It has never been easy to capture the attention of teens. It’s not that they don’t like screens—they actually love them the most. In fact, roughly half (46%) of the US teen population (ages 13 to 17) says they’re online constantly, according to a Pew Research survey that was released in August. 

But getting them to watch your content there is another matter. 

“We’ve lost the 13- to 16-year-old viewers to YouTube and TikTok,” says David Michel, president and co-founder of French prodco Cottonwood Media. “But the tween audience is kind of split between TV and social platforms. We haven’t lost them entirely.”

Cottonwood is leaning into this opportunity with new live-action titles like Theodosia (ZDF) and Circuit Breakers (Apple TV+). And Michel says there is more freedom today for ambitious tween content beyond the safe zone of sitcoms.

French prodco Cottonwood Media is catering to the demand for more sophisticated tween content with live-action titles like Theodosia.

But with subscriber growth plateauing, streamers may need to bet on content that is appealing to both groups on a mass scale. And for some, the answer to this challenge may be found in “clean teen” programming.

“Clean teen” content on the rise

Kindle Entertainment’s teen thriller The A List (2018) succeeded because it worked on multiple levels, acknowledging the disappearing line between older tween and teen audiences, says managing director Melanie Stokes.

“Younger teens loved it because it was sort of risqué and aspirational, while older teens liked it for the comfort factor of the familiar,” including friendship dynamics and nostalgic school settings. It’s a tricky balance that is immensely rewarding when done right.

Following Kindle’s acquisition by Banijay Kids & Family last fall, the prodco has been responding to “clean teen” content demand from platforms like Freeform and Amazon Freevee, and early conversations are promising. “They’re looking for [programming] that’s softer YA, but also not as edgy as Euphoria,” says Stokes. The ongoing expansion of free services and cheaper AVOD tiers could also help give streamers a much-needed leg up to reach teens and compete with the likes of YouTube and other web platforms, she predicts.

ABC Australia kickstarted its 2023 with the launch of new horror/comedy series Crazy Fun Park (10 x 30 minutes) in an effort to appeal to a wider teen audience. The show’s protagonist is an introverted high-schooler who’s mourning the loss of his best friend—until he meets his buddy’s ghost at an abandoned theme park. “We really wanted a show about that bittersweet and tender friendship between boys, showing them in a more complex manner than we often see,” says Libbie Doherty, head of children’s at the Australian pubcaster.

Targeted at a wide teen audience, ABC Australia’s new horror/comedy series Crazy Fun Park tackles complex issues like grief and male friendship.

Like most broadcasters, Doherty acknowledges the challenge of getting teens to tune in, but adds that it doesn’t mean they should be ignored. Instead, she advises programming buyers to look for content that caters to the tricky zone between kids and adults, while being careful not to fall into the pigeon-holing trap. “We have to honor the fact that teens are very much the curators of their own experience.”

Stokes says Netflix has done a great job of finding content that primarily centers on adolescent characters, while also resonating with a broader audience. The streamer’s most recent hit along these lines is teen-skewing series Wednesday, which debuted in December and quickly became its third most-viewed English-language series of all time. 

Then there’s pop-culture juggernaut Stranger Things—research firm KidsKnowBest says Stranger Things is the top choice for favorite show among 12- to 16-year-olds in the US and UK. 

And last year’s breakout hit Heartstopper from See-Saw Films, which centers on a gay teen love story, is also a success story. The eight x 30-minute series hit Netflix’s top 10 in more than 50 countries, and was greenlit for two more seasons just a month after its debut. 

Heartstopper is adapted from the same-name web comic by Alice Oseman, who was just 22 when it was first published in 2016. ABC Australia’s Doherty says her team also tries to source teen projects from younger creatives, since they are closer to the action and authenticity of life at that age. And that means depicting what a teen is actually going through—not simply an adult’s view of what a teen is going through.

“It’s a subtle difference, but an important one,” says Doherty. “[With] storytelling for this age group, it’s just not going to work if you don’t have people with lived experience in the writers room and on the production team, adding that nuance and texture.”

Mining social media

Another factor working for Heartstopper is its origins as a web comic, which gave it a built-in following at launch. Having a successful social or digital presence is increasingly key. 

So ABC Australia is building one for its upcoming one-hour special The Disposables, a gritty story about a 16-year-old refugee in Sydney whose father goes missing. The one-hour ABC ME and ABC iview broadcast will also be broken down into a TikTok series (30 x two minutes) to satisfy the vertical, bite-size preferences of today’s teens. It also features footage that looks like it was recorded on a phone, giving it an experimental vibe in both form and duration. 

