Spanning ethnic communities including Chinese, Malay and Indian, and estimated to represent 10% of the population at 580,000 (Statista), Singapore’s under-14 set is a substantial TV audience. And national broadcaster Mediacorp has big plans to serve it.

Mediacorp operates the linear children’s programming block okto, which airs on Channel 5 (English) daily from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on Channel 8 (Chinese) every Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Beyond linear, there’s also the mewatch kids streaming hub and the Mediacorp okto YouTube channel (244,000 subscribers)—both of which are intended to help meet the “increasingly fragmented” consumption patterns of today’s young viewers, says Barry Toa, assistant lead for strategic partnerships & kids.

Barry Toa

To navigate this, Toa has strategized bringing online creators into the mix. Last year, okto teamed up with Singaporean vlogger Biogirl MJ to co-develop a tween series called Biogirl MJ’s Wildlife Treasure Hunt (five x 23 minutes). The show—in which MJ teaches kids about the country’s flora and fauna—launched last September and took just six months to become the third most-viewed series on okto’s YouTube channel.

Okto’s core target groups are upper preschoolers (four to six) and tweens (seven to 12), and topics like wildlife and science are reliable viewership magnets, notes Toa. For example, Omens Studios’ Leo the Wildlife Ranger (pictured) consistently comes out on top as the most-watched content for okto on YouTube.

What is Mediacorp looking for?
To capture Singapore’s Gen Alpha audience, Mediacorp is keen to stock up on live-action, personality-driven, social media-style content, says Toa. “We’re on the lookout for influencers open to [co-producing] educational content.” He’s interested in acquiring completed content for all ages (especially well-known IPs that aren’t easily available in Singapore) or getting involved early in project development. Content with multi-language dubs (English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil) is a major plus. Expanding on the short-form catalogue is also a priority, so Toa is seeking snackable preschool toons, with a preference for commissioned/co-commissioned titles that come with YouTube rights, as well as STEM content.

Singapore has also been trending lately as a setting in the broader world of kids animation—from WBD’s Tom and Jerry Singapore shorts to Banijay’s Totally Spies! revival moving its setting from Beverly Hills to Singapore. Toa wants to work with other international IP owners looking to localize their brands by infusing them with Singaporean culture.

Recent and upcoming releases
The team has bolstered mewatch with more than 2,100 hours of content over the past three years, including package deals signed last year with Moonbug Entertainment (Blippi), Pinkfong (Baby Shark Best Kids Songs), Hasbro, Iconix and Sesame Workshop. Toa hints at more content on the way from popular Japanese franchises like Beyblade (ADK Emotions) and Ultraman (Tsuburaya). Among its latest commissions, okto plans to roll out new episodes of Leo the Wildlife Ranger (80 x 11 minutes) and Mandarin-focused game show Word Whiz this October—right after dropping a third season of Biogirl MJ in September.

This story originally appeared in Kidscreen‘s Q3 2024 magazine issue.