Andrew Kan's Recent LinkedIn Posts

Sesame Street has been on the air for 56 seasons. Most creators and brands can’t keep an audience engaged for 56 YouTube videos. At Kidscreen, we got to hear from Kim Foulds (VP of Research & Insights) and Halcyon Person (head writer) from Sesame Workshop in a panel called “Smarter by Design: The research behind Sesame Street’s new era,” moderated by Karen Fowler from 9 Story Media Group. The lessons they shared apply to every content creator regardless of your niche. They treat every season like an experiment. After 56 seasons they still do formative research before every single one. They test storylines, check assumptions, and sometimes discover the audience takes away something completely different from what they planned. They have over 50 years of data and they STILL get surprised because they understand that what worked last season might not resonate this season. Most of us stop testing after something works once, but Sesame Street keeps testing because their audience is constantly evolving. Engagement isn’t the goal because engagement is the vehicle. Faster pacing and humor aren’t there to hold eyeballs on screen. They’re there to earn attention so the real message lands. If the audience is laughing and experiencing joy, they want to lean in, and that’s where all the value gets delivered. The audience isn’t being tricked into paying attention because the entertainment creates a genuine desire to stay. You can replace “learning” with whatever value you deliver because the principle is the same. They design content that works on multiple levels. A 3 year old loves the characters and music while a 5 year old connects with the emotional stakes between characters. The same content serves completely different needs, and both audiences feel like it was made for them. The best creators do this too. A beginner gets the surface takeaway while an experienced viewer picks up a deeper insight from the exact same video. Both feel served, both come back, and both share it. There’s a difference between being trusted and being chosen. Sesame Street is trusted by the gatekeepers and decision makers, but it’s actively chosen by the audience themselves. Every creator faces this same dynamic. Your credibility might get someone to click, but your audience has to genuinely want to come back on their own. Trust earns the first impression, but being chosen is what gets you 56 seasons. Sesame Street doesn’t just ask “what should we teach?” They ask “how does our audience consume content now?” and “what are they excited about?” and then they build around all of it. Your audience is doing the same thing right now, and the creators who keep listening are the ones audiences keep choosing. Research your audience, test your assumptions, make it engaging so your message lands, and never stop iterating even when it’s already working. Share this if you think more creators should study Sesame Street’s playbook.