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The concept of a circus might be well known, but Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey admits it has a bit of an identity problem. “Kids already know how to play (games like) Ringling, they just don’t know it by name,” Juliette Feld Grossman, CEO of Feld Entertainment, told CNN. She is trying to modernize her family’s 154-year-old brand for the latest generation. So, the production company is pivoting to video — sort of. Feld Entertainment is expanding its YouTube presence with videos teaching kids skills like spinning plates and juggling to expose the circus to screen-attached kids who haven’t heard of Ringling. That hopefully will lead to ticket sales for the show, which was revamped two years ago following a six-year absence. “They know how to get out a hula hoop and jump rope or a bunch of costumes and make a show,” Grossman told CNN. “We want to introduce kids to circus arts through things that they already know and connect with things that they already have in their garage that they could play with.” The “Greatest Show on Earth” shuttered in 2017 following more than 100 years in operation because of declining ticket sales and criticism from animal rights activists for its use of elephants, tigers and other animals. In 2023, the show was revived without live animals and an emphasis on acrobats. “To be fully transparent, we were out of the market for a number of years and in that time, a new generation of kids was born and families found new rhythms and different places to go for their entertainment experiences,” Grossman said. “When we brought the touring unit back, we had done a lot of soul searching,” She said they have removed certain elements that were no longer relevant. Full-faced makeup clowns got the axe because of horror movies, while comedy bits, high-energy musical performances and a robotic dog named Bailey were added. For the next tour, a live DJ will spin popular music. Grossman also took a page out of Monster Jam, the touring monster truck show that her company also produces. She said something new happens roughly every three seconds, like music, lighting or video changes, to keep kids’ attention. The circus begins another national tour run in January 2026. Tickets go on sale Tuesday. Grossman said ticket sales were strong for the last tour, which concluded this past summer and stopped in several dozen cities. (The company is private and doesn’t report sales.) She said the brand learned that it needs to do a better job telling people “not what wasn’t there, but what was there.” Besides the circus and monster truck events, Feld Entertainment also produces Disney on Ice, Super Motorcross and other family-friendly shows. Grossman said the company is “quite aware” of cautious consumer spending and has noticed that families are buying closer to the performance dates rather than in advance. “The biggest thing about what we do across the board is that it’s always a family show,” Grossman said. “This is not a kid show. This is a family show.”
