On 28th February, 2020, Westminster Media forum hosted a policy conference on Children's media in the UK - funding, commissioning, and adapting to changing viewing habits. One of the biggest challenges facing parents is how to keep their children safe when streaming content online. Even with the safeguards currently offered in place, the system is not failsafe, meaning that online streaming is a high risk activity for kids.  This blog explores what SAFE STREAMING looks like for kids, using the case study of Kidoodle.TV, and why existing SVOD platforms have difficulty safeguarding kids who access third party content hosted on their websites. 

Brenda Bisner, Chief Content Officer, Kidoodle.TV, illustrated what SAFE STREAMING looks like for kids in a closed platform, and discussed why safe spaces for children to stream content online are so important.

"When you cross a street, you hold your kid's hand, and that's what we're doing, and in this environment we have a very human approach that was made for them. And, kids are in harm's way if they're in the middle of the street, in traffic, running without supervision, and that's what's happening on an open platform."

Brenda Bisner, Kidoodle.TV

Kidoodle.TV are a tech start-up, founded in 2012.  They are COPPA and GDPR-K compliant.  COPPA is the US kid's digital privacy law that protects children online by preventing the capture of personal info (cookies) for under 13s, and bans behavioural ad targeting.  GDPR-K is the European equivalent. Kidoodle.TV is a free AVOD (available on demand) and SVOD (streaming on demand) service.  To ensure safe streaming, they operate as a closed platform (or Walled Garden), which means that all content added to the site goes through a human before it goes live.  This is a crucial part of curating a healthy experience for kids using the platform, as the platform hold themselves accountable for the content that they offer.

They aim for kids to be able to find their favourite brands and enjoy them in a safe space.  As it is a closed platform, parents don't have to worry about their children being exposed to nudity, derogatory language, or guns and boxing videos. Streaming platforms, like YouTube, facilitated innovation in content creation for kids as creators are not subject to the same funding requirements that exist in other areas of the media.  Innovative content can be created cost-effectively on very low budgets and uploaded for free, and it revolutionised how kids engage with content.  However, the safety of kids whilst using the platform is a barrier.  Once a child has seen something harmful, they cannot unsee it. 

"We need to stop putting kids in harms way.  It's point blank, there's no other way to say it."

Brenda Bisner, Kidoodle.TV

One of the problems with streaming services like YouTube is that they are geared primarily towards adults.  A recent survey commissioned by Kidoodle.TV found that 71% of parents said their children on one or more occasion had been auto-recommended unsuitable content.  Increasingly, and this is true for my family, YouTube is off-limits for watching unsupervised.  As Brenda Bisner commented, "Auto-recommendation is not six clicks away from harm, it's one."

Kidoodle.TV is for children under 12 and operates in 195+ countries worldwide.  It can be accessed via their app on mobile devices or on a connected TV.  Kids can browse through 20,000 episodes of content to watch, which are grouped using theming.  They also have a community on Instagram and Facebook where they provide resources and tools for parents.  Find out more here: Kidoodle.TV

Post Contributor:

Caitriona Fitzsimons Digital Reporter