MLB has made a kids animation for YouTube, I got to see it being made (and why every League should be doing the same).
MLB Clubhouse is a dedicated kids YouTube channel launched with multiple original series across animation, player storytelling, art and educational content. HURRAH!
A couple of weeks ago I stood in a production studio watching two small characters called Doug and Scout being painstakingly posed, in front of green screen, by a crew of animators, directors and producers as part of The Doug Out!, a new animated series created for MLB Clubhouse, a kid-focussed YouTube channel launched today (April 7) by Major League Baseball to reach and engage young audiences.
You can only imagine my joy at being on set, not just because I manifest animated kids sport content daily, but I was also at the world-renowned Mackinnon and Saunders - British puppet makers famous for designing and constructing puppets for acclaimed stop-motion films like Corpse Bride, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. This was ‘kid-in-a-sweet-shop’ territory for me.
But parking my excitement for a moment, I want to talk about why this matters - because the significance of what MLB is doing extends beyond a charming animated series for kids, it is something I’ve been advocating for since I turned to sports media a couple of years ago. You already know this if you read my writing, but it bears repeating because the gap between where leagues invest and where kids are keeps widening, and it’s getting serious.
So first some numbers.
The median age of an MLB television viewer was 57 in 2016. That data is now a decade old but the trend has not reversed. The share of MLB’s TV audience aged 2-17 fell from 9% in 2000 to 7% by 2016, a pattern shared across nearly every major US sports property. The NFL’s median TV viewer age rose to 50, the NHL to 49 and the picture would be the same in the UK too I’d bet.
Sports broadcast audiences are getting older but kids are not replacing them, yet the standard industry response is to spend record sums on rights deals to retain those ageing viewers, but do almost NOTHING to fix the future fan pipeline. Thankfully the MLB has started making moves to address this, in fact it started before now. Last summer I wrote about a new kids content series for YouTube called NO EASY OUTS that I’d seen MLB post on their socials, you can read the post here:
AUGUST 2025 KUDOS TO MLB FOR THEIR NEW KIDS CONTENT
I wrote about the power of athletes as connectors, but the same goes for characters like Doug and Scout, particularly for younger kids whose relationship with sport starts not with watching live games at all. Compelling characters can create story, excitement and spark a first affinity with sport that is difficult to initiate just by watching live matches.
If you can bring kids INTO a sport; into its rules and jeopardy in a way that is low friction and not intimidating, then it’s more likely to have an impact and importantly, win you a fan.
Please please, put content where the kids are
YouTube is the platform where kids first discover with their TOP fandom and among those same young fans, 48% continue to use YouTube to engage with their fandoms - more than any other platform. TikTok comes in second at 29%, Netflix third at 27%.
In the US, 88% of parents say that even their 2-5 year olds prefer YouTube over VOD and broadcast television, and it is no surprise that amongst kids aged 2-9, the most popular content type on YouTube is cartoons. This is the audience MLB Clubhouse is designed to serve and is the audience that other sports leagues, federations and clubs should be serving much better.
Why? Because the wider picture reinforces the case. Gen Z is 39% more likely than Gen X to name YouTube among their top two sports platforms, so if you are a sports rights holder your future audience lives on YouTube but your current programming budget overwhelmingly does not. That needs to change.
Hoorah for MLB Clubhouse, the first of many?
MLB Clubhouse does not appear to be tentative experiment. The channel launched with multiple original series across animation, player storytelling, art, education and skills content. My visit to see The Doug Out! in production was facilitated by Gordon Lessersohn, Senior Director, Youth Content Strategy and Initiatives at MLB. They’re serious about this stuff, the organisational commitment is visible. Music to my ears.
There is also a Crayola partnership (MLB Art Club, 34 episodes) alongside the player-led series No Easy Outs (definitely worth a watch) and a skills series extending MLB’s existing grassroots initiatives.
Gregg Klayman, SVP, Product Development and Content Strategy at Major League Baseball summed up the launch of the new channel: “By creating content specifically designed for kids on a platform where they are already watching, we hope to inspire curiosity, creativity, and a lifelong love of baseball.”
The fact that Gordon’s role exists shows something important: this is not a social media team repurposing adult highlights with a few graphics and a cartoon filter. They’ve built a deliberate content strategy built for a specific audience, on the platform that audience uses, with dedicated resourcing behind it. It shouldn’t be such big news, but it is.
