Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Digital Strategy
by: Heleyna PentukBackground of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood
“Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” is an animated television series on PBS, specifically for preschoolers aged two to four. The story is built upon the beloved TV Show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”, which aired on the same network. PBS describes “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” as imaginative, creative and musical, which teaches the young audience social skills that can be used in school and other aspects of life, while also captivating the young viewers. Each episode addresses a theme or lesson that can aim to help preschoolers understand the complexities of life, such as dealing with hard emotions like disappointment. By handling complex topics in fun and understandable ways, “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” proves itself as being a compelling yet educational show for preschoolers.
The Problem
Despite holding such value, “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” has a lack of awareness, especially compared to its competitors.
The biggest competitor for the series is the Australian animated TV show “Bluey”. As reported by Forbes, “Bluey” was the most streamed show in November 2023 across any streaming platform with 3.8 million views. This showcases “Bluey’s” massive popularity and appeal among audiences. The impact of “Bluey’s” success goes beyond just streaming numbers, though. On Instagram, “Bluey” has one million followers which demonstrates its large and engaged audience.
“Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” is far behind its competitor, which is reflected in its 36.9 thousand Instagram followers. The smaller online community highlights the lack of awareness surrounding the show.
But What Can Be Done? Digital Strategy for Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood
The goal of the digital strategy is to increase viewership of episodes of Daniel Tiger on
PBS kids over regular TV or mobile app. In order to effectively achieve this, Danial Tiger’s Neighborhood should focus on its positive aspects to appeal to parents of preschoolers.
To create an effective digital strategy that will increase awareness of “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood”, the client must utilize social media, create targeted digital advertisements and partner with fitting influencers.
However, in order to effectively increase awareness for the series, it must have a clear understanding of what separated it from its competitors. According to Common Sense Media, “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” earned a 5/5-star rating in the positive role models category, making it an excellent choice for parents seeking positive content for their children. In fact, every character within the show portrays positive traits such as loyalty, compassion and humor, making it resonate with both children and parents. This empathetic angle depicting the main character’s emotional growth makes it stand apart from its competitors and should be focused on for the digital strategy. By emphasizing the show’s positive role models, and the benefits of them, in the digital strategy “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” can effectively target its niche to increase awareness of the show.
The show’s positive role models also have a lasting impact on the development of children. According to New Pathways for Youth, positive role models can provide children with many benefits such as: building self-esteem, developing strong values, inspiring achievement, encouraging responsibility, offer guidance, promote diversity and inclusion and foster positive relationships. This appeals to parents who are looking for a TV Show that will benefit their child.
A Digital Strategy for “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood”
Utilize Social Media
Utilizing social media provides “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” an opportunity to increase awareness and viewership of the show. As stated in an article about social media marketing, using social media to promote a brand will help it gain larger recognition from their desired demographic audience. A crucial part of the digital strategy is using the right social media platforms that will engage the target audience. As of right now, “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” does not have a TikTok, putting it at a disadvantage for engaging audiences. TikTok is significantly important to brands trying to increase awareness. In fact, Social Pilot states that TikTok is not an option for a growing business, but a necessity. By using TikTok as a tool for the digital strategy, “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” can promote its positive influence to its target audience and increase awareness and viewership of the show.
In addition to TikTok, “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” can use Instagram to promote the show and increase viewership. According to an article about Instagram marketing, the platform can help a business grow its audience, increase viewership and find business partners. One way it could build its audience on Instagram is by utilizing relevant hashtags in each caption, which will increase visibility and engagement. This will attract new viewers and grow not only the TV show’s Instagram page, but also its popularity.
Digital Advertisements
Another method that should be used for “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood’s” digital strategy is the use of digital advertisements. According to an article about digital advertisements, their main purpose is to create promotion by having targeted viewers take specific action. For “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood’s” digital advertisements it should target parents of preschoolers. This audience can be reached by displaying digital ads on parenting websites. The goal of these digital advertisements is to get the viewer to click on the ad, which will bring them to the PBS website where parents can learn more about the show and where to watch it. This will help the TV show meet its goals of increasing viewership.
Work with Kid Friendly Influencers
Lastly, “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” can partner with child friendly influencers to increase awareness of the show and increase viewership. An article about influencer marketing defines it as using social media figures to advertise a company or brand. Among the influencers who target young children, Ms. Rachael is among the most popular. Ms. Rachael is a Youtuber with nine million followers who makes content specifically for preschool aged children. By partnering with Ms. Rachael, “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood’s” awareness will be exponentially higher and will lead to an increase in viewership.