Roku Introduces ‘Kids & Family’ on The Roku Channel

Roku Introduces ‘Kids & Family’ on The Roku Channel

Collection of Kids and Family Entertainment Across Some of Today's Most Popular Children's Programming Available in a Single Destination; Parental Controls Within The Roku Channel Available Starting Today

August 19, 2019 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

LOS GATOS, Calif.--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.”

Kids & Family on The Roku Channel

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 Nickelodeon's Noggin, Hopster 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 Thomas & Friends, Care Bears, The Cat in the Hat, Leapfrog, Little Baby Bum, My Little Pony, Rev & Roll, Super Mario Brothers 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.”

Rokus’ VP of content Rob Holmes told Deadline, “We wanted to bring all of that content together in a single destination. Kids just want the characters that they want. They have no particular association with where the characters originate. Children tend to say, ‘I want Pikachu’ and ‘I want PAW Patrol.’ Who the linear network or studio behind that is not relevant to them.”

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.

About Roku, Inc.

Roku pioneered streaming to the TV. We connect users to the streaming content they love, enable content publishers to build and monetize large audiences, and provide advertisers with unique capabilities to engage consumers. Roku streaming players and Roku TV™ models are available around the world through direct retail sales and licensing arrangements with TV OEMs and service operators. Roku is headquartered in Los Gatos, Calif. U.S.A.

This press release contains “forward-looking” statements that are based on our beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to us on the date of this press release. Forward-looking statements may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These statements include but are not limited to the benefits, impact and availability of Kids & Family, the content available on Kids & Family, the availability and benefits of parental controls features on The Roku Channel, and the features, benefits and reach of The Roku Channel. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements publicly, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. Important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially are detailed from time to time in the reports Roku, Inc. files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2019. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on Roku’s website and are available from Roku without charge.

Roku is a registered trademark and Roku TV is a trademark of Roku, Inc. in the U.S. and in other countries.

From WrapPRO:

Pocket.watch Launches 24/7 Kids’ Channel on Roku’s Ad-Supported Streaming Platform

The channel will feature content from Ryan’s ToysReview, EvanTube, JillianTube, and the HobbyKids

Pocket.watch, a children’s entertainment company, has announced the launch of a 24/7 channel on Roku’s ad-supported streaming service, The Roku Channel.

The new channel will be housed in the newly launched Roku Kids section of the streamer’s ad-supported service, making it one of the first partners on the new destination. As part of the partnership, pocket.watch will act as a featured content provider, premiering exclusive content from Ryan Kaji of the YouTube channel Ryan’s ToysReview. Pocket.watch plans to launch five 22-minute ad-supported “Ryan’s World” specials that will be exclusive to the platform until Nov. 19.

Overall, pocket.watch’s 24/7 channel will include content from the company’s content partners, including Ryan’s ToysReview, EvanTube, JillianTube, and the HobbyKids.

“Families have come to know pocket.watch as a trusted source for family-friendly content, and it’s a top priority for us to connect families with the popular content they love in environments that are safe, curated and premium,” Chris M. Williams, pocket.watch CEO, said. “We are proud to work with great new OTT services like The Roku Channel to deliver quality programming... [...]

a top priority for us to connect families with the popular content they love in environments that are safe, curated and premium, Chris M. Williams, pocket.watch CEO, said. We are proud to work with great new OTT services like The Roku Channel to deliver quality programming with today's biggest digital stars to their quickly growing audiences.

Among the premium content featured on pocket.watch's channel will be a daily two-hour "Ryan's World" block, an animated cartoon based on the HobbyKids family, co-created by Butch Hartman ("Fairly Odd Parents,", "Danny Phantom"), a live-action and animation hybrid from EvanTube, and mixed-media play-ventures.

In the future, the company says it plans to launch additional content from its other digital partners, including The Onyx Family, MarMar, and a host of new pocket.watch creators.

"We're excited to have pocket.watch content available on Roku Kids," Rob Holmes, vice president of programming and engagement at Roku, said. "The desire for free, ad-supported entertainment continues to grow and working with pocket.watch gives us an incredible portfolio of series representing family-friendly talent and brands from the digital world."

Launched by former Disney exec Chris Williams in 2017, pocket.watch has made a business by creating franchises based on popular YouTube creators. It has developed and launched a consumer product line based on Ryan's ToysReview and also produces "Ryan's Mystery Playdate," which airs on Nickelodeon.

Based in Culver City, the company has raised more than $20 million in funding from investors, including Viacom, Greycroft, Third Wave Digital and United Talent Agency (UTA).

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More Nick: Nickelodeon to Premiere 'Blue's Clues & You' in November 2019!

H/T: Animation Magazine.

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