Kidoodle.TV’s Brenda Bisner

Brenda Bisner, chief content officer of A Parent Media Co., owner of Kidoodle.TV, shares with TV Kids the acquisitions plans for the platform, which is dedicated to shaping the future of “Safe Streaming” for children around the globe.

Kidoodle.TV is a family-focused Safe Streaming connected TV channel with a mandate to provide children with a safe viewing experience. With over 17,000 episodes licensed from children’s content producers from around the globe, Kidoodle.TV has a diversity of family-appropriate shows for kids within a privacy-controlled setting while allowing for independent navigation and discoverability.

The service is available in over 145 countries across an expanding global ecosystem of connected devices and platforms to accommodate “anytime, anywhere” viewing. It is currently available on over 1,000 devices, as an app on supported iOS and Android devices, online as a browser-based streaming service and as a channel in connected-TV environments. And the plans are for many additional environments to be added in 2020.

TV KIDS: How is Kidoodle.TV uniquely positioned in the streaming landscape?
BISNER: A Parent Media Co. was founded in 2012 with the goal of creating a safe and easily accessible platform for children’s media consumption.

Our team focused on building out a platform that meets the needs of young children as well as the needs of parents who were looking for a trustworthy, safe service to accommodate their family’s specific viewing habits. Not only has “anytime, anywhere” viewing been growing but parents, now more than ever, want to establish healthy viewing habits for the whole family. We felt that the natural first step in healthy viewing and smart media consumption was making the protection of children’s privacy a priority.

By building our service around this premise, including how we incorporate advertising, we have been able to engage with family-focused advertisers looking for a “safe” home for their brands and participate in the conversation around protecting children’s privacy.

Kidoodle.TV offers both ad-based and subscription-based viewing, which allows parents to choose a viewing environment that meets their family’s needs. Regardless of the model, Kidoodle.TV families can feel confident in the quality of the content and the user experience for their children while knowing that their privacy is not compromised.

We also have a strong appreciation for the effort and originality that it takes to create great shows for kids. Our model for content monetization takes that into account in support of the fantastic creators and brands with whom we work. We continue to expand our support for our content producers and brands as we build out our Creator Network in 2020.

TV KIDS: What types of content can be found on the service?
BISNER: With over 17,000 episodes and growing, we are proud to have meaningful content partnerships that not only give an additional revenue stream but also harness the great content in the marketplace in our Safe Streaming environment.

Notable deals in 2019 include Endemol Shine, YoBoHo, Gaumont, Guinness Book of World Records, Outfit 7, Konami, Sockeye Media, Moonbug Entertainment, Millimages, Zodiak Kids, Spin Master, ChuChu TV, CAKE, 9 Story, Blue Ant Media and others. We look forward to announcing many more content additions in 2020 as brands join the Kidoodle.TV family.

TV KIDS: What type of projects and programs are you looking for?
BISNER: Brand names are always going to be big drivers, and this year you will see some major names coming on board. We have a current focus on UGC, as well as traditional brands, and are excited to work with any creators with originality and quality content. Gamers are another major focus as we see the trend reports coming in and are measuring the success of the existing gaming content we have on the service.

TV KIDS: Tell us more about the Kidoodle.TV’s “Creator Network” plans.
BISNER: Kidoodle.TV is a carefully curated video service that offers content providers an additional platform to monetize their content through extended reach to global audiences. While we serve the interests of families, we also have an interest in ensuring that content providers and brands are also supported. Whether that’s through the provision of new monetization avenues for UGC creators, making it easier for creators and brands to operate in a privacy-controlled space, or empowering brands and content providers with reach across a scaled-up platform with corresponding monetization opportunities, we decided to formalize our efforts by establishing a Creator Network to be formally announced later this year.

TV KIDS: Last year we learned about Kidoodle.TV’s strategy for shaping the future of Safe Streaming for kids around the globe. How has that expanded and what does 2020 look like?
BISNER: Safe Streaming applies not only to the protection of our Kidoodle.TV families but to our content providers and the brands that work with us. Cognizant of the extra protections that children require when engaging with brands, our focus on Safe Streaming extends to ensuring that appropriate ads are delivered in an appropriate manner across our ecosystem and that all of our data collection practices are aligned with regulatory standards. We have been building out our tech and infrastructure around ad sales and will continue to scale access in 2020, giving options to brands who are looking for child-focused, contextualized space. And since our platform only delivers child-directed content in a privacy-controlled setting, we hope to provide a layer of assurance to child-directed content providers who are closely following recent FTC decisions and regulatory changes.

TV KIDS: What would you like our readers to know about your plans, goals and overall message for the 2020 market circuit?
BISNER: Last year we saw extreme growth, onboarding over 17,000 episodes of content, launching on more connected-TV devices and additional platforms, and building out our ad sales team. In 2020, providing a child-focused Safe Streaming experience in a complex space is more important than ever. Our goal is to continue expansion and to make Kidoodle.TV a safe destination for not only children but for child-focused content providers and advertisers worldwide. We have a target reach of tens of millions of connected devices, providing additional opportunities for all of our partners and consumers globally.

We have made great strides not just in creating a “walled garden” for kids under 12 in over 145 countries but as a company setting standards around Safe Streaming that supports creators, brands, advertisers and most importantly, children and their families. This year will see the results of new research and the formal launch of the Creator Network, which makes the year ahead one of great opportunity. We are all excited to continue to grow our strong content offering and keep kids Safe Streaming around the globe.