In this week's episode, the Kids Media crew are all together, live and in person, at San Diego for the Kidscreen Summit 2025.

Jo, Emily, and Andy share their thoughts on the mood at the conference and which of the sessions they're excited to attend. Along the way, they also hear from other delegates and get their views on the conference and what it might mean for the kids media industry.

In this week's episode of the Kids Media Club podcast, Jo, Emily, and Andy are beyond thrilled to be joined by the folks behind the cherished preschool phenomenon THE WIGGLES! Wiggles CEO, Luke O'Neill, and the legend and co-founder of the Wiggles, Anthony Field share their insights and experiences on a journey that started with them playing to small classes of children and grew to performing at Madison Square Gardens.

They discuss how the Wiggles began, what they feel are the secret ingredients to their success, and some of their surprising celebrity fans.

This is an inspirational chat about building an internationally successful children's brand and a must listen for anyone looking to create tomorrow's kids media hit.

January is almost over, Toy Fair London has wrapped and the Kids Media Club hosts are catching up to share their impressions and talk about what new trends they spotted and what toys to look out for in the year ahead

Jo, Andy, and Emily also talk about the new Netflix report and the continued dominance of YouTube.

In this special Kids Media Club Podcast episode, brought to you by The Insights Family, Jo, Andy, and Emily are joined by Jack Day, Global Strategy Account Director, along with researchers Needa Khan and Udoy Nafis Oli, to discuss The Insights Family’s flagship annual report, Future Forecast, exploring the emerging consumer shifts and industry trends shaping how organisations connect with young audiences in 2025 and beyond.

Download your free copy of the report https://go.theinsightsfamily.com/download-future-forecast-2025 or

visit https://theinsightsfamily.com/ for more information

This episode is all chat, no guests; just hosts Jo, Emily, and Andy having a good old chinwag about all things kids media.

Topics covered:

1. The consequences of the potential TikTok ban
2. What is and isn't popping on Netflix
3. WWE and live programming on Netflix
4. Thoughts on Kidscreen and Toyfair.

In this episode of the Kids Media Club Podcast, Jo, Emily, and Andy are joined by Michael Hirsh, the co-founder of Nelvana Animation Studio and Cookie Jar entertainment. Michael, who is credited with building the Canadian Animation industry from the ground up, shares his experience and insights gained over more than five decades in entertainment. He has kept pace with changes to the industry, working with dedicated children's channels like Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Disney channel, while also embracing the possibility of streaming and online platforms like Netflix and Youtube. Very few people working in the Kids Media industry today have that combination of experience and curiosity.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Animation-Nation-Built-Cartoon-Empire-ebook/dp/B0DFTVVS7D

The Kids Media Club revisits a recent chat with the Insights Family. In this Kids Media Club Podcast episode brought to you by The Insights Family, Jo, Andy, and Emily are joined by Adam Woodgate, VP of Research Solutions, and Aimee Brookes, Customer Success Manager for the Insights Family to take a look back at 2024 and discuss the emerging trends in store for 2025 and beyond.

Happy holidays. We're taking a break this week, but to carry us through we thought we'd revisit this great interview from this year with Kevin Gillis the creator of the classic animation, Raccoons.