Google's YouTube to launch subscription model for children
YouTube is releasing a new app for children next week, called YouTube Kids, will feature appropriate content and controls and it will run on smartphones and tablets.
The free app, called YouTube Kids, will be available from Monday in the U.S. on Google Play, a Google spokesman said Friday.
The app, called YouTube Kids, is expected to be free and will be separate from the mainstream YouTube mobile app. It will feature kid-friendly design, with big, bulbous icons and minimal scrolling, the person said.
In addition to providing access to suitable content, the app will offer curated options to help find videos easily. Dedicated channels and playlists that span TV shows, learning experiences, exploration and music will be available.
"The big motivator inside the company is everyone is having kids, so there's a push to change our products to be fun and safe for children," Pavni Diwanji, vice president for engineering at Google, told USA Today in December. Google products have been made with adults in mind and need to be redesigned for kids, she added.
A screenshot of the app released late Thursday night showed those two titles as well as "Reading Rainbow, "Mother Goose Club" and others.
The plan would represent a significant change for the world's No. 1 online video, whose free videos, often accompanied by short commercials, attract more than 1 billion users a month.
