Nickelodeon’s Ashley Kaplan on the Kid Cowboy Journey

Ashley Kaplan, executive VP of unscripted and digital franchise studio at Nickelodeon, spoke at the TV Kids Summer Festival today about the brand’s first YouTube original series, Kid Cowboy.

In the keynote conversation that you can view here, Kaplan discussed Nickelodeon’s overall approach to YouTube and the early lessons from its first series produced specifically for the platform.

“You really can’t talk about kids without talking about YouTube. It’s by far the number one platform for kids. Ninety percent of all kids are on that platform. It has about 60 to 70 percent more reach than Netflix. [Kids] spend 80 minutes a day watching content. Its influence on the biggest IP is clear. With the exception of Bluey, all the major [new] kids’ franchises have been born on YouTube. It plays a massive role, maybe the most critical role, in how kids discover shows and brands and toys and music and culture.”

Brian Robbins, co-CEO of Paramount Global, understood this back when he was running Nickelodeon after having started the digital content company Awesomeness. In 2019, Robbins lured Kaplan over from another digital content company, Fullscreen, “to bring Nickelodeon into the 21st century as it related to its digital platforms. Since that day, my team and I have worked to build out the largest YouTube network out of any kids’ media or entertainment company. We’re bigger than Mattel, Hasbro, Disney, Warner,” with 50-plus YouTube channels delivering content in more than a dozen languages. “We have over 200 million total subscribers. We get 2.5 billion views a month. We’re the gold standard because we do not consider what we do on YouTube marketing. We program content there on YouTube the same way that you would program content on any entertainment platform. Through watching our content, kids become fans of the IP. It’s not just about awareness, it’s really about building heart-share.”

About a year ago, Kaplan said she and the team “knew we had to do something different. We had to fish where the fish were. Brian asked me to develop new IP on YouTube. Grow it there, build fandom and heart share there before taking it elsewhere. It isn’t that much different than what Nickelodeon used to do in the past. Nickelodeon was always focused on learning from kids about what they wanted to see. Back in the day, Nickelodeon used to take their ideas and put them in front of kids at schools and get feedback. It’s the same fidelity to that idea. Instead of putting it in front of 200 kids in schools, we’re putting this new IP in front of millions of kids on YouTube and learning what they’re responding to and what they are not. Kid Cowboy was the perfect first project, mostly because it was fully developed! In fact, it was just sort of sitting on the development slate for years. I think it was about to revert back to the creator, Freddy Wexler. I approached him. He has three kids under 7 and he totally got it. And I loved it for the unique story environment, the music, I knew it would work.”

One of the big lessons from this process so far has been not being “afraid to make changes, to lean into what this platform and the process can afford. Because of our footprint, we have all this data. We can figure out truly what they’re responding to and what they are not responding to. We’re able to make adjustments in real time. We can get from idea to video in a matter of weeks. We have to move faster. So not being afraid of pivoting when we need to pivot and leaning into the fact that we’re working in this YouTube platform with this medium and pivot when need to be.”

On the franchise aspirations for Kid Cowboy, Kaplan noted, “YouTube is important, but it’s not a great place to make money. The strategy for Kid Cowboy is to build it into the next major franchise. We start on YouTube. We introduce the IP there—the world, the characters, the music. We get kids as excited as we can. Once they are, we can move beyond the YouTube content we’re making. We can do more narrative, long-form storytelling. The goal here is not just to build large YouTube channels. The goal is that this becomes the next PAW Patrol, with a long-form series, with theatricals and toys and consumer products. That is the goal. I believe the next PAW Patrol will be born on YouTube.”

Kaplan said she doesn’t think there are certain ideas that are better suited to a digital-first rollout; rather, the differences are more in pace, execution and awareness building. “It’s about how you format the content for YouTube. How you introduce the characters. It’s about getting to the action quickly. It’s about integrating some of the characters into other content that already has an audience. A very important piece is that you have to have a way to find the audience. You can’t just post a video on YouTube without an audience. I would not start a channel from scratch. It would be really hard. We’re in this unique position here at Nick that we have such a footprint, we have the ability to find the audience to launch something new.”

Creators should approach YouTube with an open mind, Kaplan added. “Creative flexibility and willingness to take strategic risks when it comes to animation style or pacing. Treat YouTube like a launch pad, as a franchise incubator. Try and think beyond episodes. Plan to expand the world and the reach of your IP in different ways. We’re in an interesting time in the industry and I would just say keep looking for opportunities where you can pivot because the world is changing.”

Tapping into YouTube analytics is also key, Kaplan added. “I wish we had that level of data for linear. We can see where people are going back to rewatch the same thing. That can inform what characters they’re liking the most. We could see when they’re not engaging as much. It is testing, learning and trying to pay attention to where there is engagement. Watch time is the best way to gauge that more than any other stat.”

All of Kaplan’s team’s efforts on YouTube support the broader goals at Paramount. “My work since 2019 has mostly been focused on supporting existing franchises like SpongeBob SquarePants and PAW Patrol. We built the best-in-class ecosystem with those beloved shows. This strength in digital is a huge advantage in launching shows and franchises because we know linear alone is not enough. The franchise strategy using Paramount theatricals to further build our Nick titles works so well in cultivating audiences because we see that they’re willing to move with the characters across our platforms. We can use our strength and popularity in digital in the exact same way.”

Kaplan also talked about her unscripted remit, which runs across sports and tentpoles like the Kids Choice Awards. “My goal with unscripted is to break through culture. It’s to get everybody talking about us. I consider our unscripted tent poles more as an opportunity for brand marketing than anything we do on YouTube. We know the slime cannons that we brought to life in the first [NFL] Wild Card Game broke the internet. The Super Bowl a year ago, we were the most mentioned brand on social, more than Verizon, Apple, what have you. We’re always thinking about how we can build things into the creative that will travel off the screen and into the national dialogue.”