Recently, my friend showed me an hour-long compilation video of a monkey in little blue overalls doing basic tasks in his brightly-colored home. I’ll admit, I was intrigued by this phenomenal display, and I promptly found myself going down a rabbit hole. This then led me to watching hours upon hours of Kiki Monkey and devolving even further as I asked myself more and more questions on the topic.
This popular and growing children’s channel on YouTube features a macaque domesticated monkey named Kiki. The “KUDO ANIMAL KIKI” channel produces one to two hour-long compilation videos consisting of sketches where Kiki solves various problems and handles conflict.
What initially drew me into this channel was its production quality. I’ve been dying to know how much work goes into creating something like this. I’ve asked myself questions like: how many monkeys play Kiki? How many trainers are on set? Are the monkeys on payroll? What’s their budget per sketch?
Questions like these aren’t easily answered due to the production’s only form of social media being YouTube and Facebook posts, which only contain promotions for new videos, but I tasked myself to try to find out as much as I could about the channel.
The miniature sets where Kiki Monkey carries out his adventures are high quality and surprisingly realistic. With bright colors in the background and an easy-to-follow plot, it makes sense why children are inherently drawn to Kiki Monkey.
Each video consists of sketches that are about two to four minutes in length, where Kiki and his friends learn lessons, make friends, solve problems and eat a lot of sweets. From rainbow Oreos to a mountain of M&Ms and gumballs, Kiki definitely has a sweet tooth.
Of course, a channel this successful is going to garner brand deals to match their audience, and there are few things kids get excited about more than candy. A brand deal from one of Kiki’s recent videos was with Kinder Eggs where Kiki harvested Kinder Eggs from his garden. In another sketch, Kiki bought the Kinder Eggs at the supermarket, in search of the golden egg.
These activities are accompanied by lively sound effects and enticing graphics that make the story make sense, since obviously Kiki can’t really talk. This element of the videos can be repetitive, but what children’s show isn’t?
According to Community Playthings, storytelling using animals provides a unique connection for children to develop sensitivity for others, hone their social skills and learn how to display empathy. Have you ever heard of “monkey see monkey do?” That’s the role Kiki Monkey takes in childhood development – it’s a mix of fun and education suited for children. According to the Association for Psychological Science, actions play a critical role in our levels of comprehension and development, and that stick with us even as adults.
So then, I asked myself how a channel that was only created in 2022 would know how to appeal to children with this much success. After a bit of Googling, I found out Kiki Monkey works with a London-based multi-channel network (MCN) called KUDO. This MCN offers creator support to YouTube channels primarily targeted towards children to help them grow their network.
Working with this MCN, it makes sense how over two years of posting videos, they would amount to having almost three million subscribers, and their most popular video having garnered more than 28 million views. It’s surprising, like really, how many children are watching and rewatching an hour-long video of “Kiki Monkey bath in the Rainbow Bath Tub full of M&M candy and play with ducklings?”
As this content is targeted towards children, its puzzling why I have had such a desire to watch these videos. Something about the simple stories, engaging colors and use of repetitive sound effects allows me to completely disconnect with the world and escape for a time. Being a student is hard. Sometimes we don’t give ourselves time to relax until we are burnt out.
The time I spend watching Kiki Monkey enriches my inner child while also giving me a break from anything social. We all just need some alone time now and again, and by watching Kiki Monkey, I am entertained and blissfully in my own world.
