

More than half of kids between the ages of 8 and 11, 12 and 14 and 15 and 18 listed “streamed television” as their preferred type of entertainment in a September, 2015, survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Sprout’s willingness to shake up what has been its signature program is testament to how quickly kids’ media outlets need to move to keep current with their wee audience’s ever shifting viewing habits. The new set has a place for everything – crafts, a Murphy bed, Snug’s favorite “Shy Cat” stuffed animal, in-wall video screens, even a fold-out flight of stairs – but with everything in its place. In the new show, Carly and Snug will hold forth in a miniscule space at NBCU’s 30 Rockefeller Center that is testament to the “tiny house” movement. The younger set will no doubt be invited to stick around for the other stuff as they grow.Įxecutives have been at work on the new show for the past eight months, said Amy Friedman, senior vice president of programming and development, Universal Kids, in an interview.

Sprout in September will be renamed Universal Kids, and feature, among other things, the debut of “Top Chef Junior.” But “Sprout House” will serve as a souped-up reminder that the network aims to catch the attention of pre-schoolers during daytime hours. To help snare the attention of kids across the nation, Comcast recently put down $3.8 billion to acquire DreamWorks Animation – making no secret of its desire to compete with Viacom’s Nickelodeon, Walt Disney’s Disney Channel and Time Warner’s Cartoon Network for the attention of TV’s younger set. That makes me particularly excited for when this goes out into the world,” said Ciarrocchi, hanging out on the set of the new program at NBCU’s New York headquarters. Kids who have seen the program being taped in recent weeks “light up around his floppiness and his voice.