MLB’s own data says that baseball and softball combined remain the most-participated sport among US children aged 6 to 12, but participation does not necessarily equal fandom. It can’t be assumed that every child who plays will become a lifelong fan, especially if the sport never shows up in the digital environments where that kid spends the rest of their attention when not playing recreationally. MLB Clubhouse addresses that gap and offers great content to be watched in between times. Bravo.
Why every other league needs to follow their lead
So here is is my challenge. MLB is doing something that most major sports leagues are still only talking about, they’re putting their money where their mouth is. The Premier League does not have a dedicated kids’ YouTube channel with original programming. Neither does the NFL (although the Super Bowl has been simulcast on Nickelodeon with slime cannons, animated effects and commentary). Not the NBA, nor La Liga or the Bundesliga, none of them have committed to a kids content operation of this scope on YouTube.
I can’t stress enough that the reason I bang on about making sports content for kids is not just sentimental, there is a structural rationale to it too. If sports leagues do nothing to start fandom early, if they rely on generational or geographical drivers of fandom, or think that their broadcast/streaming partners are going to do it for them, or worse – assume that fandom just magically happens and there’ll be a never-ending supply of young fans – then they’re mistaken. Sports media valuations cannot be underpinned by the assumption that fan demand is enduring and self-renewing. In this way investing (patiently) in good kids content is undoubtedly good long term business too.
The Sport Industry Report 2026 notes that investors now view elite sports franchises as diversified commercial platforms, valued on their ability to monetise attention across a widening range of revenue streams - I’d include age demographics in that too. That valuation logic depends on there being a next generation of fans who care enough to watch, subscribe, attend and buy. If the fandom pipeline dries up because the sport never reached kids in the environments where they form attachments, at the time when they’re deciding their attachment, the valuation assumptions will collapse with it.
The data backs it up. 86% of kids and teens are connected to at least one fandom and over half like to engage with their fandoms daily. These are habits being established before a child is old enough to buy a ticket or subscribe to DAZN or Tennis TV. The window to earn relevance with a young audience is narrow, and the competition for that window is fierce. Every sport, entertainment franchise, YouTube creator and gaming platform is fighting for the same finite pool of attention.
Three things MLB got right, take note rights owners
First, MLB chose the right platform. YouTube is where kids are and more importantly, it is where fandom journeys are increasingly beginning. Launching on YouTube means MLB Clubhouse is showing up for kids in the media environment they already occupy, rather than asking them to seek out a league-owned app or tune in to a broadcast they were never going to watch.
Second, they invested in quality. The Doug Out! is not a repurposed social clip. It is a handcrafted, premium series from Emmy Award-winning creator Adam Reid, (who was involved in the creation of The Tiny Chef Show) and producer Hayley McKinney. Gordon Lessersohn for MLB is Exec Producer alongside Adam and the team that I met are all super talented, super passionate and are building something with genuine production ambition. Hayley and Adam even developed a new animation technique which they’ve called ‘SpeakEasy Animation’ that allows for quicker, more expressive facial animation, particularly mouth movement. Their dedication to the craft is evident.
Kids know the difference between content made for them and content pointed at them. MLB appears to understand that distinction and it was a joy to see. The result is expressive and warm with a handcrafted quality that feels a long way from AI generated content slop.
Third, MLB has resourced it properly. A dedicated channel. A dedicated team. A content slate with depth and variety. Partner support from brands with established kids audiences (ABCmouse and Crayola are content partners in the channel). This is long term media infrastructure, not a campaign.
What comes next?
The hard work starts now for MLB Clubhouse, this will need to be a sustained commitment. Kids content strategies succeed when they are treated as long term audience-building, the biggest kids IP in the world today have been around since the 2010s so there is no cheat code to swift success. YouTube rewards consistency, and children’s viewing habits reward familiarity. If MLB maintains the cadence and quality across multiple seasons, this channel could become the entry point for a whole new generation of baseball fans who will never discover the sport through TV, because broadcast TV is not where they live their media lives.
For every other league or rights owner reading, the gauntlet has been laid down. If your broadcast audience is ageing, your youth audience on TV is declining, and the platform where kids form their strongest attachments is YouTube, what is your plan?
MLB has one.
About Fanshift
Fanshift delivers intelligence on how Gen Z and Gen Alpha are reshaping sports fandom and media consumption. Written for rights holders, streamers, media owners and digital strategists by Jo Redfern.
From the archive:
I have a 7 year old who is obsessed with YouTube (and yes, we do limit his time watching it). He watches (and plays) sport with me and enjoys it but it seems to me that he sees these two things as two seperate forms of entertainment and interest. So by doing what the MLB have done it makes sense.