Nickelodeon Rides With ‘Kid Cowboy,’ Its First Original Animated Series for YouTube (Exclusive)
Nickelodeon has built up a huge following on YouTube, with more than 50 channels devoted to properties ranging from SpongeBob SquarePants to Paw Patrol. What it hasn’t done — until now — is launched an original animated series on the platform.
On Friday, Nick debuted Kid Cowboy, a show aimed at preschoolers that follows the title character and his best friend, Luna, as they keep watch over and fight for justice in the futuristic world of Esperanza (with help from their robot horses). Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer Freddy Wexler created the series and executive produces with multiple Grammy winner Emilio Estefan; the two are also the show’s principal composers.
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“Kid Cowboy is a futuristic playground of flying robo-horses, incredible music, and a cast of kids as diverse and dynamic as the stories they’re living,” Wexler said in a statement. “The move to premiere it on YouTube signals a strategic pivot to meet audiences where they are — on digital-first platforms — while setting a new standard for how franchises are born. Kid Cowboy isn’t just a show; it’s a reimagining of cowboy culture and a new blueprint for how kids’ entertainment can evolve in a world dominated by streaming and short-form content.”
Kid Cowboy will launch on Nick’s Blaze and the Monster Machines YouTube channel. Should it prove successful, it would spin off into its own channel, said Ashley Kaplan, executive vp of Nickelodeon Unscripted & Digital Franchise Studio. Though Kid Cowboy initially came through Nickelodeon’s traditional development system, it eventually became the first original animated series for YouTube — which, Kaplan notes, is the prime destination for kids viewing.
“Ninety percent of all kids are on [YouTube]. It has 60 to 70 percent more reach among kids than Netflix does. Kids spend 80 minutes a day watching content there, and its influence on the biggest IP is super clear,” Kaplan told The Hollywood Reporter. “It probably has the most critical role in how kids discover shows, brands, toys, music, culture. [Paramount co-CEO and Nickelodeon chief Brian Robbins], to his credit, understood this, and he brought me here back in 2019. Since then, my team and I have worked to build out the largest YouTube network out of any kids media company.”
That network includes 53 channels with more than 200 million combined subscribers, and videos that play in more than a dozen languages. “We really focus on channels organized by genre, audience, IP,” Kaplan said. “It’s designed to help keep our biggest franchises — SpongeBob, Paw Patrol, Blaze — winning with the algorithm, while also using the flywheel to introduce new IP and lay the groundwork for the future.”
Starting Kid Cowboy on the Blaze channel (which has 6 million subscribers), Kaplan said, makes sense because both shows feature play-along adventures for their target viewers that encourage them to solve problems alongside the characters. Kid Cowboy also features some Spanish dialogue, a la Nick’s long-running Dora.
“Growing up, I never saw kids like me in Westerns, and this series changes that,” Estefan said in a statement. “Through the adventures of Kid and Luna, I hope children everywhere see themselves reflected on screen, while also learning the values of bravery, kindness, and staying true to themselves. I was so happy when Freddy called me to be a part of this incredible experience.”
Launching the series on YouTube makes sense because of the viewing habits for Kid Cowboy’s target audience, but Kaplan sees the platform as a starting point, not the destination. Several other YouTube-first series — some based on original ideas and some on existing IP “that we still think is awesome,” as Kaplan put it — are due to roll out later in the year.
“Ultimately, our goal is not to just build large YouTube channels. It’s to build the next big kids’ franchise,” Kaplan said. “It starts on YouTube, but it goes beyond that to long form, possibly even theatrical, and into toys. I’m excited that in success, we could partner with our studio, Paramount Pictures, to see Kid Cowboy come to life in long form. That’s the dream.”
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