Disney Branded TV Rebrands As Disney Kids & Family
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- Disney Branded Television is renaming itself Disney Kids & Family, with chairman Debra OConnell and division head Ayo Davis announcing the change in a note to creative partners, citing the old "branded" label as a source of confusion.
- OConnell added oversight of the Ayo Davis-led division in March when she was elevated to Chairman of Disney Entertainment Television, which prompted the review that led to the rebrand.
- The division produces both Disney IP-based series like Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Descendants, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and original programming including Phineas & Ferb, Big City Greens, and Zombies, plus third-party-acquired hits like Bluey and SuperKitties.
- Upcoming preschool collaborations include Marvel's Avengers: Mightiest Friends and Pixar's Cars: Lightning Racers, while the slate spans Disney Jr. (preschoolers), Disney Channel (ages 6-teen), and family co-viewing fare on Disney+.
- The division drove three of the top five preschool streaming shows of 2025 — Bluey (#1, with 193+ billion minutes viewed on Disney+ per Nielsen), Spidey and His Amazing Friends (#3), and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (#5) — and has earned Disney more Children's and Family Emmy nominations than any other company for two consecutive years.
- The Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special amassed 6.3 million views across Disney+ and Hulu in its first three days, and the Descendants/Zombies franchises fueled last fall's sold-out Worlds Collide tour.
- Disney Branded Entertainment dates to 2020, formed under then-General Entertainment Content chief Peter Rice with Gary Marsh as head; Davis replaced Marsh in 2021, and the unit now remains under OConnell's Disney Entertainment Television umbrella.
Why it matters: The rebrand drops a confusing label and signals how Disney wants the unit — which oversees the *Bluey* franchise, *Percy Jackson*, and the upcoming Marvel and Pixar preschool shows — to be positioned: as a pipeline feeding franchises across parks, consumer products, and streaming, not just a cable-channel programmer. For creative partners and talent, the clearer name may make the division's scope and ambitions more legible at a moment when Disney is consolidating kids content across Disney+, Disney Jr., and Disney Channel.
