Children’s content can generate extraordinary viewing figures on YouTube. But does this popularity translate to huge rewards?

While it may seem lucrative, creators face a very different set of rules when they target young audiences. So before you start planning to take out the Baby Shark, it’s worth understanding exactly what you’re getting into.

What does “Made for Kids” actually mean?

“Made for Kids” is an audience classification used by YouTube. It does not mean your videos will only appear in the separate YouTube Kids app. They can still be watched on the main YouTube platform, appear in search results, recommendations and suggested videos. It’s just a way of letting YouTube understand whether children are the intended audience for the content. Factors including subject matter, language, child actors, characters, toys, games, songs and the way the content is marketed will help determine if your content is made for kids..

It’s also important to differentiate between family-friendly content and Made for Kids content. A family-friendly video can be perfectly suitable for children without being specifically created with them in mind. Take a wildlife video, for example. It could appeal to viewers of all ages, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it was produced specifically for a children’s audience.

What age bracket constitutes “kids” on YouTube?

There isn’t a simple YouTube rule saying that everything aimed at a particular age automatically falls into one category. However, the underlying US COPPA framework generally treats children as under 13. The YouTube Kids platform divides its audience into three groups: Preschool (4 and under), Younger (5–8) and Older (9–12).

YouTube however, doesn’t ask creators to select a specific age range when uploading Made for Kids content. Instead, you simply tell YouTube whether your content is Made for Kids or not. The separate Preschool, Younger and Older categories relate to the parental settings available within YouTube Kids. The parental selection will influence how content is presented to children when using the platform.

These age ranges can therefore be useful when considering who you are creating content for, but they shouldn’t be treated as a straightforward legal definition of what constitutes Made for Kids content.

What happens when you mark content Made for Kids?

This is where things become particularly important for anyone considering a children’s channel.

YouTube restricts a number of features on Made for Kids content. This is because it assumes viewer data is coming from a child and naturally younger viewers should be treated differently to adults.

That means creators lose or have restrictions placed on the following features:

Restrictions on a Made for Kids video

Advertising & monetisation

  • Personalised advertising is disabled. Contextual ads can still appear.
  • Channel Memberships aren’t available on the video.
  • Merchandise and ticketing features aren’t available.
  • Super Chat and Super Stickers aren’t available.
  • Donate buttons aren’t available.
  • Live chat donations aren’t available.

Viewer engagement

  • Comments are disabled.
  • Notification bell isn’t available for the video.
  • Cards and end screens are disabled.
  • Save to playlist / Save to Watch Later is disabled.
  • Miniplayer playback is disabled.
  • Channel branding watermark is disabled.
  • Autoplay on Home is disabled.

And if an entire channel is aimed at children there are additional channel-level restrictions. The channel loses include:

  • Channel Memberships
  • Notification bell
  • Posts
  • Ask Studio

For a normal YouTuber, these would be considered major inconveniences. These features are crucial to grow and thrive as a creator. Comments help build communities, notifications bring viewers back and personalised advertising can make audiences more commercially valuable generating valuable revenue.

So, by choosing Made for Kids you aren’t simply telling YouTube who your audience is. You’re changing the mechanics of how your channel operates.

Can you still earn Ad revenue from children’s content?

The simple answer is yes, but not in the same ways you would from conventional content. The main misconception is that marking a video Made for Kids means advertising disappears. It doesn’t.

On the main YouTube site they can still show advertising against Made for Kids content. The fundamental difference is personalised advertising, remarketing and other personalised targeting are prohibited. Contextual advertising can still be served based on factors such as the content being watched, the viewer’s search and general location.

This distinction matters because advertising revenue is actually influenced by the value advertisers place on reaching an audience. So while a children’s video can attract huge numbers of views its ad value will be far less than content aimed at a commercially valuable adult audience. This is because the parent or guardian rather than the child watching has the purchasing power.

The only situation where equal revenue is earned is when a kids video is viewed on YouTube Premium. When a Premium subscriber watches your content, YouTube distributes part of their subscription revenue to creators based on how much of their viewing is spent watching each creator’s content. So the same Premium revenue system applies to content watched on YouTube and YouTube Kids.

So to summarise, you shouldn’t assume that a million children’s views is equivalent to a million views on a business, finance or technology channel.

So, why make children’s content?

Children’s entertainment has several characteristics that make it particularly powerful on YouTube. Perhaps the biggest is its potential to generate huge numbers of views. Unlike most adult content, children’s videos are often watched repeatedly. Any parent will be able to confirm this! They can also remain relevant for years meaning channels are a source of evergreen content. And if your content relies less heavily on dialogue and language they can appeal to a wider international audience.

Take CoComelon, for example. Since adopting the name in 2018, it has grown into one of YouTube’s biggest channels, with more than 200 million subscribers and over 220 billion views reported by April 2026.

