When it comes to kids' TV, Canada is king

Perhaps it's something your kids already know: Canadians are the architects of amazing children's TV shows.

Canuck creators are behind hit TV and streaming programs that are making a splash worldwide.And now, with Canadian distributor DHX Media's$345-million US purchase of Peanuts (which one expert called "the Holy Grail"of children's entertainment) as well as the Strawberry Shortcake brand, our reach is widening.

• Charlie Brown and Strawberry Shortcake sold for $345M US to Halifax company

We really don't acknowledge enough our incredible children's industry, which has developed ina very competitive global market,said Charles Falzon, a TV industry veteran and dean ofRyersonUniversity's faculty of communication and design in Toronto.

"Shows are not great because they're Canadian," Falzonnoted.

They're great because Canadian companies have developed a reputation as excellentcustodians: managing kids' content with integrity, remaining connected with the audience and respecting the creator and the creative process, he told CBC News on Wednesday.

"We can continue to export that capacity on properties that are created here, on properties that we partner with internationally, on properties that we acquire. It really is one of our unique selling propositions as an industry."

Peanuts and Strawberry Shortcake will join, for instance, a host of other major kids properties in Halifax-based powerhouse DHX'svast library of content, including established showsTeletubbies, Inspector Gadget,Caillouand YoGabbaGabba.

Nostalgia rules

Strong content endures,finding fresh fans ineach generation just look at Thomas the Tank Engine, Winnie the Poohor Sesame Street.

And while it might sound counterintuitiveto some, legacy brands and programs are what's most valuable in today's fractured landscape,saidDHX'sco-founder and executive chairMichael Donovan.

"It's the parent who makes the decision [on what to watch] and they base it on what they recognize, given an infinity of choice,"he said, explaining that72per cent of programming watched by families with children under six years old is consumedwith a parent present.

"It's what people recognize and already have an emotional attachment to."

With Peanuts, DHX has taken on the tricky task of bringing a revered and classic children's franchiseforward. Peanuts creator Charles Schulz'sfamily members notably turned down many pitches over the years before finally agreeing to a recent3D-animatedfilm because they didn't want his vision modernized in a gimmicky way.

"We take these traditional brands with legacy, that we feel have positive values, and try to reimagine them given new technologies and new audiences.We would like to do that with Peanuts. But it's already fantastic. It's already unbelievably good, so we do that trepidatiously," Donovan said.

A creative hotbed

Domestic creators are also putting Canada on the global map with original shows that easily crossborders.

"People are in awe about what Canada does. I think we punch way above our weight as a nation, in terms of our size," saidFrank Falcone, president of Guru Studio, the Toronto-based animation house behind Spin Master Entertainment'smassive international hit Paw Patrol.

"We're killing it. We're doing an amazing job of telling stories that resonate around the world."

Canadian values like inclusivity and civic duty filter into the stories we tell and how we tell them a key factor in our success with exporting kids shows abroad, Falconeexplained.

For instance, Paw Patrol "works in every country [where] it's launched," he said.

"[Kids] feel really empowered by the energy that those pups bring and the storytelling and good nature of the show. The civic duty that comes across in the show is remarkable. Doing the best for your community is the message of that show and that works in every country around the world."

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With today's borderless streaming andvideo-on-demand technology, fans hungry for Canadian kids' shows now have more access than ever to a wave of new material coming from the Great White North.

"Kids want new content. They want to learn more.They want to be exposed to new ideas as fast as we can create them," Falconesaid.

"There's lots of room for creators to bring new entertainment brands and stories to the market."