See-Saw Films’ breakout hit Heartstopper started as a young creator’s webcomic, giving it authenticity and a built-in following at launch. (Image Courtesy: Netflix)

Social media is a resource for creatives working to target tweens, too. “We create social media accounts for our shows, and these platforms help us gauge audience reactions to story twists,” notes Cottonwood’s Michel. “We often get DMs with really strong opinions [from young fans under parental supervision].”

Youth media researcher Mary Madden says that although the two poles of the 12 to 17 demo differ in many ways, they also have overlapping preferences due to their shared familiarity with smartphones and social media. A senior fellow at Sesame Workshop’s Joan Ganz Cooney Center, Madden co-authored the Center’s 2021 study The Missing Middle, which drew from 50 respondents (ages 10 to 17) in the US to identify public media gaps in teen/tween offerings. 

She notes the potential of tools like transmedia storytelling to capture this base and sees opportunity in narratives and characters with which audiences can engage across platforms. This drives speculation about outcomes, cultivates online fandom, and gives teens a sense of autonomy when they’re trusted to figure things out. 

“You can see it being done effectively in the music industry—for example, Taylor Swift is known for dropping hints and puzzles [across social media] for her fans,” says Madden.

The next chapter

Canada (the land of Degrassi) may be the litmus test for clean teen content’s potential. A.J. Trauth, marblemedia’s VP of kids, is optimistic that a teen resurgence is on the horizon. Last year, the Toronto-based prodco tapped into digital-first funding to launch its web series Lady Ada’s Secret Society for ages nine to 15. Now it’s setting its sights on the wider teen base.

Based on encouraging input from a commissioning streamer, marblemedia aged up its target demo for two upcoming projects, now squarely aiming for 12- to 17-year-olds. The first is a comedy series that was initially planned for the eight-to-12 set, but pivoted up to avoid watering down the humor. And the second show, based on a horror book franchise, reset its target demo to retain more of the source material’s frightening bits. “A few chapters of those books are honestly scary—we were debating if we could depict that on screen for six to 11s. So we decided to age up and lean into the scary.”

Now marblemedia is actively hunting for new IPs and books to option for teen projects. “It’s liberating,” Trauth says. “Everything we do is family-appropriate, but in terms of the scares, jokes and maturity of certain relationships we’re depicting, we can push the envelope a bit more with the 12 to 17 demo.”

Teen-skewing series Wednesday debuted in December and quickly became Netflix’s third most-viewed English-language series of all time. (Image Courtesy: Netflix)

Canadian media company Corus struck a deal last fall with Dominion of Drama in the UK to tap into the youth-whispering prowess of its founder, author and producer Jeff Norton. Together, they’ve established a new entity, Waterside Studios, that will invest in teen-skewing book adaptations with the goal of producing high-quality, live-action programming for youth. 

While Corus has traditionally looked at its demo-specific branded channels first and the international marketplace second, Norton says the strategy with Waterside will be global—and YA-focused. “Lots of buyers and commissioners outside of Canada are incredibly hungry for content,” he says with enthusiasm, noting that the company has a number of books under option and in development. 

And just like a savvy parent, Corus even plans to give Waterside the space and trust to go out into the world on its own. Waterside can tap into the production/distribution capabilities of Corus’s Nelvana or work with other partners for more adult-skewing fare.

The label’s first project will be a miniseries called The Last Wish of Sasha Cade, which is about a teen girl who loses her best friend to cancer. Based on the 2018 book of the same name by Cheyanne Young, this miniseries will start production later this year. 

Complex narratives such as this must be balanced with optimism—a hallmark of clean teen content that sets it apart from darker YA shows, notes Norton. “You have to remember that, to a teenager, life is already dystopian fiction.” 

Norton visited more than 500 schools over the past few years to speak to teens, and identified two needs: relatability and escapism. “There’s a desire to have anything from what I call armchair travel to the full-on escapism of fantasy or sci-fi,” he says. “But there’s also a yearning [among teens] to see themselves and their day-to-day life on screen.” 

For ABC Australia’s Doherty, the takeaway is simple: “Teens are a challenging audience. But once you get them, it’s well worth the effort.” 

This story was originally published in Kidscreen‘s February/March 2023 issue.