Kidoodle.TV’s Brenda Bisner Talks Growth & Gains

With a continued mission and mantra to provide Safe Streaming for kids and families around the world, Kidoodle.TV has carved out a unique position for itself in the ultra-crowded streaming landscape. Its AVOD model means there’s no barrier to entry, and the platform touts its rigorous vetting strategy for programming—led by humans, not algorithms—to deliver safe, accessible and top-quality content that’s both entertaining and educational for kids and that parents can feel good about their children watching. It’s no wonder, then, that Kidoodle.TV has seen its usage skyrocket in the last year. Brenda Bisner, the platform’s chief content officer, tells TV Kids about the gains Kidoodle.TV has made and what’s to come.

TV KIDS: How has Kidoodle.TV grown and evolved since its inception?
BISNER: Since Kidoodle.TV’s inception, the focus has been on digital safety for families. We’re committed to leading the Safe Streaming movement through our first-class service, and we continue to work to strengthen our offering for families worldwide. While Safe Streaming is fundamentally at the core of who we are and what we do, our AVOD/SVOD hybrid model ensures greater accessibility to families across the world, which now includes over 12 million monthly active users (MAUs) in over 160 countries and territories. As families continue to find Kidoodle.TV increasingly useful and relevant in their lives, we are seeing skyrocketing usage of the service, and in fact, MAUs grew 3,200 percent last year alone.

TV KIDS: What does Safe Streaming mean to you in today’s competitive environment?
BISNER: As leaders of the Safe Streaming movement, we take enormous pride that we are not the only ones talking about a very serious subject when it comes to keeping kids safe in a place that was not designed for them.

Safe Streaming is a commitment we have to providing a safe, accessible and top-quality experience for families around the world. In addition to delivering a dynamic user experience and great content offering, we believe that allowing parents to curate their children’s experience in a safe environment is incredibly important for viewers today.

TV KIDS: With kids spending more time at home amid the coronavirus pandemic, how is Kidoodle.TV serving their needs for content that is both entertaining and educational?

BISNER: In 2020, we conducted our first annual research study, It Takes a (Digital) Village, and found that standard recommendations for screen time conflict with the needs of the modern parent, especially in the context of COVID-19. Recreational screen time (63 percent of respondents) and educational screen time (61 percent of respondents) were nearly tied for the most common way parents use screens in their home. As digital content consumption replaces other in-person methods of learning, interaction and activity, digital platforms need to better understand how they fit within the home and provide extra utility where it’s needed. Aside from continuing to expand across connected environments to deliver service to families across digital spaces, we’ve continued efforts to expand our content library and provide families with choice in the shows they want their kids to experience. Integrating shows that supplement traditional education and learning activities is an important part of our strategy, and 2021 will see the addition of shows that meet that demand.

TV KIDS: Tell us about the Kidoodle.TV content slate; how many hours does it currently cover, and are you looking to increase this amount in the year or two ahead?
BISNER: With the pandemic disrupting lives around the world in 2020, we rapidly increased our library to add content that families needed within a trusted destination. We currently offer over 25,000 episodes of content and are proud of the meaningful partnerships that come with it. As the world continues to shift, we will continue to focus on gathering the world’s greatest brands to ensure a relevant and quality experience on the service.

TV KIDS: What’s been guiding your overall acquisition strategy?
BISNER: Our strategy has always been to provide a safe alternative to other services in the industry, as we serve as a proper channel with very fair, non-exclusive deal terms. We regularly review a massive amount of new content for suitability and close multiple deals per week in order to ensure a full content pipeline going into the service at all times. It’s not only important to serve millions of children within a safe environment, but it’s also important that we continue to distribute the great content that kids and their families expect. Our relationship with every single brand owner is important to us as we welcome them to the Kidoodle.TV family. Taking time and care to understand the needs of the brands we work with and how we can support each other really makes a difference. We aim to have some of the most meaningful relationships in the AVOD space.

TV KIDS: What are you currently on the lookout for, and what would you like to see more of in the marketplace?
BISNER: Our goal is to continue expanding our content library with titles that align with our Safe Streaming values. Specifically, we’re always on the lookout for quality content that focuses on education, mindfulness, physical activity and pure entertainment. We have a target reach of hundreds of millions of connected devices, providing additional opportunities for content providers.

Kidoodle.TV continues to exhibit strong growth as a result of its activities designed to support content providers and brands and ensure a maximum value proposition for parents.

If you have a show that is completed, you are welcome to reach out to Kidoodle.TV. All received submissions will be answered in due course. We are always interested in reviewing great, well-known brands that have a proven track record, as well as emerging brands and brands born out of YouTube with a strong following. Serving children under 12 in over 160 countries and territories allows us to be broad in our offering while developing partnerships that complement the effort. We are 90 percent AVOD-driven and offer a non-exclusive deal structure at a competitive CPM rate, serving as a new revenue corridor to brand owners.

TV KIDS: What does Kidoodle.TV offer to producers and distributors that make it such a great partner?
BISNER: Brands that come to Kidoodle.TV deserve great care. We feel it is important to create lasting and meaningful relationships with our content providers and advertisers, and we engage in efforts associated with keeping all of our brands safe. Creating an effective relationship involves an alignment of values and goals. It’s also important that our partners care about Safe Streaming, as it has proven to be incredibly important to all parties. As a brand owner, there is no better feeling than placing your show in a safe and trusted place while making an additional revenue stream.

TV KIDS: Tell us about how Kidoodle.TV is leading the way in advertising.
BISNER: Advertisers and marketers across all verticals must figure out how to reach their audiences in a world increasingly focused on protecting data and in a world where brand safety and reputation are increasingly at stake. Kidoodle.TV has been ahead of the curve on privacy and contextual targeting under COPPA rules, as well as keeping inappropriate content off the service. Thanks to our proprietary Creative Review process, all content is vetted, providing the industry with a safe solution for brands. Advertisers can also leverage child-directed services like ours to reach highly engaged families.

TV KIDS: Kidoodle.TV has also moved into originals. What does the future hold in this space?
BISNER: We will be sharing news on the Kidoodle.TV originals front soon—stand by! As we look ahead, it’s change that’s important, and we are lucky to be in a situation to adapt to evolving family needs.

TV KIDS: As you look out at 2021, what’s your focus for Kidoodle.TV in the next 8 to 12 months?
BISNER: We look forward to continuing the work we do to keep kids safe while streaming globally and supporting the content providers and brands that form an important part of the Kidoodle.TV family. Additionally, we will be focusing on new ways to evaluate the content needs of families as the world progresses through this significant period of change. We have no doubt that we will be shaking the industry up this year.