Kids’ TV Community Responds to COVID-19 Quarantines

As the coronavirus pandemic has led to the closures of schools and daycares around the world, parents are finding themselves in need of ways to keep their young ones entertained and supplement their daily learning. A slew of platforms, linear and streaming, have stepped up, shifting their schedules to accommodate more kids’ fare, making educational materials available for free and providing resources to help caregivers navigate these challenging times.

Amazon, for one, has made a wide selection of kids’ and family content available to watch for free on Prime Video. The platform has unlocked Amazon original kids’ and family shows, select third-party family movies and series licensed in cooperation with several of its studio partners, with no need for a paid Prime membership.

Nickelodeon has rolled out #KidsTogether, a global, multiplatform prosocial initiative that uses its most popular characters and talent to share tips for staying healthy and also ideas for activities families can do together while at home. #KidsTogether is meant to serve as an additional resource for parents while providing age-appropriate information for little ones through original short-form videos, interstitials, downloadable activities and social content.

Cartoon Network is featuring characters from hit shows such as The Powerpuff Girls, Teen Titans Go!, We Bare Bears and Steven Universe in its new global PSAs, which are focused on the importance of good hygiene practices. The short videos, designed to be both fun and informative, are currently rolling out across multiple platforms, including on-air, the CN app, CN’s social channels and YouTube.

Public broadcasters are, of course, doing their part. In the U.S., PBS KIDS is offering a variety of free resources to support families and caregivers, including a 24-hour channel with anytime access to educational series for kids 2 to 8. It has also put together materials for parents on how to talk to their children about the novel coronavirus, including emphasizing healthy habits, and ways to de-stress, like breathing exercises. The PBS KIDS Games App boasts nearly 200 educational games that can be downloaded for offline play.

In the U.K., kids and families can access a range of entertaining and educational shows and movies as part of a new children’s experience on BBC iPlayer. Available on internet-connected TVs, it brings together the best from CBBC and CBeebies, and other kid-suitable BBC programming, all in one place. Channel 5 just announced it is ramping up the amount of free kids’ content available from its multiplatform preschool brand Milkshake! Across the week, 250 additional episodes of Milkshake! content will be uploaded onto the My5 VOD service, joining the 500 episodes of Milkshake! content already on the platform.

RAI, the national public broadcaster in Italy (which is among the countries that have been hit hardest by the virus), ramped up its offer for kids. On Rai2, a new children’s slot has been established, with in-house productions and co-produced series, while the thematic channels Rai Yoyo (preschool) and Rai Gulp (kids) boosted their amount of programming with educational content, including animated series and shows on art, music, history and science. The free VOD services RAI Play and Rai Play Yoyo also opened dedicated sections, with content curated by genre and subgenres, promoting kids’ interaction.

Canada’s CBC pubcaster has made more than 300 hours of ad-free programming for kids and tweens available for free on CBC Gem. The CBC Kids block has been extended by an hour on weekdays, with content for preschoolers aged 2 to 6 now airing on CBC from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. There’s free nationwide access to Curio.ca, which provides students, parents and educators with streaming access to advertising-free educational content for primary through post-secondary levels from CBC and Radio-Canada. And CBCKids.ca has been stocked with hundreds of free games, videos and articles with activities for kids 4 to 10.

Looking at the LatAm and U.S. Hispanic markets, the Spanish-language preschool channel Semillitas prepared a range of special programming, including in-house pieces focused on educational videos. Gloob, Gloobinho and TV Globo launched a joint initiative called Ciranda da Limpeza, a campaign that aims to raise awareness among children and families about the importance of collaborating to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Discovery Kids is offering content from its Discovery Kids Plus app for a 30-day period in all of Latin America, including Mini Beat Power Rockers, Peppa Pig and Ricky Zoom, as well as original content, e-books and educational activities. HITN Learning’s Cleo & Cuquin: Explore + Learn app—the result of a government-funded project and inspired by the popular series on YouTube and Netflix—has been included in the initial list of official resources—prepared by the Software & Information Industry Association’s Education’s Technology Industry Network (SIIA / ETIN) and the White House—in a new website called Tech for Learners. The site will support educators and families who are quarantined at home by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the streaming arena, the Oznoz digital platform is allowing subscribers to view all of its content free of charge for the next two months. The AVOD safe streaming service Kidoodle.TV has bulked up its offering, now surpassing over 20,000 episodes of content. The North American kids’ streaming platform Ameba is currently being offered for free. CuriosityStream launched the Stay in, Stay Curious campaign, which includes an enhanced Kids’ Mode, creating a kid-friendly space in the library of documentary films and series.

“As our world has entered uncharted waters over the past weeks, we have pushed ourselves to accelerate projects like Kids’ Mode that we hope will make it a bit easier for parents to keep their kids entertained and learning while providing the peace of mind that they are in a wholesome and safe content environment,” said Devin Emery, head of growth for CuriosityStream. “We want to do what we can to support families and to help kids continue to engage their curiosity while spending more time at home.”

This ethos is pervasive throughout the kids’ TV industry right now, as supporting families and children in making the most out of their time at home during this pandemic is critically important in these difficult times.