For many parents, Mo Willems has become a household name. Over a two-decade career, Willems has authored dozens of children’s books, introducing kids to whimsical characters like the pigeon who wants to drive the bus and the Knuffle Bunny. Along the way, he has received a Caldecott Honor on three separate occasions.
Willems has a lot of cred in the world of children’s literature, but the era of Gen Alpha presents a unique challenge for the veteran author. How do you get kids with infamously short attention spans to enjoy stories that were meant to be read one page at a time?
For Willems, the answer is simple: You go online and meet today’s kids where they are. Through his firm Hidden Pigeon Company, Willems has cultivated a YouTube presence that includes 100,000 subscribers and nearly 30 million views — and it’s all happened over an 11-month period.
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The Mo Willems Workshop, as the channel is known, lies at the intersection of two prominent digital media trends. On one hand, Willems is capitalizing on young people’s surging interest in lit, which has been driven by communities like #BookTok and platforms like YouTube.
Then there is the ubiquity of children’s content on YouTube. Family-friendly channels typically top our Tubefilter charts, hauling in millions (if not billions) of views each month.
Emboldened by those forces, Willems and his team have found numerous ways to bring the author’s works to life. There are sing-alongs that wouldn’t look out of place on the CoComelon channel, storytime videos that feature readings of the pigeon books, and short-form clips animated in a three-dimension style. Oh, and all three of those videos have received more than one million views apiece.
One of the newest projects on the Mo Willems Workshop engages with the art of puppetry, with Sesame Street vet Bradley Freeman Jr. taking the role of the pigeon. It’s kids’ fare in a classic style, updated for the YouTube audience.
“It’s critical for Hidden Pigeon Company to be where kids are, so YouTube is a great place for both discoverability and a nostalgic return,” Hidden Pigeon Company Head of Digital Leslie Morgan told Tubefilter. “Mo Willems’ books have a 20+-year legacy with children, and we have found many kids discovering Mo’s books there for the first time as well as a lot of “former kids” (in the 16-24 age range) who grew up with his books seeking out our content on YouTube too.”
Elements of Willems’ approach may seem old-school, but the esteem he has earned from both parents and children gives him a leg up in a crowded children’s content scene. Like Ms. Rachel and Dr. Seuss Enterprises, Willems is a credible source for early childhood development. That helps him earn viewer trust — and gives him an official place on the YouTube Kids app.
Morgan said that forthcoming efforts from the Hidden Pigeon Company will include some consumer products, with YouTube continuing to factor into the brand’s extension. Willems will continue to grow on TikTok and Instagram as well; he has significant follower counts on both of those platforms. If he wants to attract more fans, he can upload a video in which the pigeon finally gets to drive the bus. Now that would be a viewership bonanza.
