Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Marketing Strategy
By Camryn Brown
Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, produced by Fred Rogers Productions, brings the gentle tone and values of Mister Roger’s Neighborhood to a new generation. Through songs, stories, and authentic characters children can easily relate to, the show strives to teach children social and emotional skills. In order to grow the show’s digital presence without sacrificing its core values, it needs a holistic marketing strategy that leverages the online behavior of parents as well as a new generation of digitally active children while also complying with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and maintaining the authenticity and integrity of the show.
Target Audience
Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, produced by Fred Rogers Productions, brings the gentle tone and values of Mister Roger’s Neighborhood to a new generation. Through songs, stories, and authentic characters children can easily relate to, the show strives to teach children social and emotional skills. In order to grow the show’s digital presence without sacrificing its core values, it needs a holistic marketing strategy that leverages the online behavior of parents as well as a new generation of digitally active children while also complying with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and maintaining the authenticity and integrity of the show.
Marketing to children
Marketing and advertising to children is an extremely tricky business. Things like the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act provide guidelines for online behavior regarding children, and it is vital that they are complied with. The safety and wellbeing of children is at the core of Fred Rogers’ legacy and is carried on through Fred Rogers Productions. Keeping this in mind, it is extremely important that any marketing does the same. All digital content should be made with children’s privacy and wellbeing in mind, which is why most of the strategy is targeted towards parents.
Positioning and Marketing
Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood should strive to position itself as the go to show for social and emotional learning through stories, songs, and relatable characters and situations. By presenting itself as more than just entertainment, it increases value for parents and prompts them to choose Daniel Tiger over children’s shows that do not present educational value. It could also leverage the legacy of Fred Rogers, who was known for the values of respect and thoughtfulness he instilled in young viewers. The most important aspects of the strategy should be consistency across platforms and appropriate tone and content.
Content strategy
Many parents use YouTube in addition to television to entertain their children. Full episodes of the show as well as compilations and clips are available on the PBS Kids YouTube channel. This is already a great step in driving engagement, but could be improved by offering extra content that can only be found on the YouTube channel in between the release of new episodes. They could also create playlists of specific themes for episodes, which would make topics easily accessible for educators or parents looking to teach a specific lesson. Reels and shorts may also be useful in reaching larger audiences. In order to reach a more specific audience, the show could partner with parenting or educational blogs and magazines to inform parents and educators about ways to use the show to teach children.
Social media strategy
Social media is an extremely effective tool when it comes to reaching parents of the target demographic, especially considering that the majority of them are millennials. According to a survey conducted by the University of Texas, approximately 86% of millenials are on at least one social media platform, making it an excellent place to generate awareness. On all platforms except for YouTube, content should be focused on parents rather than on the children who would be watching the show. Instagram and Facebook content could focus on creating awareness of the show, so while the content wouldn’t give deep explanations of the show or provide full length clips, it could post quotes, stills, and polls that at least catch the attention of parents, providing a link in the account’s bio for anyone seeking more information. Pinterest content could target parents by circulating things like Daniel Tiger themed chore charts, printables, coloring pages, crafts, and more. This would provide parents with a cheap and easily accessible way to indirectly promote the show.
Website and app
PBS Kids has an excellent app and website. Both are very intuitive and user friendly, even for children. The website and app already contain games and episodes for children as well as many different resources for parents. A section for educators could be added to encourage the use of the show to teach social and emotional skills in preschools or even elementary school classrooms. Both the app and the website could be advertised and promoted on social media channels in order to increase traffic.
Influencer Marketing
It may be beneficial to reach out to parenting blogs and micro influencers in order to promote the show. Partners can be asked to talk about the social and emotional value the show has for young children, especially above other children’s entertainment. By partnering with sources that parents already trust, it will already have a base level of trust with parents, making them more likely to show it to their children.
in conclusion…
This strategy isn’t particularly creative or outside the box, but its important to meet parents where they already are. Social media, YouTube, and mobile apps make Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood easily accessible, like any educational content should be. A thoughtful approach that targets parents rather than children can help to ensure that children are helped to learn and grow while also being kept safe online.
Works Cited
About - fred rogers productions. Fred Rogers Productions -. (2024, March 6). https://www.fredrogers.org/about/
Admin-Risepoint. (2025, January 24). Marketing to children. CSP Global. https://online.csp.edu/resources/article/marketing-to-children/
Dylan. (2024, November 14). Decoded: How to market to parents in the Digital age. VujaDay Creative Digital Agency. https://vujadaydigital.com/how-to-market-to-parents/
Nguyen, S. T. (2025, February 6). Children. Federal Trade Commission. https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/advertising-marketing/children
Rideout, V., & Watkins, C. (2019). Millennials, Social Media, and politics. https://moody.utexas.edu/sites/default/files/Millennials-Social-Media-Politics.pdf