In 2017, the network relaunched as Universal Kids, adding an evening and prime time lineup targeting a wider youth audience—including DreamWorks Animation content, non-scripted programming (including game shows, and youth spin-offs of reality series from its NBCUniversal sister networks, such as American Ninja Warrior and Top Chef), and acquired teen dramas.

Amid industry-wide declines in the viewership of cable networks targeting children, Universal Kids stopped developing new original programming in 2019, with the channel now relying primarily on acquisitions and DreamWorks Animation content (drawn primarily from series originally commissioned for Netflix).

The reason for this move was due to competition from the Imagination Movers, a children's music group from New Orleans who received their own TV show in September 2008.

[8] Comcast acquired a 51% majority stake in NBC Universal from General Electric on January 28, 2011, and would assume full ownership of the company in 2013.

[17][18] Both of these blocks replaced Qubo (a previous joint venture between NBCUniversal, Ion Media, Corus Entertainment, Scholastic, and Classic Media),[19] which had been airing on NBC and Telemundo since September 2006, but continued to air via a third programming block on Ion Television as well as a separate 24-hour network known as Qubo Channel until that brand's full discontinuation in February 2021.

[20] NBC Kids was discontinued on September 25, 2016 (one day before Sprout's eleventh anniversary) and was replaced by "The More You Know", a block produced by Litton Entertainment that would feature live-action documentary and lifestyle programs aimed at pre-teens and teenagers.

[26][25] On September 26, 2015, Sprout underwent a brand refresh to mark the tenth anniversary of its launch, with new on-air imaging inspired by modern technology and mobile devices, a new tiny house-inspired studio at 30 Rockefeller Plaza for its hosted morning block The Sunny Side Up Show, as well as the premiere of Nina's World—an original animated series spun off from its evening block The Good Night Show.

[24] Actress Alyssa Milano began to make appearances in interstitial segments as Sprout's "Mom-bassador", with a particular focus on the channel's public service campaign "Kindness Counts".

[27][28] Deirdre Brennan, formerly of Canadian media company Corus Entertainment, was named the new president of Sprout in January 2017, replacing the outgoing Sandy Wax.

"[33] The network would launch with a slate of original non-scripted series, including Bear Grylls: Survival School and Top Chef Junior.

[33] The launch lineup included a large number of international acquisitions, particularly from the U.K., Australia, and Canada (such as The Next Step and Nowhere Boys); Brennan acknowledged that since youth audiences had become "globally aware", the network wanted to showcase foreign series that had not yet aired in the United States.

[38][32][33] Industry observers felt that the integration of DreamWorks IP with Universal Kids would help NBCUniversal establish a viable multi-platform competitor to other major children's networks.

"[33] Universal Kids saw a significant decrease in viewership in comparison to its previous incarnation as Sprout, with IndieWire reporting a 30% decline in 2017, followed by a 73% drop in 2018.

[45][46] Some Universal Kids original series, such as American Ninja Warrior Junior, Super Wings and Where's Waldo?, moved to NBCUniversal's new streaming service Peacock.

[1] Currently, the network's most prominent scheduling pattern is marathon 'best-of volume' blocks of one program featuring individual segments aired continuously for 1–3 hours rather than a traditional block of consecutive episodes, emulating the model of the official YouTube channels for prevailing children's series, which either feature a continuous live stream of the series, or an uploaded video several hours in length containing multiple episodes.

As PBS Kids Sprout, the channel featured reruns of many preschool shows from the PBS Kids library, like Sesame Street, Dragon Tales, Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat, Teletubbies, Barney & Friends, Thomas & Friends, Angelina Ballerina, Make Way for Noddy and Super Why!.

After losing the rights to most of PBS's library, yet prior to the Universal Kids rebranding, Sprout continued to premiere new series such as Kody Kapow, joining a slate that had included Dot, Nina's World, and DreamWorks-produced Noddy, Toyland Detective.

[33] On August 14, 2017, Sprout replaced its long-running morning block Sunny Side Up with Sprout House (renamed Snug's House in 2018), which is presented by Carly Ciarrocchi and the new character Snug, a talking dog portrayed by puppeteer Chris Palmieri, through 90-second segments throughout the block.

The program was designed to be more flexible to produce than its predecessor, with a different "tiny house" set with additional areas and camera options.