Netflix snags “Sesame Street” from HBO amid a children’s content push

Elmo, Big Bird, & co. are moving to a new home—just down the street of streamer-shortcut buttons on your remote.

Netflix yesterday signed an agreement that’ll see new episodes of Sesame Street hosted by the streamer. They’ll also be available to watch same-day on PBS, where the beloved children’s show has lived for 50+ years (an open Sesame agreement, if you will).

The deal comes at a crucial time for Sesame Street. After having some grants canceled by the Trump admin and losing a ~$30 million/year deal with HBO to produce new episodes (HBO now pays ~$6 million for access to the show’s back catalog instead), Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind the show, was thrown into financial turmoil. The group in March announced it would lay off ~20% of its staff.

Though financial terms of the Netflix deal weren’t disclosed (analysts say they’re probably less friendly than the previous deal), Sesame Workshop CEO Sherrie Westin said in a note to staff it was “certainly worth celebrating.” It’ll also give the show access to a wider reach; Netflix boasts 300+ million subscribers, while Max HBO Max has ~122 million.

Big picture: Children’s content accounts for 15% of all viewing on Netflix. Sesame Street joins a slate of children’s shows already on the service, including Cocomelon and Ms. Rachel. On Monday, the streamer also announced the release of a new game dedicated to Peppa Pig.