-Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ: ROKU) today announced the addition of “Kids & Family” on The Roku Channel, the home for free and premium entertainment on the Roku platform. The new Kids & Family experience makes it easy for children and parents to find a great selection of tailored content available for free and through Premium Subscriptions available in one, easy-to-access destination. In addition, Roku is rolling out Parental Control features for The Roku Channel giving parents an additional layer of control over what their kids can playback within the channel.
“We recognize that it can be a challenge to find quality kids and family entertainment across multiple streaming channels, particularly free, ad-supported options,” said Rob Holmes, Vice President of Programming and Engagement, Roku. “Kids & Family not only provides a selection of great free, ad-supported content from partners like pocket.watch with Ryan’s World and Lionsgate’s Leapfrog, but also highlights kids’ entertainment from existing Premium Subscriptions partners. Parents looking to find great programming for their children will enjoy the ease of going to The Roku Channel as their one place for kids and family entertainment.”
An Aggregated Experience with No Additional Subscriptions or Fees Required
Kids & Family delivers a unique blend of quality shows, movies, live linear and short-form video typically found across multiple free and paid kids’ channels and brings them together to watch in a single place. In addition to the thousands of free, ad-supported options, users who have already subscribed to Premium Subscriptions through The Roku Channel will be able to view subscription-based kids and family content from partners such as Hopster, Noggin and Zoomoo, as well as children’s entertainment from services such as HBO and STARZ, directly within Kids & Family.
- Editorial approach: Roku’s in-house editorial team created the Kids & Family experience to feature series, movies and entertainment that kids celebrate and love
- Variety and breadth of entertainment: 7,000 free, ad-supported movies and TV episodes will be available to users from more than 20 key partners such as All Spark, A Hasbro Company, DHX Media, Happy Kids TV, Lionsgate, Mattel, Moonbug, and pocket.watch, among others. Programming includes:
- Favorite TV and online franchises such as Care Bears, The Cat in the Hat, Leapfrog, Little Baby Bum, My Little Pony, Rev & Roll, Super Mario Brothers, Thomas & Friends and more
- Live/linear streams featuring 24/7 kids programming will be available from Moonbug, pocket.watch and partners powered by XUMO including, Ameba, BatteryPop, KidGenius
- Five exclusive episodes of 22-minute Ryan’s World by pocket.watch specials will be available directly on The Roku Channel for the first time
- Easy to access Premium Subscriptions: Those who’ve subscribed to Blue Ant Media’s ZooMoo, CONtv, Dove Channel, HBO, Hopster, NOGGIN, STARZ, or Up Faith and Family through The Roku Channel will be able to view entertainment directly in the Kids & Family experience. These subscribers will find fan favorites such as Bubble Guppies, Dora the Explorer, PAW Patrol, Peppa Pig, and family friendly movies, including Adventures of Elmo in Groucholand, Muppets Take Manhattan and more, living alongside popular AVOD entertainment
“There is a tremendous opportunity to expand our reach with the quickly growing audience on The Roku Channel,” said Chris M. Williams, Founder and CEO, pocket.watch. “Family time is often enjoyed in the living room where Roku is so successful and we’re thrilled to bring our biggest creator partners, like Ryan from Ryan’s World, into the heart of the home through the new pocket.watch channel.”
More Entertainment, Fewer Commercials
Roku partners with a great selection of brands to deliver compelling content to users without any additional fees. Kids & Family will have approximately 40% of the advertising time of traditional linear television. In addition, LEGO Systems has signed on as the first advertising sponsor of Kids & Family on The Roku Channel.
“Roku offers a custom experience that will help us connect with our kid and family audiences, who are consuming content on an evolving array of platforms,” said Michael McNally, senior director at the LEGO Group. “We’re thrilled to be the exclusive sponsorship partner in Kids & Family on The Roku Channel.”
Parental Controls Within The Roku Channel
Roku today also announced it is offering additional PIN-based playback controls to The Roku Channel to help parents set access limits to content based on ratings within The Roku Channel. If the setting is enabled, a PIN will be required in order to view videos on The Roku Channel based on the content rating. For more information on Parental Controls within The Roku Channel, click here.
Availability
Kids & Family will be available to users of The Roku Channel in the U.S. starting today. It will be available on Roku devices, via the Web and on select Samsung smart TVs that access The Roku Channel. Kids & Family will be accessible on the Web here.
The Roku Channel launched nearly two years ago as a direct response to consumer demand. The Roku Channel is a place to easily discover both free and premium entertainment in a single, easy to use destination. It features a robust content offering including 80,000+ free, ad-supported and paid movies and TV episodes, 35+ live and linear streaming services, such as ABC News, Cheddar, and TMZ, and 40 Premium Subscription services, such as HBO, Showtime and STARZ, among others.
