“Survive to ’25” was a motto the kids industry took to heart this year as an ongoing commissioning downturn and waves of layoffs dominated the news cycle. But there were also bright spots—2024 saw plenty of companies thinking more creatively about how to do business than they’ve had to in a long time. From market rivals teaming up in co-branded collaborations (looking at you, Hasbro and Mattel), to Moonbug taking a chance on a live-action CoComelon series, there were a lot of interesting firsts this year. 

This was also a significant year for Kidscreen Daily—we hit more than 4.5 million views in 2024, which is a 52% increase from the previous year and a new record for us. 

As the year winds down, here’s a look at our most-read stories. We feel they do a good job of encapsulating the ups and downs of 2024. 

Happy holidays from Team Kidscreen, and we’ll see you back here on January 6 for our first newsletter of the new year. 

1. MINISO to launch a flagship Sanrio store in the US (87,066 views) 

The new Hello Kitty-themed outlet (pictured) opened in New Jersey’s American Dream Mall in May as part of the retailer’s strategy to leverage its collection of licensed brands for US business growth. MINISO, a retailer based in China, has more than 4,000 stores in Mainland China, but only around 200 in the US. The retailer is looking to change this by opening upwards of 20 new Stateside stores each quarter, says CMO Robin Liu. This interest in the US market is driven in part by a 108% increase in North American gross volume sales for Q1 2024, compared to the same quarter last year. 

2. Cloudco and Sanrio partner for Care Bears/Hello Kitty crossover (77,956 views)

Cloudco Entertainment and Sanrio teamed up to create a product line featuring both Care Bears and Hello Kitty. Co-branded fashion, plush, housewares and accessories items rolled out as retail exclusives with Target, Hot Topic and Claire’s this spring. Consumer-posted unboxing videos drove more than 9.2 million views for the crossover effort on TikTok. And as companies looked for fresh ways to reach and engage consumers, this hot business strategy really blossomed this year, with Hasbro and Mattel also making products like a Barbie-branded Monopoly and Transformers-branded UNO games together.

3. CoComelon preps its first live-action series (49,736 views) 

Moonbug Entertainment expanded its popular CoComelon brand in September with the launch of its first live-action content title. Featuring teacher character Ms. Appleberry, videos from YouTube-first series CoComelon Classroom (formerly Melon Patch Classroom) have generated millions of views—including 5.6 million and counting for “Sing the Rocketship Song with Keke Palmer & Ms. Appleberry”—showing that CoComelon has strength beyond animation. 

4. Moonbug teams up with iSpot to prove connected TV’s value (48,381 views)

iSpot.tv partnered with Moonbug to try and solve the challenge of measuring ad reach on connected-TV platforms in order to draw more advertisers to spend their dollars in this market. The Washington-based ad measurement company’s mandate was to analyze impressions on Moonbug’s kids apps and linear channels to show why marketing campaigns need to incorporate both. The first insight to come out of this partnership is that 87% of Moonbug Kids’ streaming ads are reaching audiences that its linear channel ads aren’t. 

5. Peacock to launch a Megamind movie sequel (34,527 views) 

NBCUniversal kicked off February with a surprise announcement that DreamWorks Animation Television had produced a follow-up to 2010’s Megamind under the radar. The news of Megamind vs. The Doom Syndicate quickly generated buzz among fans of the original pic, which developed a cult following with its superhero genre parody approach and several Megamind memes heating up the internet. However, Doom Syndicate fared poorly when it was released in March, earning a low 9% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 1.4 user rating on Metacritic. DreamWorks bounced back later in the year with one of 2024’s biggest animation hits—The Wild Robot, which performed well in terms of both critical acclaim and ticket sales.   

6. Miraculous to get a new look and characters: Andy Yeatman (32,438 views)

In his MIP Junior keynote, Miraculous Corp CEO Andy Yeatman pulled back the curtain on a new season of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir produced using Unreal Engine, as well as teasing a spinoff for the billion-dollar franchise. Miraculous Stellar Force (working title) is set to start delivering next year, and will be set in Tokyo. 

“As we look to the future, we’re looking to build this super-popular show into a franchise universe, leveraging new characters, new formats, new experiences both digital and live, and new regions,” Yeatman said during the presentation.  

7. Hasbro sends ’80s toon The Transformers to theaters (32,431views)

To mark the 40th anniversary of its iconic Transformers franchise, Hasbro staged this big-screen release that packaged together four episodes of the original Transformers animated series from the 1980s. As per Box Office Mojo, the May 2024 release racked up US$5.85 million at the box office after hitting select theaters globally. Of course, it served a dual purpose by also building hype for CG-animated feature film Transformers One, which hit theaters in September and grossed US$129 million.

8. Paramount has laid off the entire Noggin team (29,426 views)

In February, Kidscreen broke the news that Paramount Global was shutting down Nickelodeon’s subscription-based Noggin app and laying off its entire team. The SVOD for kids ages two to seven had 2.5 million global subscribers in 2019 (four years after launch), and offered more than 1,000 educational games, videos and books, some of which became homeless after the closure. 

Kristen Kane, a former Noggin EVP when it was a part of Paramount, announced plans at the end of October to bring the brand back as an independent platform, but it’s early days still, so no details are available yet. 

9.  Moonbug lays off more staff (25,169 views)

A development producer and production coordinator were included in this April round of cuts, which Moonbug characterized as a “small reduction” of its workforce and part of an effort to set itself up for sustained growth and scale.  

10. Crunchyroll removes its comments section (23,275 views)

Anime streamer Crunchyroll made headlines in July when it shut down the ability for fans to comment on the 1,400-plus series and films in its library. The company said it did so to create a safer environment, but users were angry at the loss of a feature that drove social interaction and helped build fandom. Many turned to social media to express their frustration.