Streaming-video outlets like Amazon and Netflix are producing series for kids. Nontraditional entrants are also shaking up the space. Disney Junior, born out of the now-defunct SoapNet, competes with outlets like Nick Jr., part of the massive Viacom-owned Nickelodeon franchise Sprout, the network aimed at preschoolers recently taken over by NBCUniversal and PBS Kids, the daytime block of educational programming for kids that airs on PBS. The company launched Disney Junior in 2011 on the back of a block of kiddie viewing that ran under the same name on its flagship Disney Channel. “Elena” will do battle, of sorts, as parent Walt Disney seeks to push forward Disney Junior in an increasingly competitive market for TV’s littlest viewers.

The series debuted in 2012.Īccording to the network, “Sofia the First” has delivered the two highest-rated telecasts in cable TV history among kids between 2 and 5 years of age as well as girls between 2 and 5, in addition to the second-highest rated cable-TV telecast ever in total viewers, adults 18-49 and women 18-49.

Cinderella, Mulan, Ariel from”The Little Mermaid” and Rapunzel from “Tangled” have all made appearances in “Sofia,” which tells the story of a young girl whose mother marries the king, leaving her to navigate a new milieu and family. “Sofia” has emerged as one of the pillars of the Disney Junior schedule, and serves to burnish the company’s many “Princess” characters and the storytelling behind them.

New sofia the first