Sky, WarnerMedia & ViacomCBS Launch Kids’ Subtitles Campaign

Sky, WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS Networks UK have partnered for the Turn on the Subtitles campaign, which will see subtitles added to more than 500 episodes of kids’ content.

The campaign aims to improve the literacy skills of children across the U.K. and Ireland while they watch their favorite programs. The collection of subtitled episodes—from such popular titles as SpongeBob SquarePants, PAW Patrol, The Amazing World of Gumball and Moominvalley—are currently available to Sky customers with Sky Kids.

Lucy Murphy, director of kids’ content at Sky, said: “At Sky, we connect millions of children to stories they love. We’re delighted to partner with WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS to support the Turn on the Subtitles campaign and help improve the literacy skills of thousands of children in the U.K. and Ireland through something as simple as turning on the subtitles to their favorite shows.”

Vanessa Brookman, head of kids at WarnerMedia EMEA, said: “We are so pleased to be a part of this important initiative from Sky. By providing a range of our best-loved titles from Cartoon Network and Boomerang, such as The Amazing World of Gumball and Be Cool, Scooby-Doo, we hope to contribute to improving children’s reading skills across the U.K. and Ireland.”

Louise Bucknole, VP of kids’ programming at ViacomCBS Networks UK & Ireland, added: “Turn on the Subtitles is a great way to help improve children’s reading and writing skills in the U.K. and Ireland. We’re thrilled to support this great initiative with Sky and to add subtitles to our much-loved shows from the Nickelodeon catalog such as PAW Patrol, SpongeBob Squarepants, Henry Danger, The Thundermans and many more.”

Oli Barrett MBE, co-founder of Turn on the Subtitles, commented: “Some ideas are so powerful that something must be done about them. Subtitles improving literacy is one of those ideas. This campaign takes an incredibly simple insight and uses it to improve people’s lives. We are incredibly grateful for the support of Sky, Viacom and Warner Media who are now taking this seriously, and to the many high-profile names who are helping us to spread the word.”