Netflix's Sesame Street deal is a PR coup for the ages

Fast Company

19-05-2025

Anyone asking how to get to Sesame Street will have a new answer as of this morning: Just log on to Netflix. The industry leader in streaming, which topped 300 million global subscribers last December and reported revenue of $10.5 billion for the first quarter in 2025, just picked up Sesame Street ahead of its 56 th season. That's after HBO wound down its deal with the beloved children's institution last December.
Although financial details about Netflix's new arrangement are not yet publicly available, HBO reportedly paid $30–$35 million annually for rights to the edutainment lodestar. Whatever price Netflix is paying to add the series to its robust slate of children's programs, which includes Cocomelon, it's likely a bargain, considering the intangibles. With this deal, Netflix created a lot more than just a new home for Big Bird, Cookie Monster and the rest of the gang; by allowing the embattled PBS network to freely air new episodes as they roll out, Netflix just elegantly orchestrated the feel-good corporate PR coup of the year.
Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit that produces Sesame Street, has faced rough headwinds in recent months. After losing its lucrative contract with HBO last December, amid a pronounced reduction in children's programming on the network, the fate of the show was uncertain. Making matters worse, Trump recently moved to cut federal funding to PBS, which has aired Sesame Street for over half a century–and only did so after his administration's cuts to the U. S. Agency for International Development abruptly deprived Sesame Workshop of valuable grants.
The venerable children's show needed a champion, and into the void stepped the entertainment company whose branding is the color of Elmo.
'I strongly believe that our educational programming for children is one of the most important aspects of our service to the American people, and Sesame Street has been an integral part of that critical work for more than half a century,' said Paula Kerger, president and CEO of PBS, in a statement. 'We're proud to continue our partnership in the pursuit of having a profound impact on the lives of children for years to come.'
The new deal will involve a mild cosmetic overhaul. According to The Washington Post, Sesame Street had intended to start a new format of two 11-minute stories, along with a new five-minute animated segment called 'Tales from 123,' but the show will now instead feature a single 11-minute story, followed by 'Tales from 123,' and then some revived fan favorites such as 'Elmo's World.' The most profound change in the new deal, though, will have nothing to do with the content, but in how it's delivered.
When HBO began airing episodes of Sesame Street in 2016, the show continued to run on PBS, but new episodes only reached the public channel nine months later. This arrangement continued after 2020, when the show transitioned to HBO Max, and remained in place until HBO announced its intention to drop the show last December. In contrast, Netflix's deal ensures that new episodes will be available on PBS stations and PBS KIDS digital platforms the day they're released, honoring the creators' commitment to free, fun educational material for children.
'This unique public-private partnership will enable Sesame Workshop to bring our research-based curriculum to young children around the world with Netflix's global reach, while ensuring children in communities across the U.S. continue to have free access on public television to the Sesame Street they love,' Sesame Workshop CEO Sherri Westin added in the announcement.
What makes the deal such a savvy PR move is that it's a win for the company on several levels. Not only does it provide a sharp contrast between Netflix and the once and future HBO Max, and what might be considered a subtle rebuke to this administration's attack on publicly funded channels, it also offers a counterpoint to some recent perceptions of Netflix.
Over the past couple years, Netflix has made some moves that helped foster an image of the company as more profit-focused and less consumer-friendly. Between the crackdown on password-sharing, multiple price hikes, and sunsetting of the popular Basic ad-free plan, pushing users toward either higher-priced tiers or an ad-based option, the company seemed driven by a shrewd quest to leave no money on the table, no matter who got left behind.
By ensuring that American families will be able to access new episodes of Sesame Street for free for the first time in a decade, however, Netflix has demonstrated it has more on its mind than the bottom line. It's the kind of message that resonates with would-be subscribers, and it should go a long way toward keeping the clouds away from Netflix's reputation for some time.