Parents and guardians all around the globe are turning to the addictive YouTube channel, Cocomelon – Nursery Rhymes, a show designed to entertain toddlers and annoy anyone over the age of 5. Created for children 4 and under, Cocomelon’s flashy colors, upbeat songs, and lighthearted and educational themes are sure to entice parents, and somewhat hypnotize the target audience. 

Almost all of Cocomelon’s videos feature an animated baby with extremely exaggerated features who looks to be about one year old, the baby’s parents and siblings, and the occasional friend, pet, or some other type of personified animal. Cocomelon recreates classic nursery rhymes and brings them to life through brightly colored and lively animations of the characters interacting with each other. It doesn’t sound like much, but the grabbing visuals and repetitive sounds keep kids interested. An old trend on TikTok solidified the idea of this show being incredibly addictive. This social media trend featured parents and older siblings playing the audio of the iconic Cocomelon introduction, and their kids came running to find the source of the sound. Toddlers watch these videos over and over again and never get bored, causing Cocomelon’s YouTube channel to place second on Social Blade’s top five list of most viewed videos. 

Of course, with loads of views comes loads of money. Social Blade estimates that the people behind Cocomelon are earning anywhere between 10 million to over 150 million dollars per year from ad revenue, which does not come as a shock because they are currently sitting at 104 million subscribers. Other YouTube channels have also discovered this pattern. Lesser known channels specializing in children’s entertainment piggyback off of each other, and Cocomelon is no exception. Despite it being extremely rare to find original content anywhere on this side of the internet, children’s entertainment is one of the most money-producing genres. 

Not only is Cocomelon’s content unoriginal, it’s disturbing. The characters move in a strange manner, and are disgustingly disproportionate. The babies’ heads are almost twice the size of the adults’, and their eyes take up half of their face. The background sounds irk me just as much. Throughout the music, there is almost constant laughter, to the point where it is overdone and downright infuriating. Most of their new videos are compilations of their other, shorter videos, so all of their videos are just old content being cycled through and passed off as new. 

Although I strongly dislike Cocomelon, it does have some very good qualities that should not be ignored. While Cocomelon’s viewers do spend a lot of time looking at their screen, at least they are being educated while watching. Cocomelon teaches the children who are watching about counting, colors, and other preschool topics that are important to learn at a young age. 

Overall, I would recommend Cocomelon to 1-4 year olds, but it is most definitely not for me.