Introduction

The competition within China’s children’s content market remained fierce in 2024, with the four major VOD platforms adopting increasingly deliberate and cautious strategies for content acquisition. Midolala will take an in-depth analysis of the key trends that have shaped the market over the past year, focusing in particular on the performance of international content in China and the acquisition strategies driving these platforms.

Meanwhile, the rising demand for "commercial content" has become a defining feature of the Chinese market. What implications does this trend hold for the industry? Moreover, which properties have consistently dominated the rankings, and what factors have contributed to their long-term success? Let's explore these questions to uncover our insights.

Domestic Content’s Dominates in Numbers, Youku Leads in Acquiring International Programs

In 2024, the four major platforms released in total 550 new children’s programs: Youku released 253 programs, including 63 international titles, leading both categories among the platforms. iQIYI followed with 121 programs (31 international), Tencent released 115 programs (25 international), and Mango TV introduced 60 programs (12 international). Across all platforms, the number of domestic programs was 3 to 5 times greater than that of international acquisitions. Notably, Youku’s international acquisitions alone nearly equaled the combined total of the other three platforms, maintaining its clear advantage.

Compared to 2023, the number of new international programs on all platforms saw substantial increases: Youku grew by 50%, Tencent by 90%, iQIYI by fivefold (from only 6 titles in 2023), and Mango TV by 70%. It’s important to note that the increase in content released does not necessarily reflect more international acquisitions made last year. Instead, it indicates programs purchased one or two years prior, accumulated, and scheduled for release in 2024. This indirectly suggests that budgets and quotas for international acquisitions were relatively robust two or three years ago.

The majority of international acquisitions were concentrated on content from the US, the UK, Canada and France, with also a significant number of titles sourced from Russia.

Peppa Pig, Paw Patrol’s New Season, and Kung Fu Panda 4 Shine as Top Performers

Excluding Mango TV, the three others VOD platforms disclosed in-platform popularity metrics, which are derived from a combination of view numbers, watch time, comments, shares, and search volume. Midolala analyzed this data through two approaches to identify the most popular international content on each platform: Annual Peak Popularity – The highest level of engagement a program achieved after release; Average Daily Popularity – The total engagement divided by the number of days since release, reflecting consistent performance over time.

YOUKU

Based on annual peak popularity, Youku’s top 4 international programs were: 1. Peppa Pig Season 10 (Hasbro Entertainment); 2. Peppa Pig Minis; 3. Blaze and the Monster Machines Season 4 (Nickelodeon & WildBrain); 4. Mystery Lane Season 1 (Studio Hari) – The program is distributed by Midolala in mainland China.

If ranked by average daily popularity, Kamp Koral Season 1 (United Plankton Pictures & Nickelodeon) would make it into Youku’s top 4.

TENCENT VIDEO

Similarly, based on annual peak popularity, Tencent Video’s top 3 international programs were: 1. Kung Fu Panda 4 (DreamWorks Animation); 2. PJ Masks Season 5 (Frog Box & Disney EMEA); 3. My Little Pony: Make Your Mark (Hasbro).

Zootopia+ and Fixies Season 5 followed closely with comparable performances. When evaluated by average daily popularity, My Little Pony: Pony Life Season 2 and More Barbie: A Touch of Magic (Mattel Television) moved up to 2nd and 3rd places, respectively.

IQIYI

The top 3 programs by annual peak popularity were: 1. Kung Fu Panda 4; 2. Rubble & Crew (Spin Master); 3. Peppa Pig Season 10.

By average daily popularity, Paw Patrol Season 10 (Spin Master) demonstrated consistent long-term engagement, taking the top spot.

MANGO TV

The platform provides straightforward viewership numbers for each series. The top 3 programs were: 1. Paw Patrol Season 10; 2. Peppa Pig Season 10; 3. Sunny Bunnies Season 7 (Digital Light Studio).

Notably, Paw Patrol Season 10 garnered 440 million views, while Peppa Pig Season 10 achieved 200 million. Mush-Mush & the Mushables Season 2 (La Cabane) also performed well, with a total view count of 87 million. According to Midolala’s observations, Mango TV maintains a stable and reliable exclusive acquisition strategy. Although the volume of exclusive acquisitions remains relatively small, the platform persistently continues to acquire new seasons of well-performing programs.

To summarize, Peppa Pig Season 10 stood out as the best-performing international content overall. However, Paw Patrol Season 10 ranked first on both iQIYI and Mango TV, outperforming Peppa Pig Season 10. Surprisingly, neither Youku nor Tencent acquired the latest season of Paw Patrol. Boy-oriented programs like Blaze and the Monster Machines Season 4 and girl-oriented titles such as My Little Pony also delivered strong performances, highlighting the broad appeal of these genre-specific programs.

Domestic Animation Outperforms International Content

The number of domestic programs acquired by platforms significantly outweighs that of international content. But does domestic content also outperform international programs in terms of viewership and popularity?

On Youku, only two international titles made it into the top 20 by annual peak popularity: Peppa Pig Season 10 (3rd) and Peppa Pig Minis (9th).Tencent showed an even wider gap, with only two international titles appearing in its top 30: Kung Fu Panda 4 (1st) and Spidey and His Amazing Friends: Web-Spinners (29th).International content performed slightly better on iQIYI and Mango TV, accounting for approximately one-quarter of the top 30 programs in terms of viewership.

