Nickelodeon UK Announces Plans To Launch Localised Version Of The Nick App Later In 2013

The television industry news magazine and website Broadcast is reporting the very exciting Nickelodeon UK news in the following article that Tim Patterson, the Vice President (VP) of scheduling at Nickelodeon UK has announced and confirmed that Nickelodeon UK will be launching the Nick App in the UK and Ireland later this year (2013)!:

BBC Children's bids to up its multiplatform game

BBC Children’s is “lagging behind its audience” in terms of the platforms it uses and must focus its efforts on getting “alongside” them within a decade, director of children’s Joe Godwin has revealed.

At many sessions during the 10th Children’s Media Conference in Sheffield last week, discussion centred on how multiplatform elements of children’s content have now become a given, leaving creatives to hone their energies on storytelling.

Godwin and CBBC controller Cheryl Taylor both delivered the message that the BBC should be, in Godwin’s words, “setting the agenda for what children should be doing”.

With a cross-brand BBC Children’s mobile app on the way later this year, as well as research showing that 40% of households with children now own tablets, the BBC is on the lookout for shortform content for mobiles and tablets, particularly drama.

The corporation is close to announcing several interactive drama projects, including webonly narratives that feed into the main stories of CBBC dramas.

Meanwhile, CBBC is understood to be set to adapt Y Lifft, a second-screen playalong game show from Boom Pictures and interactive producer Cube Interactive developed as a Welsh language format for S4C.

The corporation is also looking at ways of using games to bridge the gap between CBeebies and CBBC. One option under consideration is for games to begin on a simple level on the CBeebies website and for players to progress to the CBBC site for higher levels.

“The technological advances of the past few years have made children’s lives harder to navigate,” said Godwin. “The toughest challenge is in mobile technology for children.

“The opportunity for constant content is fantastic, but it’s very difficult for broadcasters, especially PSBs, to be in all the places where children are.”

Nickelodeon is also releasing an app this year that combines short and long-form content, comic clips and cast interviews.

"The audience has to be fed and it wants relevant, but new, content," said Nickelodeon director of programming Tim Patterson. "But we don’t want the second screen's tail to wag the linear dog. We should focus on stories on-screen, then add value. Stuff on the cutting room floor, for example, can be used relatively inexpensively."