It’s 2013, and you’re sitting down in your Hannah Montana pajamas with a bowl of ice cream, clicking channel button 172 to your hub: Disney Channel.
It feels like just yesterday that this was every 12 year old’s Friday night. Now, one minute you’re watching Bluey, the next your “Recommended for You” on Netflix is Euphoria. This leaves lots of us asking the same question: where did tween media go?
As Gen-Alpha matures faster and faster, Nickelodeon and Disney Channel are only anchoring towards younger kids.
According to data from early 2023, Disney Channel saw a 26% drop in average primetime viewers compared to earlier years. The main cause of these numbers is social media.
Every year more and more kids submit to doomscrolling on Tiktok, Instagram and Youtube Shorts. These kinds of platforms promote shows meant for adults. As soon as a 13 year old girl sees the edit of Carrie from Sex and The City, she immediately wants to tune into Netflix. Now, Nickelodeon and Disney see this trend, and are starting to reimagine who their target audience is.
Before this generation, kids from ages 9-15 had their own world. They had their own TV shows, movies and music. Nickelodeon and Disney produced stars. If you think about it, where did Miley Cyrus start? Zendaya? Ariana Grande? Yes, all from the 11 year old screaming fans circa 2012.
The last time we saw those “it girls” coming from channel 172 was over a decade ago. Disney and Nickelodeon don’t put out this type of fame anymore, because when it comes to icons, these days young kids look up to social media influencers rather than Victoria Justice.
These kids skipped the awkward phase of watching iCarly and began watching Grey’s Anatomy, listening to Drake and going see “Anyone But You” in theaters since their 12th birthday. This leaves the kids of today striving for an aesthetic they simply aren’t old enough for. Their childhood didn’t really end, the episode just got fast forwarded.
