Kidscreen Explores the Children's Digital Entertainment Business
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
p9 Fine-tuning Moshi TV 2 p1 A silver lining for console gaming? 5 p1 New Nickelodeon mobile study Kidscreen explores the children’s digital entertainment business February/March 2012 Cleaning Up Disney Mobile gains new ground with hit original app and IP Where’s My Water? Are you reading this? So are 11,999 other kids entertainment executives. Advertise in our next issue to reach them. [email protected] KS.20611.iKidsAdSales_HAindd.indd 1 21/12/11 11:20 AM /editorial A new page in the digital age or most media and entertainment page 9) and a growing app market is having marketing of age-appropriate mobile content. F companies, going digital is an a tremendous impact on console gaming, as The need for more context is definitely there, unavoidable truth in an increas- explored in Keeping up with the kids (page 12). as the number of educational apps aimed ingly mobile and web-centric world. The kids Nickelodeon has also done its own job of keep- at toddlers has grown by 23% in the past business is certainly no different, which is ing up with tablet-toting youngsters through a two years, and the app market as a whole is why, as a barometer of the industry, we have brand-new study on the mobile habits of six- to expected to reach US$38 billion in the next evolved along with it and created a stand- 11-year-olds (Cracking the Code, page 15). three. That’s why something tells me I should alone book—our own digital brand extension As I embark on maternity leave in 2012, I cherish my iPad now as much as I do of Kidscreen, if you will. Welcome to iKids, a know the business of children’s digital media my sleep. mag dedicated to all things interactive. is about to get a lot more personal. This year, Echoing the agenda of our corresponding I’m most interested to see the growing assort- iKids event, the magazine’s sections focus on ment of products aimed at the youngest of Cheers, mobile, web and console gaming, all of which users, as well as additional steps—such as the Wendy Goldman Getzler are shaping each other’s evolution. Social recent ESRB app ratings and the Children’s Editor, iKids networking is affecting the way kids are con- App Manifesto featured in this issue—taken suming TV content (Seeking Remote Control, toward ensuring the development and /contents 6 Mobile Disney Mobile steps up its game with a new original character app and related content deals; PBS Kids puts its shows into the palms of some very little hands 9 Web An inside look at Moshi TV as Mind Candy’s new social networking initiative comes to fruition; Social Samba brings kids closer to online brands 12 Console It’s alive! Why things are still looking up for the children’s console gaming market; Once Upon a Monster opens up a new chapter for Sesame Workshop 15 <on_the_cover> FEATURE: CRACKING THE CODE Our inaugural issue sports an original illustration of Swampy, star of Disney In a brand-new study, Nickelodeon Consumer Insights takes a Mobile’s new Where’s My Water? app close look at how kids ages six to 11 are using their mobile devices ikids_February/March 2012 3 /in_the_network Connecting the dots Fall 2011 milestones set to make a mark on digital media in 2012 SEPTEMBERSE 13 NintendoN launches a slew of features and games ini an effort to fi ght a 3DS fl op SEPTEMBER 28 SEPTEMBER 28 Disney debuts a line Amazon lights a Fire, of iPad-compatible toys introduces its new US$200 tablet OCTOBER 4 Paramount skips the middleman (ahem, Netfl ix) and streams its content directly to consumers OCTOBER 5 Apple CEO and tech visionary Steve Jobs dies OCTOBER 14 NOVEMBER 7 PBS Kids launches 40 educational digital games Barnes & Noble goes to the mat with Amazon’s Kindle Fire, bowing the Nook Color tablet NOVEMBER 18 From web to TV—YouTube DECEMBER 1 series The Annoying Orange gets a Cartoon Network deal Mobile apps take a virtual page from the videogame book and get their own standardized ESRB ratings DECEMBER 10 The Apple App Store punches 100 million downloads in less than a year DECEMBER 13 Microsoft pounces into iOS gaming with a mobile version of its hit Xbox 360 Kinect kids title Kinectimals 4 ikids_February/March 2012 Looking to Children’s App Manifesto mobilize We: Parents, Educators, Developers, Investors, s educational apps continue to gain Researchers, and Marketers of Children’s Apps… ground in the children’s market, A Embrace and celebrate mobile devices as powerful new Launchpad Toys app developer platforms not just for games, but for digital toys and tools that Andy Russell and Wired writer and resident encourage kids to play, learn, laugh, create, grow, and explore GeekDad Daniel Donahoo decided it was time —both indoors AND outdoors, in school AND at home, indepen- to take a stand on quality. Their idea was to dently AND collaboratively