YouTube and Netflix Are Preserving the Future of Sesame Street. Who Would Have Thought It?
Sesame Street is back
Lately, whenever I write about Netflix or YouTube, it seems to be to deliver the unfortunate news of a new policy change that sucks for consumers. Price hikes, password-sharing restrictions, new age verification policies. However, today I get the rare treat of telling you something these corporations did right.
That’s right—Netflix and YouTube have both signed deals with Sesame Workshop that’ll actually improve things for kids and families. It’s a bit of a long story, so let’s jump right into the details.
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2025 has been tough on public broadcasting
When the U.S. government cut $1.1 billion in public broadcasting funding from its budget, it threw a lot of PBS and NPR affiliates into disarray. Personally, I think that this was a terrible move and we should be investing more money into educational resources like PBS, libraries, and schools. We’ve yet to see the full consequences of the government’s decision, but it won’t be good for your local PBS affiliate.
However, one PBS show has a trick up its sleeve and will likely survive any budget cuts thrown at it. I actually didn’t realize this when the PBS funding cuts happened, but the Muppets fan blog ToughPigs has a great explainer on why Sesame Street is a special case.
“Sesame was never publicly-owned. It received funding from PBS, and aired on PBS, but it was owned by the Sesame Workshop. ”
As they explain it, Sesame Street has always been privately owned (by the nonprofit Sesame Workshop), and airs on PBS KIDS as what PBS calls a “unique public-private partnership.” This partnership used to mean that PBS funded Sesame Street without actually owning it, but PBS stopped funding it altogether when Warner Bros. bought the distribution rights in 2015. Suddenly, its funding came entirely from WB instead of PBS, and that’s when things started to go downhill for Elmo and friends.
See, even though PBS still aired Sesame Street episodes, HBO got first dibs. New episodes would air exclusively on HBO (and later, HBO Max) and PBS would get them months and months later. Essentially, a once-free public institution was locked behind a paywall. You could still watch Sesame Street on PBS KIDS, but it was more of a pain.
HBO gives up on kids content, and Netflix sees an opportunity
I’ve spent a lot of time studying Warner Bros.’s arcane dealings, so here’s the TLDR on HBO Max‘s new brand refresh: they’re done trying to appeal to kids. Originally, the streaming service dropped the “HBO” from its name in an effort to appear more “family friendly.” Somehow, closing down Cartoon Network’s main office and holding new animated movies hostage didn’t do a lot to endear Warner Bros. to kids and families, and CEO David Zaslav doesn’t hesitate to kill something that isn’t working. Or something that is working. He’s big on closing things down, in general.
So HBO Max’s return to, well, the name “HBO Max” comes with a caveat: it’s really cutting back on kids’ content. You won’t find most classic Cartoon Network titles there anymore, and the only animation you’ll find outside of Studio Ghibli is of the adult variety. And it’s selling off some of its more popular titles. That includes The Amazing World of Gumball, whose revival is a Hulu/Disney+ exclusive, as well as Sesame Street.
However, Hulu didn’t buy Sesame Street like it did Gumball. Sesame Street’s future was up in the air after Warner Bros. cut its funding in late 2024, but fans could breathe a sigh of relief when it finally sold to Netflix in May 2025. Netflix, the platform that loves to cancel all my favorite shows! Maybe redemption is possible for anyone.
Viewers may have assumed that Netflix would continue Warner Bros.’s deal—provide 100% of Sesame Street’s funding in exchange for exclusive rights to the first several months of streaming each episode.
But not so! Sesame Street is actually returning to its earlier model, the “unique private-public partnership” that PBS KIDS likes to brag about. PBS would once again be partially funding the show, and episodes will air simultaneously on PBS KIDS for free at the same time that they premiere on Netflix. A win for everyone! Well, almost.
YouTube one-ups Netflix by providing free access to old episodes
PBS specifically cited the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) as providing support for this new multi-year deal. A deal that went public in May 2025—just a few months before the U.S. government shut the CPB down.
So now Sesame Street has funding from both PBS and Netflix, but one third of Sesame Street’s support still goes up in smoke. Who comes in to save the day? The unlikely hero, YouTube!
Just one month after the CPB shut down, YouTube signed a new deal with Sesame Workshop, promising to host “the largest digital library of Sesame Street content” in 2026. Sesame Street content already does well on the platform (I particularly enjoy the sign language videos), so this deal is a no-brainer. It’s not clear whether this deal was always in the works or is a quick solution to mitigate the loss of the CPB’s support, but either way, this is a huge win for the public.
Rather than hiding Sesame Street away behind a paywall at Netflix or HBO Max or even requiring an OTA antenna, a huge library of episodes will now be available to anyone with an internet connection. And presumably, Sesame Workshop can rely on the extra funding from YouTube that it wouldn’t usually receive—kids’ content infamously misses out on the full benefits of YouTube advertising revenue due to the platform’s privacy policies.
It’s also cool for weirdos like me who care about media preservation. Without Sesame Street’s YouTube channel, I wouldn’t be able to show you forgotten old clips like James Earl Jones’s hypnotic alphabet. And aren’t you glad I am?
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