The Guardian - YouTube is launching a separate app for children which will filter out inappropriate content, hide comments on videos and which will not allow them to register and log in to its service.
The YouTube Kids app launches today in the US for Android devices, and the company intends to roll it out elsewhere in the future, as well as creating a version for Apple’s iOS devices.
The app will be free and funded by advertising, although YouTube says it will be carefully screening ads to ensure they are appropriate for children.
“Parents have been asking us for years to build a friendlier version of YouTube for families,” product manager Shimrit Ben-Yair told the Guardian, citing data showing that while YouTube’s overall viewing time grew by 50% in 2014, this rose to 200% for “family entertainment” content.
YouTube Kids groups videos into four categories: shows, music, learning and explore. Shows focuses on videos from familiar children’s TV brands like Sesame Street and Thomas and Friends; Music includes videos from nursery-rhyme channels like Mother Goose Club; and Learning gathers educational videos.
Explore, meanwhile, will collect videos from other children’s channels on YouTube, from Minecraft gamers like Stampy to cooking and loom-band tutorials. “All the content that kids know and love on YouTube is here,” said Ben-Yair.
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