My friends at PBS KIDS and SESAME STREET have announced that beginning this Fall, they will introduce a bonus half-hour program on-air and on digital platforms. Starting Monday, September 1, the additional half-hour SESAME STREET program will air on weekday afternoons on PBS stations, complementing the one-hour series that airs weekday mornings (check local listings). For the first time, selected full episodes of the 30-minute show will also be available for free online at pbskids.org/video, on the PBS KIDS Video App and on the PBS KIDS Roku channel. By offering this bonus half hour of SESAME STREET in an additional timeslot and through a growing number of digital services, PBS KIDS hopes to reach even more children with one of America’s most beloved and educationally powerful children’s series.
Through the extensive reach of PBS KIDS, the new afternoon SESAME STREET program will offer families even more access to the iconic series that for decades has helped prepare kids for success in school and in life. PBS KIDS reaches more kids ages 2-8 and more moms with kids under age 12 than any other kids TV network, and nearly 99 percent of homes in the U.S., PBS KIDS averages more than 12 million unique visitors per month online, and more than 1.5 million users stream video on the PBS KIDS Video App each month. PBS KIDS reached 11.9 million low-income families last year, many of whom do not have access to cable or satellite TV.
BONUS: When THE ROCK FATHER met COOKIE MONSTER:
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The half-hour version of SESAME STREET will help kids learn a variety of skills, including the school readiness skills – such as impulse control and socio-emotional lessons – for which parents are increasingly seeking resources. With its comprehensive curriculum – or as Sesame Workshop calls it, a whole-child approach – SESAME STREET makes a measurable difference in children’s lives. In fact, a variety of studies prove SESAME STREET’s educational impact. A longitudinal study by the University of Kansas found that American children who frequently viewed SESAME STREET as preschoolers had high-school grade point averages that were almost 16 percent higher than those who did not watch.
Each half-hour episode of SESAME STREET is a shortened version of each one-hour program and will include a “Street Story,” a “Word on the Street” segment, a celebrity vocabulary segment, songs, spoofs, dance breaks and popular segments like “Cookie’s Crumby Pictures” or “Super Grover 2.0.”
Since its debut on PBS in 1969, SESAME STREET has provided millions of families with trusted, engaging content, and has earned extensive critical acclaim. More moms watch SESAME STREET than any other preschool program and SESAME STREET has won more Emmy Awards than any other show in TV history.8 More information about SESAME STREET is available at pbskids.org/sesame.
