According to The Hollywood Reporter, the toddler favorite CoComelon will move on to bigger and…. Mousier things in the next two years.
In 2027, fans will find CoComelon on Disney+, among other favorites like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Spidey and His Amazing Friends, and Doc McStuffins. This comes right after the news that a CoComelon movie will hit theaters in the same year. While the new streaming deal is another huge gain for the Disney+ Junior's lineup, is it a loss for Netflix?
The Hollywood Reporter states that the reason for the acquisition is a “decline in viewership…by nearly 60 percent” on Netflix between 2023 and 2024. However, Deadline reported in 2024 that, “No other kids shows came close to CoComelon” in viewership. Fans streamed CoComelon over 200 million times in the second half of 2024, and it made the top 10 shows on several occasions.
CoComelon viewers who stream solely on Netflix may consider this new deal a loss, but since the show is also available elsewhere-- especially on its original platform, YouTube–– fans will still be able to keep up with episodes easily if they do not have Disney+. When it comes to the CoComelon movie, however, I would imagine that Disney+ would get first rights to stream it when it leaves theaters, which would be a potential downside to the show leaving Netflix. With more than 190 million subscribers on YouTube and almost two thousand total videos, CoComelon is clearly still an enormous hit with little ones, and viewers will likely find the switch to Disney+ unbothersome.
Although viewers have been able to watch CoComelon nursery rhymes on YouTube for more than twelve years, ad-free episodes (thirteen seasons in total) have been available on Netflix for only five years. So far, there are two main possibilities for the change in streaming services for CoComelon.
First, it could have to do with where viewers are located. According to Netflix, regional popularity comes into account when renewing a TV show license, so perhaps the projected viewership in the US was higher than the actual number for the past few years. Additionally, streaming services can often outbid each other for these renewals, so if Netflix did want to renew the license, they could have been outbid by Disney+.
Nevertheless, Netflix continues to offer a wide selection of classic favorites for toddlers, such as Gabby’s Dollhouse, the Barbie collection, and the LEGO franchise, and new releases, such as the modern spinoff of the Fairly Oddparents. In fact, with the news of Sesame Street coming soon to Netflix, CoComelon fans are sure to be in for a furry surprise that they will enjoy just as much as JJ and friends, if not more.
CoComelon is currently streaming on Netflix and YouTube.