Mission, Methods, Market

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Mission, Methods, Market Muppets Sesame
Streets 37th Experimental Season Pursuing
Educational Artistic ExcellenceThe Market
Research Event October 2006
Brought to you by Jennifer Kotler,
Ph.D. Director of Domestic Research
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In 1969 a little street filled with laughter,
learning, and promise launched a revolution in
childrens television.
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The 1960s
The beginning
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An Experiment that Worked


The U.S. Office of Education Ford
Foundation Carnegie Corporation of New York
Visionary Funders
Unique Model
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Sesame WorkshopThe Workshop Difference

• Who We Are
• A nonprofit educational organization making a
  meaningful difference in the lives of children
  worldwide by addressing their critical
  developmental needs.
• What We Do
• We create innovative, engaging content that
  maximizes the educational power of media to help
  all children reach their highest potential.
• How We Do It
• Through a cross-sectoral approach that brings
  together government agencies, broadcasters,
  NGOs, educators, child development experts, and
  international development organizations to
  achieve sustainable results.

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Our Test
Does the organization make such a unique
contribution to the communities it touches and
does its work with such unadulterated excellence
that if it were to disappear, would it leave a
hole that could not be easily filled by any other
institution on the planet? - Jim Collins, Good
To Great
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Reaching Children in Multiple Platforms
TV Programming120 Countries
Product Licensing 700 licensees worldwide
Cable Networks
Theme Parks 6 sites worldwide
Publishing
Radio Programming South Africa
Magazines
FilmElmo in Grouchland
ThemedEntertainment
Home Videos
Onlinesesamestreet.com, pbskids.org
Interactive
Community Outreach Projects Healthy Habits for
Life,SS Music Works,You Can Ask!
ResearchDomesticInternational
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United States

• 1 with Mom
• 1 family/mom brand in the world according to
  YR1
• 78 say Sesame Street is a name you can trust2
• 72 of new Moms grew up with Sesame Street3
• 73 watch Sesame Street nearly every day3
• Reaching All Fans
• Boasts 74 million U.S. graduates and 3
  generations
• Daily broadcast on PBS reaches 98 of U.S.
  households
• Nickelodeon only reaches 81 Disney 78
• 8 million unique Sesame Street viewers each week4
• Award-Winning Programming
• 101 Emmy Awards more than any other show in
  television history
• Winner of Outstanding Preschool Series Emmy
  Award for 11 consecutive years
• 26 new hour-long episodes each year

1 Source YR Brand Asset Evaluator, 2003 2
Source Sesame Workshop Brand Tracking Study,
June 2004 3 Source Simmons Re-contact Study,
June 2004 4 Source NTI/PBS PP, Sept. 2003 Aug
2004
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We have been engaged in co-productions on every
continent of the world
Kosovo - 2004
France - 2005
Bangladesh - 2004
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How We Work The Sesame Workshop Model

• Sesame Workshop products are designed to be both
  educational and entertaining
• An innovative method of applying and integrating
  expertise in production, educational content,
  and research with children
• Effective for more than 30 years with evident
  benefits for childrenaround the world

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Meeting local educational needs

• Mexico
• Health, Safety, Nutrition
• Environment
• Gender Equity
• Literacy
• Kosovo
• Mutual Respect
• Understanding
• Russia
• Diversity
• Preparation for Life in an
• Open Society
• Bangladesh
• Girls Education
• Basic Skills
• Critical Thinking

• Egypt
• Girls Education
• Basic Skills
• Health
• South Africa
• Diversity
• Literacy, Numeracy, and Life Skills
• HIV/AIDS
• Israel/Palestine/Jordan
• Respect
• Understanding

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Educational Impact
Children learn from exposure to Sesame Street.
In particular they gain
Turkey Improved literacy and numeracy
skills (Sahin, 1990) Portugal More positive
perspective about school (Brederode-Santos,
1993) Mexico Better performance on letter
recognition, numeric and geometric skills
(UNICEF, 1996) Russia Literacy and math
skills at a faster rate greater facility in
basic financial literacy (purchasing choices) and
greater awareness of children with disabilities
(Ulitsa Sezam Research Team, 1998) Israel/Palesti
ne More positive sense of self and the other
culture (International Journal of Behavioral
Development, 2003)
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Summative Evaluations of Sesame Street
Year Vendor Design Ages
1990- Univ. of Kansas Longitudinal 2-5
1994 Early Window Viewing Diaries 4-7 Projec
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Measures Initial language skills (primary
language scale), Peabody Picture Vocabulary,
Letter Word Recognition, reading comprehension,
counting, inequality, arithmetic, school
readiness (colors, shapes, letters, numbers,
spatial size relations)
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Summative Evaluations of Sesame Street
Year Vendor Design Ages
1994 Recontact Study Longitudinal
15-19 Univ. of Kansas from the
1981-83 Univ. of Mass. study
Measures Academic achievement, GPA in English,
mathematics, science, competence beliefs
value attached to achievement, leisure reading,
creativity (fluency of ideas), aggression
(verbal physical), body image
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Outreach
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Sesame Workshops Response to 9/11

• Cultural Diversity/ Inclusion
• Coping with Loss
• Dealing with a Bully
• Coping with Fear

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Results of Study

• Children learned positive coping strategies for
  inclusion that lasted through the weeks follow
  up
• Children learned positive strategies for loss
  but they did not follow through for the week
• Children learned negative strategies for
  bullying---as a result, we edited the segment.

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You Can Ask!
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Healthy Habits for Life Content Elements
Live Entertainment
DVD/Home Video
Sesame Street Season 36
Licensing
Online
PSAs
Print/Publishing
Outreach Materials
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Research Design
Breakfast
Donut vs. Cereal
Dinner
Lean chicken vs. Cheeseburger
salad onion rings
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Children Choose Healthy Food Sometimes
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Talk, Listen, Connect

• Bi-lingual outreach initiative to help the young
  children (ages 3-5) of the military cope with the
  feelings, challenges, and concerns experienced
  during various phases of deployment
  pre-deployment, deployment and homecoming.
• DVD
• Parent/Caregiver Magazine
• Child Activity Poster
• 483,514 children of active duty military members
  and 177,888 children of Reserve and Guard members
  are less than five years of age
• Approximately 400,000 kits produced and
  distributed directly to military families
• All materials are available online at
  www.sesameworkshop.org/tlc

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How to stay relevant after 30 years?

• Conduct research to inform practice
• Maintain awareness of current educational needs
  of children
• Develop partnerships with organizations that
  support the mission

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How to stay relevant after 30 years?
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For more information on research, please
contact jennifer.kotler_at_sesameworkshop.org