something like, like, like an, like an Infinite Runner game or something like that will definitely have kids appeal.

And so there's lots of, you know, there's, there's lots of games that are there lots of games that are doing well.

They have different ones.

Some are very IP driven, like Peppa Pig, like I said like a spot, like there's a sponge spongebob game.

And others are like totally IP agnostic, which is interesting.

As I said, they have things like Solitaire Battleship, that kind of thing.

But the Netflix playground app launched last week, that's kind of like more of a world of games for very, very much for preschoolers.

Right.

Like it's young skewing.

They say it's eight and under, but it is, it's pretty young.

So it has ip, limited IP available.

So from a third party point of view, it has Peppa Pig, Sesame street and then a couple of IP from Dr. Seuss.

It also then has Bad Dinosaurs which I think is really interesting.

We talked to the creators about Dinosaurs.

Gosh, it's probably like two years ago now and has StoryBots.

So StoryBots is StoryBots Netflix actually own outright.

They bought the company behind it a number of years ago.

So they'll have likes to do all of that.

And then I thought Bad Dinosaurs was such an interesting pick because I definitely think there are currents going around that under leveraged IP could have a moment.

Right?

So like yeah, the last decade there's been so many great series launched like Bad Dinosaurs that we know really was really sticky and really connected and cut through that were then kind of like one and done and kind of left on the shelf and all that value that's been proven is not, is not there to be, to be leveraged.

So you know, Netflix doubling down on gaming, you know, gaming interfaces for Bad Dinosaurs is a really interesting one.

The other thing that they did as part of this announcement was they announced A few new, a few new seasons and series renewals.

One of which as well was Trash Truck.

And again, what I would consider like we can see from the Netflix data that there's, it's not like a top 10 season or anything series or anything like that.

But there's, there's a buoyancy to it.

Right.

Like that.

But it's hanging around.

It's hanging around.

You know when something's hanging around with no new content or no new activation, you have to pay attention to that.

So yeah, just a really interesting one that they, that they, they brought this Netflix playground app.

It's all of the, all of their gaming is no apps, sorry, no ads or in app purchases.

The playground app definitely has a much more seamless integration with Netflix.

You know, the login and stuff is a lot more seamless and you can,.

And you can watch video content and play games all within the same app the moment.

It's just, it's just games.

I see.

I picked up the release last week and I thought it must be both but actually it's just gaming.

It's just gaming for now as far as I've seen.

I did also think they were trolling me because they released it in the U.S. canada, the U.K. australia and New Zealand, but not Ireland.

Yeah.

So I mean there's probably a nerve center within, within Netflix going don't switch on the island yet.

We're not quite ready for, we're not quite ready for Emily to really interrogate what's going on here.

So hold back.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I managed to get my, manage to get my mids on it.

Netflix.

You didn't, you didn't win this one but it's going to be available in the rest of the world later in the month.

So.

Yeah.

And interesting, an interesting one.

As I said, like I think it, it, you know, let's see.

I think let's, particularly for bad dinosaurs, let's see if this like drives some more interest.

Yeah.

And you know, but I think it just, it underscores that Netflix are continuing to, they have continued momentum in what they're doing on gaming.

They're not just, yeah, it's not just oh, we launched gaming and there it is.

Let's see.

It never, you know, it's, it's really kind of, it's, it's, it's forward facing in that kind of way.

And do you think there's the potential for it to include Video to, to be a real kind of walled garden just for a kids audience.

I thought so.

And I, you know, when I saw the announcement I thought, oh my gosh, is this like the answer to YouTube kids?

Right?

Like, is this a, a walled garden fully curated answer to YouTube Kids at the moment?

I'm not seeing video content streaming in there and I don't know that.

You know, I think it depends.

Like, I've had feedback from other parents, you know, the people I'm working with, this, on this with who are parents who've said, you know, if I want, if, if I want my kid playing games, I want them playing games.

If I want them watching video, I want them watching video.

I don't necessarily want them to like, like kids of that age to just.

Completely flow, to move seamlessly between the two.

Okay.

You know, take like certain things and some of the gaming in this is really sweet and slow.

Right.

Like, so they have like jigsaw puzzles, they have like coloring.

Right.

Like it's, it's, you know, it's just digital iteration of the types of things that kids would be doing anyway.

So.

Yeah, I don't know.

I'm, I'm a little bit on the fence as to, I'm not saying yes or I'm not saying no that whether it be a good thing or a bad thing, but you know, from, from a user's perspective.

But it's, it is definitely that kind of.

It's like at one stage I was thinking, God, you know, if somebody really went for a safe environment for kids, digital media, then that could really make an answer to YouTube kids.

Because YouTube kids.

Yeah.

Is still algorithmically curated at times.

And there's a lot of, you know, there's, there's obviously some great brands on there, but there's also a lot of stuff that's not of high quality on there as well.

And totally it feels like there's an opportunity there.

Yeah, it's, I'm not just talking about some stuff that leaks through.

I mean like there's kind of.

Yeah, yeah.

It's just, it's YouTube style content, some of which is, is not as wholesome or healthy or nutritious.

Yeah.

So we'll see how it goes.

We'll be talking development developments on it anyway within the, the Netflix report.

Great.

That was, that's really interesting one to keep an eye on.

Awesome.

Great.

Thanks Emily.

Okay, do the sign off, Andy.

Okay, so I hope you enjoyed listening to that chat and that burnish episode and please like and subscribe find us wherever you get your podcasts and we'll see you next week, But.