In contrast, new seasons of domestic animations, such as Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, Boonie Bears, and Catch! Teenieping, appeared among the top rankings across all platforms. This not only demonstrates that platforms widely acquire these new seasons on a non-exclusive basis but also highlights the strong popularity of these programs among Chinese audience.

This suggests that Chinese animation studios excel at incorporating both commercial and cultural elements that strongly resonate with Chinese children in their creations. However, whether these animations can develop into long-term IPs with enduring value remains a question to be explored in the final part of this analysis.

Most Popular Genres of 2024: Mecha, Girls’ Programs, and Live-Action

Platforms’ genre preferences for content acquisitions largely reflect their predictions about market demand. In recent years, domestic animation companies have produced a significant number of live-action and mecha-transformation programs to cater to local audience preferences. Other popular categories include adventure, education, and comedy. As for international shows, the most common genres released this year were girly programs (20 titles), followed by adventure and education.

Based on Midolala's understanding of the platforms, although educational programs rarely rank as children’s favorites, their practical value in early learning makes them an essential paid content category for both parents and platforms. 

 In 2024, comedy-adventure remained the best performance genre across all platforms, followed by girls’ programs and mecha-themed content. On Mango TV, the domestically produced children’s song program Lia Chacha (produced by BabyBus) topped the annual ranking, with 800 million views—nearly double the 440 million views of Paw Patrol Season 10, which ranked second.

When compared to Midolala’s 2023 analysis of China’s children’s content market, girls’ programs and live-action shows continued to dominate as audience favorites in 2024. However, mecha-themed programs stood out this year, with notable increases in both popularity and amounts of new releases.

No New Co-Productions with Overseas Companies, Domestic Self-Produced Content Increases

Youku leads in the volume of self-produced and co-produced content, followed by Tencent. Across all platforms, live-action projects account for a significant proportion of self-produced content. Co-productions with overseas companies have barely continued existing collaborations, with no new IPs introduced. Examples include Youku’s partnerships on Lupin’s Tales (Xilam), Zelly Go (KBS), and Tina & Tony (Riki Group), as well as Tencent’s collaboration on Supertato (BBC). iQIYI’s self-produced projects are predominantly domestic, while Mango TV focuses entirely on domestic reality shows.

Platforms are increasingly choosing to co-produce projects with domestic animation studios. According to Midolala’s analysis, the reasons for this trend are as follows:

1. High Costs of Overseas Content: The production cost of one international program can fund the development of two to three domestic projects with the same budget.

2. Understanding of Local Market Needs: Chinese animation studios have a deeper insight into local audience preferences, enabling smoother collaboration and more effective communication with platforms.

3. Cost-Optimized Hybrid Models: If platforms prefer the design and development expertise of overseas studios, they can limit those stages to being completed abroad, while delegating mid-to-late production to domestic studios to maximize cost savings. However, this model requires platforms to allocate more manpower to oversee and manage the projects.

Overseas Children’s Nursery Songs Brands Lack Localisation Advantages

Cocomelon (Moonbug) has become a globally iconic children’s song IP, ranking among the top in terms of viewership and watch time on platforms like YouTube and Netflix. But how well is overseas children’s content received in the Chinese market?

Since the native language of Chinese children is Mandarin, children’s songs created in Mandarin and rooted in Chinese cultural contexts have a significant advantage. They align more closely with the educational expectations and values of Chinese parents, such as safety education, fostering good habits, and learning Chinese. Domestic brands like BabyBus and Baby Tigers have gone beyond just producing animated songs; they’ve developed hundreds of early education apps, creating a diversified ecosystem that has successfully built a loyal audience of parents and toddlers.

In the annual rankings of children’s songs brands, Cocomelon ranked 7th and Pinkfong 13th, while all higher-ranked entries were domestic programs. In the local market, domestic children’s songs hold a clear advantage in terms of cultural relevance, linguistic accessibility, and integration within early education ecosystems. This makes it difficult for overseas brands to compete effectively.

Annual IP Rankings: Long-Running Series Dominate

According to NianTong Kids’ data, the estimated total viewership for IPs in 2024 highlights long-established series. Peppa Pig and Paw Patrol ranked the top two spots with 16 billion and 8.8 billion views, respectively. LEGO Ninjago also performed strongly, ranking 6th. The remaining entries in the top 10 were all Chinese domestic animations. Among the top 20, notable international titles included My Little Pony (1.92 billion views) and SpongeBob SquarePants (1.66 billion views).

Renowned Chinese properties like Boonie Bears and Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf also demonstrated remarkable performance, securing 3rd and 4th positions. These enduring series have successfully captured the hearts of multiple generations, maintaining 10 to 20 years of relevance by constantly evolving to keep up with shifting market demands in production and through strong market operations.

Content that achieves tens of billions of annual views typically benefits from multiple seasons and a large, loyal fanbase. The release of new seasons often boosts viewership for earlier ones, forming a positive cycle. The formation of an IP requires long-term market accumulation. Especially in the children’s content domain, the influence of an IP often spans generations. This process involves attracting audiences with high-quality initial content, consistently introducing new content to foster viewing habits and emotional connections, and building an ecosystem with marketing and merchandising strategies.

*Statistical source: Youku, Tencent, IQiyi, Mango TV platforms & NianTong Kids’ Data