Sesame Street, public television's second great success, was a self-conscious effort to "master the addictive qualities of television and do something good with them." The show's creators appealed to children by mimicking commercial television's tricks for gaining attention, with techniques like breaking news (narrated by Kermit the Frog), sponsors ("Today is sponsored by the letter E"), and "commercial breaks" featuring favorites like Ernie and Bert. Author Malcolm Gladwell summed it up this way: "Sesame Street was built around a single, breakthrough insight: that if you can hold the attention of children, you can educate them."

Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, loc. 575