with friends, educators and family. inspire more sustainable business models Digital play spaces should inspire and enable children to do that would in turn produce high-quality mobile what they do best: be children… with touchscreens at their products that are truly educational, as opposed fi ngertips and mud between their toes. to ones just being marketed that way. Commit to supporting diversity and excellence The pair’s Children’s App Manifesto, in Children’s Media: unveiled in November, has been embraced by • Content should be valued for quality of engagement, developers, marketers, educators, investors enjoyment and learning. and parents, as well as researchers like Joan • Exceptional content should be supported through revenue Ganz Cooney Center fellow Carly Shuler. models that expand the play experience, provide great value “Mobile apps have the potential to be a to parents and educators, and fund future development. key ally in supporting children’s learning, but • Apps should be priced accessibly for parents to evaluate given the relatively small size of the market and determine which products are most worthwhile for for children’s educational content, an expected their children. price-point of US$0.99 is making it difficult for developers in this area to sustain themselves,” Respect the sanctity of childhood and play: says Shuler. “Unless expectations shift, devel- • Play should not be over-commercialized by consumable opers will be forced to either cut costs through goods nor advertisement. quality reduction or supplement their revenue • Apps should not disguise costs nor manipulate through advertising,” she adds. “Business children’s emotions to entice spending. models need to continue being discussed, and • Developers should listen to children’s and parents’ needs we need to enable development of apps that and continue to support, update, fi x, and improve apps are engaging, educational and sustainable.” over the lifetime of a product. Without getting too political, the manifesto –Andy Russell and Daniel Donahoo (right] is designed to start a conversation. If you’re interested in joining the discourse, head on over to http://childrensappmanifesto.net/ and start chatting. –Wendy Goldman Getzler <bookmark_it> Users, Not Customers by Aaron Shapiro In this survey of the top 1,000 companies in the world, author and digital agency CEO Aaron Shapiro details the shifting business paradigm that has grown out of the digital marketplace. Shapiro asserts that to be successful in the new environment, businesses must concentrate chiefly on creating a positive “user experience.” Businesses have to first cater to users of their services and then subsequently their customers who make up a subset of their users. The author points to successful ventures such as Facebook, Twitter and Google, all of which built user relationships even before they had anything to sell. –Gary Rusak ikids_February/March 2012 5 /mobile By Wendy Goldman Getzler or 20 days this past October, an ami- F cable alligator gave some bitter birds a run for their money. Where’s My Water? starring Swampy the alligator—Disney’s fi rst original mobile char- acter—took the top spot on the Apple iTunes store, briefl y eclipsing the reign of mobile juggernaut Angry Birds. Since its September 22 launch, Where’s My Water? has been crawling up and down iTunes’ bestseller charts and has spawned a new web series that will run on its own dedicated YouTube channel. But perhaps the most tangible outcome of the Where’s My Water? launch is that it signifi es that Disney Interactive Media Group’s burgeoning Mobile division is making strides. Current stats on kids and mobile speak volumes. Since 2009, the incidence of gaming on mobile devices has risen from 8% to 38%, Disney Mobile “ mainly driven by the availability of new devices such as tablets and smartphones, as well as the growing amount of content available for these devices in the form of free and paid apps. In fact, raises the bar roughly 70% of educational iPad apps on the market target young children, according to The Joan Ganz Cooney Center’s recent iLearn study. and virtual world Club Penguin, each for world. In terms of syncing up with Club Pen- So it comes as no surprise that Disney roughly US$700 million. And in July 2010, guin’s home base online, the app allows kids to is shifting its Mobile unit into high gear. The Disney bought Decrem’s Tapulous in an effort earn virtual coins for use on the website through House of Mouse has restructured priorities to gain more mobile expertise. playing mobile games. within its Interactive division, which incurred “Today, we are staring at a generation of A month later, Disney launched an entirely operating losses US$308 million in 2011 and kids for whom mobile is their fi rst screen,” new iPad-compatible product in conjunction is expected to continue losing money until he says.