Nickelodeon and PBS Focus on Kids’ Apps

From a study done in October by American children’s channel, 27% of U.S. households with children between three and five years old have an iPad. Also, forty percent of preschoolers were using it for educational apps, compared to 27%, six months prior.

Smell a new digital market cooking? Nickelodeon and PBS does too. Garnering the attentions of young parents who own iPads, both networks are publishing content for kindergarten-aged children.

In fact, Nick Jr. (a division of Nickelodeon, geared towards babies) has already started previewing content, up-coming shows and characters in their educational applications for iPad. A new show, ‘Wallykazam,’ starring a magic stick-weilding little boy and his miniature pet dragon will hit the station’s circulation in late-2014, though kids can solve puzzles with ‘Wally’ on their smartphones and tablets today.

PBS, broadcasters of ‘Sesame Street,’ have also seen a positive response to their digital presence. Twenty-one percent of participants in a survey by Sesame Workshop say that their children first interacted with ‘Sesame Street’ via sources other than television; namely PBS.org and Youtube.

Although it may seem a bit strange to consider marketing tablets to babies, it is a key facet of technology of the not-too-distant future, and as they say, the numbers don’t lie. The market has already clearly been established and will continue to gain momentum as tablets become more ubiquitous.

<New York Times>