Netflix wants to keep pace with YouTube among toddlers, so it struck a deal with Ms. Rachel

A beloved source for positive learning content on YouTube is popping over to Netflix as well. Ms. Rachel, an early childhood educator whose sing-songy and age-appropriate videos have drawn more than 13 million subscribers to her primary YouTube hub, is launching a quartet of Netflix compilations amid a flurry of offline activity.

Ms. Rachel’s first contribution to the Netflix library will drop on January 27. That’s when a quartet of compilations will make Ms. Rachel’s content available for the streamer’s worldwide subscriber base. Toddlers who are trying to pick up basic skills like speech, reading, and talking will be able to turn to Netflix to get help from an internet favorite (at least among the parents of young children I know).

“As any parent — or anyone else with a small child in their lives — likely already knows, Rachel Accurso, or Ms. Rachel, is a beloved and passionate educator whose videos for her phenomenally popular YouTube channel inspire ‘littles’ and their families to learn and bond together,” reads a Netflix blog post. “Incorporating singing, dancing, and play, Ms. Rachel’s videos help children learn how to talk and express themselves and their emotions.”

The current state of the kid-friendly digital media ecosystem explains why Netflix is so eager to join forces with a YouTube tastemaker. The streamer’s viewership data

has shown that children’s programs rank among the most-watched pieces of Netflix content.

To capitalize on that trend, Netflix has inked original content deals with CoComelon owner Moonbug and other similar companies, but those efforts haven’t stopped other platforms from gaining ground. YouTube viewership among two-to-11-year-olds went up 4% last year at Netflix’s expense. Ms. Rachel, who typically gets hundreds of millions of views per month, was one major factor underlying that shift.

But Ms. Rachel’s star is even shining beyond the internet. She is releasing new books out of a deal she signed with Penguin Random House last year, and her toys made her a bestseller during the recently-concluded holiday season. Ms. Rachel merch has gotten so hot that the creator has been forced to warn her subscribers about the knockoff toys that are scamming customers by imitating her licensed creations.

It’s hard to imagine that the Ms. Rachel brand has any more room to grow, but the Netflix deal will introduce her better-for-you brand of children’s entertainment to new audiences. Beyond the four compilations dropping in January, additional collabs between Ms. Rachel and Netflix are slated to arrive later in 2025.