{"id":29764,"date":"2025-06-03T11:20:54","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T15:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/nickelodeons-ashley-kaplan-on-the-kid-cowboy-journey\/"},"modified":"2025-06-03T11:22:20","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T15:22:20","slug":"nickelodeons-ashley-kaplan-on-the-kid-cowboy-journey-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/nickelodeons-ashley-kaplan-on-the-kid-cowboy-journey-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Nickelodeon\u2019s Ashley Kaplan on the Kid Cowboy Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ashley Kaplan, executive VP of unscripted and digital franchise studio at Nickelodeon, spoke at the TV Kids Summer Festival today about the brand\u2019s first YouTube original series, Kid Cowboy<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In the keynote conversation that you can view here<\/a>, Kaplan discussed Nickelodeon\u2019s overall approach to YouTube and the early lessons from its first series produced specifically for the platform.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou really can\u2019t talk about kids without talking about YouTube. It\u2019s 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<\/em>, all the major [new] kids\u2019 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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, \u201cto 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\u2019 media or entertainment company. We\u2019re bigger than Mattel, Hasbro, Disney, Warner,\u201d with 50-plus YouTube channels delivering content in more than a dozen languages. \u201cWe have over 200 million total subscribers. We get 2.5 billion views a month. We\u2019re 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\u2019s not just about awareness, it\u2019s really about building heart-share.\u201d<\/p>\n

About a year ago, Kaplan said she and the team \u201cknew 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\u2019t 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\u2019s the same fidelity to that idea. Instead of putting it in front of 200 kids in schools, we\u2019re putting this new IP in front of millions of kids on YouTube and learning what they\u2019re responding to and what they are not. Kid Cowboy<\/em> 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the big lessons from this process so far has been not being \u201cafraid 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\u2019re responding to and what they are not responding to. We\u2019re 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\u2019re working in this YouTube platform with this medium and pivot when need to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the franchise aspirations for Kid Cowboy<\/em>, Kaplan noted, \u201cYouTube is important, but it\u2019s not a great place to make money. The strategy for Kid Cowboy<\/em> is to build it into the next major franchise. We start on YouTube. We introduce the IP there\u2014the world, the characters, the music. We get kids as excited as we can. Once they are, we can move beyond the YouTube content we\u2019re 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<\/em>, with a long-form series, with theatricals and toys and consumer products. That is the goal. I believe the next PAW Patrol<\/em> will be born on YouTube.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaplan said she doesn\u2019t 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. \u201cIt\u2019s about how you format the content for YouTube. How you introduce the characters. It\u2019s about getting to the action quickly. It\u2019s 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\u2019t just post a video on YouTube without an audience. I would not start a channel from scratch. It would be really hard. We\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Creators should approach YouTube with an open mind, Kaplan added. \u201cCreative 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\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tapping into YouTube analytics is also key, Kaplan added. \u201cI 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\u2019re liking the most. We could see when they\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of Kaplan\u2019s team\u2019s efforts on YouTube support the broader goals at Paramount. \u201cMy work since 2019 has mostly been focused on supporting existing franchises like SpongeBob SquarePants<\/em> and PAW Patrol<\/em>. 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\u2019re willing to move with the characters across our platforms. We can use our strength and popularity in digital in the exact same way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaplan also talked about her unscripted remit, which runs across sports and tentpoles like the Kids Choice Awards. \u201cMy goal with unscripted is to break through culture. It\u2019s 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\u2019re always thinking about how we can build things into the creative that will travel off the screen and into the national dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ashley Kaplan, executive VP of unscripted and digital franchise studio at Nickelodeon, spoke at the TV Kids Summer Festival today about the brand\u2019s first YouTube original series, Kid Cowboy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":29765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[4832,10459,96,10985],"class_list":["post-29764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-ashley-kaplan","tag-kid-cowboy","tag-nickelodeon","tag-tv-kids-summer-festival-2025","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nNickelodeon\u2019s Ashley Kaplan on the Kid Cowboy Journey - TVKIDS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/nickelodeons-ashley-kaplan-on-the-kid-cowboy-journey-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nickelodeon\u2019s Ashley Kaplan on the Kid Cowboy Journey - TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ashley Kaplan, executive VP of unscripted and digital franchise studio at Nickelodeon, spoke at the TV Kids Summer Festival today about the brand\u2019s first YouTube original series, Kid Cowboy.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/nickelodeons-ashley-kaplan-on-the-kid-cowboy-journey-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-03T15:20:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-03T15:22:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/06\/2024-06-Kaplan.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"394\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/nickelodeons-ashley-kaplan-on-the-kid-cowboy-journey-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/nickelodeons-ashley-kaplan-on-the-kid-cowboy-journey-2\/\",\"name\":\"Nickelodeon\u2019s Ashley Kaplan on the Kid Cowboy Journey - TVKIDS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-03T15:20:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-03T15:22:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/nickelodeons-ashley-kaplan-on-the-kid-cowboy-journey-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/nickelodeons-ashley-kaplan-on-the-kid-cowboy-journey-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/nickelodeons-ashley-kaplan-on-the-kid-cowboy-journey-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Nickelodeon\u2019s Ashley Kaplan on the Kid Cowboy Journey\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/\",\"name\":\"TVKIDS\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\",\"name\":\"Mansha Daswani\",\"description\":\"Mansha Daswani is the editor-in-chief and associate publisher of World Screen. 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