Today’s kids’ entertainment market is a girly girl world. Disney has created and marketed multimillion dollar, multimedia franchises like “High School Musical,” “Hannah Montana,” and the Jonas Brothers into worldwide phenomenons. However, Zac Efron crushing on Vanessa Hudgens, a young girl moonlighting as a pop star and three picture perfect male singers are all aimed squarely at one demographic: young females.
And while the shows themselves, along with any number of other tween brand entertainment like Nickelodeon’s “iCarly,” are made with both boys and girls in mind, most young boys in the demographic are probably embarrassed to say they watch any of them. I’d be willing to bet there are plenty of playground insults hurled at boys who even hint that they watched the “Hannah Montana” premiere or paid to see “High School Musical 3: Senior Year” in theaters.
Disney, the marketing geniuses that they are, are aware of the female bias in their brand names and they’ve countered with Disney XD.
The station, which launched in February 2009, is basically Disney for Boys. It airs both live action and animated shows that focus more on adventure and comedy. Some are transplants from the Disney Channel proper, like “Cory in the House” or “Even Stevens,” while others are brand new, original programming like “Zeke and Luther,” which is about best friends becoming great skateboarders, or “Aaron Stone,” about a regular boy who is recruited into a video game.
Disney XD is a fantastic idea and, right now, is just waiting for its breakout star (which Disney had with all the franchises mentioned above). It is starting to find a groove though. According to Animation Magazine, June was the station’s most watched month yet thanks to Disney Channel animated series “Phineas and Ferb” and the debut of “Zeke and Luther.” Also, Variety reported that Disney is set to launch the channel in the United Kingdom come August.
Hopefully Disney XD, which reaches 72 million households according to TV Week, will continue to grow. It gives parents a Disney tested outlet to let their boys be boys and avoid any major embarrassment. It might not be a ticket to see “Transformers 2″ but, like a good action figure, boys generally take what they can get and make the most of it.
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