Netflix is back with the launch of a new series of child-friendly New Year’s Eve countdowns designed to allow parents to make midnight come a little earlier for their children.
The results of a global survey conducted by Netflix show that 58% of parents would “jump at the chance to put their kids to bed before the clock strikes twelve on New Year’s Eve.” The survey, conducted between December 4 and 15 of this year, polled 9,128 parents in the US, UK, France, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Italy, Spain, and Mexico who have at least one child under the age of 12.
The survey also found that 98% of respondents celebrate New Year’s Eve as a family, with almost 50% of parents in the US, UK and Australia performing the 10 second countdown by 9 p.m. Almost 41% of parents said they use a special New Year’s Eve countdown for their children to get them to go to bed early, writes Saba Hamedy for Mashable. 66% reported plans to use an on-demand countdown in place of the live one on TV for their children this year.
After parents log in to Netflix and type in “New Year’s Eve,” children can choose between a variety of characters to count down with them in a short, three minute Netflix original video, including Oona and Baba from Puffin Rock, The Care Bears, Inspector Gadget, The Project Mc2 girls, or Mr. Peabody and Sherman, reports Kimberley Richards for The Huffington Post, in place of Ryan Seacrest, Anderson Cooper, and Carson Daly. The specials are already available on the streaming service and can be played at any time of day regardless of whether it’s midnight where you live. Around 50% of Netflix users make use of children’s content on a regular basis.
The service added a special countdown last year featuring King Julien from “Madagascar.” While the company has not released any information with regards to how many users actually tuned into the short video, the director of consumer public relations for the company, Jenny McCabe, said it was high enough, “that we expanded it this year and went with six of our originals.”
“What Netflix offers to our members is they get to choose how they want to watch TV shows and movies,” she said. “What Netflix means to people already is that you get to choose.”
Of the parents who answered the survey, 67% said they plan to use the extra quiet, child-free time to be together with their significant other, reports Andrea Park for CBS News. At the same time, 50% of respondents from Spain and Mexico said they went to parties without their children after sending them to bed. That option does not come cheaply; the average babysitter in New York is charging $60 an hour for their services on New Year’s Eve.
Netflix even reminds parents not to feel too guilty about tricking their children into an earlier bedtime. As the trailer says, “It’s midnight somewhere!”