Its success demonstrates the extraordinary potential for rapid scaling within the children’s content market. Much of this comes down to children’s repeat-viewing habits. A popular song or episode can be watched again and again, dramatically increasing the value of a successful content library. A video doesn’t necessarily need to attract millions of different viewers to accumulate enormous viewing figures.

And while advertising revenue per view can be less lucrative for Made for Kids content, the sheer volume of views can help to compensate for this. For a successful channel producing evergreen content, that combination of scale and longevity can make the economics considerably more attractive over time.

And once you’ve built a successful children’s channel, or even produced a hugely popular individual video such as The Duck Song, which has amassed around 692 million views, you are in a strong position to capitalise on that success using various methods.

But more on that in the next section.

The real money can be outside YouTube

The greatest opportunities for successful children’s channels don’t necessarily come from AdSense. The real prize can be from building and exploiting on the intellectual property. This has the potential to be monetised in multiple ways.

Successful children’s brands can therefore expand into areas such as:

  • Toys, merchandise and collectables
  • Books and educational products
  • Music releases, generating physical and streaming revenue
  • Apps and games
  • affiliate/retail revenue
  • Licensing deals
  • Television and streaming
  • Live shows and experiences

CoComelon is the obvious example of this approach. The success of this channel and brand has grown far beyond YouTube into television, merchandise, music and numerous other forms of entertainment. Ryan’s World is another striking example. What began as a simple YouTube toy unboxing channel eventually developed into a globally recognised brand spanning toys, games, television, merchandise and other products.

This creates a very different business model from that of the typical YouTuber. Instead of simply producing videos, collecting advertising revenue and moving on to the next upload, children’s creators have greater potential to build brands that can generate income across multiple markets and long after an individual video has been published. And with the advancements in AI, everyone now has the power and potential to create engaging content aimed at children.

How lucrative could it be creating kids Content?

Anyone researching the kids content market can quickly become intoxicated by the apparent rewards. Search results are filled with videos boasting millions, or even billions, of views, alongside examples of lucrative licensing deals, merchandise lines and other commercial tie-ins.

But these are the success stories. For a smaller channel just starting out, making any meaningful income is likely to be considerably more difficult. And significantly more difficult than a like-for-like traditional YouTube channel.

RPM estimation

One of the ways we judge the earning potential of YouTube channels is through RPM, which stands for “Revenue Per Mille”. This metric indicates how much a creator earns for every 1,000 views. There is no fixed RPM for kids content, and creators should be wary of online income calculators that promise precise figures. However, as a very rough illustration, kids content often generate around £1 RPM, compared with an average £3 RPM for a more typical general-audience creator.

So, using a hypothetical £1 RPM, a channel generating:

  • 10,000 monthly views = £10
  • 1 million monthly views = £1,000
  • 10 million monthly views = £10,000
  • 50 million monthly views = £50,000

*These figures are purely illustrative and are by no means guaranteed. Actual revenue can vary considerably depending on factors such as audience location, content type, advertising demand and the proportion of views that generate revenue.

What these numbers do demonstrate is that volume is crucial when creating kids content. Lower revenue per view means you need enormous viewing figures, alongside additional income streams, to generate substantial earnings.

But with the potential to build huge audiences, develop recognisable characters and create brands that extend far beyond YouTube, the lure of the kids content market remains considerable.

Consider your motivations?

Perhaps the most important question to ask before creating content for children is what are your motivations? Kids content should be fun so you should therefore view its creation as a fun process. Because of this most kids channels start off as passion projects. You may have original stories you want to share. Perhaps you’re a song writer that fancies expanding your musical repertoire. Or maybe you are an aspiring performer with some crazy characters you’ve been developing. You might even have a child who wants to create content themselves. If so be aware that putting your child into the public eye comes with obvious considerations around privacy, safety and their long-term wellbeing.

For others, the motivation may be educational. You might enjoy teaching children, demonstrating crafts or encouraging them to explore their creativity. Creating content that entertains while inspiring and educating a young audience can be particularly rewarding.

Increasingly AI is being used to help create kids content. This technology allows creators to produce content at scale and potentially build a channel quickly. However, your chances of success are likely to be much higher if you start with original, engaging ideas rather than solely relying on AI to generate endless children’s videos.

Whatever type of kids content you create make sure your motivations are genuine. Young audiences are particularly good at recognising when something feels forced or purely commercial. Without genuine enthusiasm, it can be difficult to create something that really connects.

Is Kids content creation really for you?

With all the limitations placed on Made for Kids content, it can seem like a huge amount of effort for relatively little reward, particularly for a new creator. But, as with every area of content creation, there is always the possibility that one video takes off or a channel begins to gain real momentum. If it does, the potential rewards can be enormous. Many of today’s most successful children’s shows, presenters and entertainment brands first found fame on YouTube.

Ultimately, though, you should create kids content because you have something you genuinely want to share with children. The financial rewards can be the prize, but they probably shouldn’t be your key motivation.

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