Open Children's Media Index
A transparent, empirically grounded database of sensory-load profiles for children's television. Every metric is measurable, every score shows its component parts.
This index applies the Children's Media Analysis Toolkit (CMAT) to publicly available programming. Analysis is automated and reproducible. This project does not issue verdicts on appropriateness — it presents labeled measurements that researchers and caregivers can interpret in context. All findings are correlational.
Children's programming
Avg load scores on a 0–1 scale. green < 0.33 yellow 0.33–0.40 red > 0.40. Thresholds are descriptive, not normative recommendations.
| Show | Audience | Network | Episodes analyzed | Avg load | Cuts/min | Saturation | Motion | Flash/min |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Little Bear | Preschool ages 2–5 | Nickelodeon | 65 | 0.192 | 13.4 | 0.383 | 0.0537 | 4.6 |
| Franklin | Preschool | Nick Jr. | 6 | 0.223 | 13.3 | 0.473 | 0.0653 | 5.4 |
| Arthur | Ages 4–8 | PBS | 6 | 0.255 | 18.3 | 0.516 | 0.0765 | 7.8 |
| Bluey | Preschool ages 2–7 | ABC Kids (Australia) / Disney+ | 7 | 0.162 | 11.1 | 0.334 | 0.0491 | 4.0 |
| SpongeBob SquarePants † | General children's audience | Nickelodeon | 10 | 0.295 | 15.1 | 0.505 | 0.0605 | 7.0 |
| Curious George | Ages 4–7 | PBS Kids | 5 | 0.228 | 15.4 | 0.423 | 0.0643 | 5.1 |
| Peep and the Big Wide World | Preschool | TVO Kids / Discovery Kids | 4 | 0.178 | 8.3 | 0.385 | 0.0459 | 4.4 |
| The Berenstain Bears | Preschool | Treehouse TV / CBS | 3 | 0.186 | 15.1 | 0.363 | 0.0580 | 3.9 |
| A Charlie Brown Christmas | All ages | CBS | 1 | 0.132 | 6.4 | 0.372 | 0.0509 | 1.8 |
† High within-show variability (sensory load std dev > 0.08). Aggregate reflects the sampled episodes; individual episodes may differ meaningfully. See the show page for the full distribution.
Comparison baselines
Included for cross-genre reference only. These titles are not children's programming and are not scored against child-audience presets.
| Title | Genre | Platform | Episodes analyzed | Avg load | Cuts/min | Saturation | Motion | Flash/min |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MrBeast | Challenge / philanthropy | YouTube | 2 | 0.504 | 34.7 | 0.293 | 0.1454 | 12.8 |
| IShowSpeed † | Gaming / reaction | YouTube / Kick | 6 | 0.405 | 14.7 | 0.405 | 0.1378 | 13.1 |
| Bob Ross — The Joy of Painting | Instructional / art | PBS | 2 | 0.071 | 2.5 | 0.167 | 0.0282 | 1.7 |
| Game Theory | Educational / gaming | YouTube | 4 | 0.275 | 12.3 | 0.279 | 0.0806 | 12.9 |
| Neon Genesis Evangelion | Anime / psychological drama | TV Tokyo | 1 | 0.267 | 13.1 | 0.496 | 0.0561 | 7.8 |
† High within-show variability (sensory load std dev > 0.08).
Language analytics
Computed from Whisper SRT transcripts. Only shows with available transcripts are listed. WPM = words per minute (speech rate); TTR = type-token ratio (vocabulary diversity, 0–1); Lexical density = content words as a fraction of all words.
| Show | Transcripts | WPM | TTR | Lexical density | Unique words / ep |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Little Bear | 62 | 67.7 | 0.241 | 0.587 | 387 |
| Arthur | 6 | 97.0 | 0.257 | 0.582 | 663 |
| A Charlie Brown Christmas | 2 | 95.7 | 0.277 | 0.585 | 672 |