Cocomelon Ready to Grow Up

The preschool brand that started on YouTube is moving from Netflix to Disney+, and executives hope a feature film can turn it into a franchise.

Earlier this summer, Moonbug Entertainment CEO Renee Rechtman found herself in the back of a New York City taxi cab heading down the Bowery to downtown. He eventually struck up a conversation with his cab driver, who discovered he was splitting the year between New York and Nigeria, where his wife and three children live.

"I don't know how we started chatting," Rechtman recalls. "I think maybe his wife called him on her cell phone and there was Cocamelon in the background. I could hear the music." "[I remember] the joy in that guy's voice when he heard, 'Oh, yeah, this is our show.' That smile, the number of stories he had, because the oldest was seven or eight, so he was growing out of cocamelon, but the other two were still of age. "You can't describe that feeling."

But the baby brand finds itself in the midst of an interesting moment. YouTube creators are in high demand, and it's lucky to be perhaps the first to make it big outside of the platform, thanks to deals from the likes of Netflix and Disney.

The company is betting on a model that will grow it on YouTube even as it cuts deals to appear on other platforms.

And next year, Moonbug will take its biggest swing yet with the franchise: The CoComelon Movie, produced in partnership with NBCUniversal's DreamWorks. It's a bet that a short cartoon lullaby on YouTube can establish itself as a preschool franchise that will stand the test of time.

"Moonbug acquired the CoComelon brand many years ago and always had ambitions to develop a much broader franchise," says Courtney Holt, CEO of Moonbug America. "For a media company to really think about creating a franchise, you have to think about how many different ways you can do that. Especially because our center of gravity started on YouTube, and while it remains on YouTube, we had to go beyond YouTube to really create this."

Cocamelon's early days were based on short videos with musical lullabies. Simple video, albeit with repetitive characters. That was enough to secure a streaming deal with Netflix in 2020 and bring packaged versions of its YouTube videos to the subscription service, where it became a hit. "Without a doubt, building a brand was very helpful for us," Rechtman recalls.

It had visions, but it wasn't a franchise yet.

The first step in this direction was the launch of CoComelon Lane. The Netflix-exclusive spin-off had a different format, more ambitious music, and perhaps most importantly... the characters talked.

"We've always had bigger ambitions to become a true, lasting franchise, and for us, that really started in 2023, where we released CoComelon Lane," says Mike Katzman, the brand's chief executive. "It was great, the kids are actually talking. You get to know them, and it was a deeper way for our audience to connect."

The series clicked and other spin-offs followed, including the live-action Melon Patch and Cocamelon, a game with friends from Sanrio (the Japanese company that owns Hello Kitty).

Next year, the flagship show will leave Netflix and move to Disney Plus as the streaming platform looks to bolster its preschool programming alongside its own shows and purchased fare like Bluey. This is a testament to the development of the brand.

The result was a virtuous circle: the success of the original series and its spin-offs provided Moonbug with a wealth of data, refining and improving the programming in the process.

"YouTube is an audience-driven model, you get instant feedback," Holt says. "So a lot of what we're learning from the feedback loop is about how we're thinking about creative... So how we're using characters, how we're portraying their personalities, a lot of that is from the feedback we're getting from the data that's live on YouTube and how we're talking to parents."

The great thing about being digital first is that we have a direct connection with our audience, so we can really get this great insight and real-time answers to what's resonating and what, you know, what's working, what our audience is coming to us for, and that can really inform us how we take the next step and how we build these stepping stones from other types of content in the best way that we can serve that audience. Present." Chief Creative Officer for CoComelon.

You can draw a straight line between Moonbug's learnings from YouTube and Netflix shows to the upcoming feature film.

It will focus on JJ on her first day of kindergarten, a huge moment for any child or young family.

"It's a very difficult moment for kids and parents and families, and it's really an exploration of that dynamic and the story that JJ has to go through in that moment, how he can gain independence and confidence because he's in this new phase of his life, he's more independent, he's going on this big new adventure, and really fitting that emotional adventure into this exciting new world," says Rivera.

Data helped. Rashtman notes that early in Cocamelon's life, "we could see that when JJ was focused on the episode, he did incredibly well" and helped guide executives to his future stardom.

"Preschool was one thing, but JJ is in the big leagues now," says director Kat Good. "And that experience is something that older kids can relate to and see a little bit of themselves in. Even as adults, we can feel intimidated by big life changes—a new job, a new city, a new relationship, a new baby. And everyone has a story about their first day of school. It's probably one of the most important moments of childhood. And I couldn't better connect our shared experiences through that feeling. Not to mention an opportunity to laugh, cry, and share. "Putting all those big, big emotions together for our family audience."

In fact, Cocamelon's influence was even more important in the successful implementation of the project.

“My daughter is autistic and an auditory language learner. "For most of his life, he's used an iPad for learning and self-regulation," says Good. So, we've been watching tons of alphabet songs, nursery rhymes, and ASMR videos on YouTube in our house. He was the first to discover cocamelon. And we've heard Finger Family on loop more times than is humanly possible!

"Good stories, at their core, speak to something very real about our human experience," Goode adds. "And children's stories always speak to a fundamental aspect of who we become, which is why I'm drawn to them as a storyteller."

The executives at Moonbug know that this will be a pivotal moment for the franchise, one that will elevate it in a way nothing has before. The story line will be more complicated, the emotions will be higher and the music will be more ambitious.

The film's music executive producer, Justin Tranter, says the film will feature songs inspired by 2000s indie bands such as MGMT, Passion Pit and LCD Soundsystem.

"I wanted to create an unconscious nostalgia for parents while giving kids a fresh feel through modern synth sounds and exciting melodies," he says.

Executives say the goal is to create something the preschool crowd will enjoy, kids who grew up watching Coca-Cola but are a little older will appreciate, and parents will enjoy. No small feat.

"Film is a big step because it's a way for us to interact in new ways and engage with new stories," says Katzman. But ultimately, I think we're trying to create something that's sustainable and multi-generational.

"We want to really loudly define who we are at this moment, and the best way to do that is to put out a product that people will be moved by, that might change some of the talk about being a native digital brand that can develop what I would say is a global theatrical film," Holt says.

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