Moonbug Entertainment has released a new research report on what US parents want from kids TV, and most of them are looking for a more nuanced take on parenting. 

Working with SH Focus Partners and Attest, the company’s in-house audience research team Moonbug Insights surveyed 1,000 US parents with kids under age 10 and conducted 15 in-depth interviews for its 2025 State of Parenthood study. 

Released yesterday, Moonbug’s report aims to give brands insights on how to be more relevant and helpful to parents. That’s something that several bigger companies in the industry (including Moonbug and Hasbro) are looking to achieve through new campaigns featuring instructional videos for parents and positioning CoComelon and Peppa Pig as brands that can support moms and dads in need of a little help.

Two big insights are noted in the report: Almost half of US parents want to see more imperfect parents (43%) and everyday parenting challenges (43%) in kids content. And more than a third of them feel there’s a lack of content that covers kids’ emotional development and self-regulation (35%), as well as parents learning from their mistakes (34%).

Juggling multiple responsibilities and overwhelmed by endless streams of advice, parents say they often feel stressed out—and 41% feel that no brand gets this or has ever “genuinely reflected their emotional experience as a parent”. 

Moonbug’s data indicates that presenting a more nuanced depiction of parenting could be good not just for building appeal with parents, but for improving a brand’s bottom line as well. If a brand does reflect parenting honestly, roughly half (42%) of parents say they would seek out more of it, recommend it (40%) and look for its consumer products (41%). 

“Parents today are overwhelmed and craving authenticity,” says Johanna Moscoso, director of audience intelligence at Moonbug, and the report’s lead author. “They’re drawn to brands that understand the real ups and downs of family life and meet them with empathy.”

Image courtesy of Moonbug.