Being in more than 200 countries, a brand that clearly expresses the company’s values – family fun, positive education, and diversity, Magikbee has rebranded its video app for kids, kiddZtube, to KidsBeeTV, a new streaming destination.
Noted studios and content producers, such as Millimages, Toonbox, Twist Animation, and Xilam Animation, joined the platform in this journey, as it features more than 500 hours of video, and more IPs are added every month.
KidsBeeTV borrows the ‘Bee’ from its parent brand Magikbee, and is deeply committed to being “The kids’ app that cares”. Like bees help plants grow, the new brand wants to have a positive impact on kids’ development.
Magikbee CEO Hugo Ribeiro mentioned, “We needed a brand that clearly expressed our values – family fun, positive education and diversity. We have more than a safe, fun and educational app for kids. We have an interactive video experience that sparks imagination and curiosity. And we also care a lot about parents. They can monitor kids’ activity, questions answered, and, to protect their kids from being too much time in front of a screen, daily time limits can be set up.”
The last few years witnessed a major spurt in the offer of streaming services for kids, and Magikbee needed to stand out showing what makes it different. The name change is accompanied by a refresh on the brand’s visual identity, with a new colorful palette that suggests diversity, in line with its global expansion strategy. The USA and the Middle East are the two main markets of KidsBeeTV, but the app has customers worldwide in more than 200 countries. Hence it needed to build a diversified catalogue: to answer to a variety of kids’ interests and to meet the demands of a growing worldwide community of parents that seek to find content that respects cultural differences and, at the same time, resonates a universal language.
Magikbee has been licensing content for KidsBeeTV from the best studios and content producers. The most recent agreements were inked with studios like Millimages (Molang and Mouk), Twist Animation (TuTiTu), Xilam (Where’s Chicky) or Aurora World (Yoohoo and Friends). Some YouTubers, like Caletha Playtime and Get Matt, are also making their way into the app, but, contrary to what happens on the social network, there are no videos with unboxings or product placement – only positive meaningful messages are allowed to pass KidsBeeTV filters conducted by teachers.
Good-quality, engaging and age-appropriate videos continue to be the core of the app. The videos are curated by teachers and specialists, and to make the experience less passive, the app offers pop-up quiz questions (ABC, Colours, Counting, Language, Maths, Science, among others) on top of the videos.
“For more than a decade, YouTube was almost synonymous with video streaming. At the time we started our platform, it made sense to present it as a safe alternative to YouTube for young kids. The name KiddZtube reflected that mission. But now our mission is broader,” added Ribeiro.
He came up with the idea for the app because of a challenge he was facing as a parent: finding a safe environment for his daughters to watch good-quality videos without the risk of crossing paths with inappropriate or even disturbing content, such as the violent parodies of Peppa Pig and other cartoons widely reported a couple of years ago.
As he deepened in the searches, he found that there was a need for wider curation. “We know the importance learning in the early years plays on kids’ development and we are committed to helping them discover their abilities and reach their full potential. This is not a curriculum-based app, nevertheless, we do have curriculum-based entertainment and activities. The main purpose of the app is to be fun. Being educational is a natural consequence of the kind of content we hand-pick and the way we choose to present it to the kids. They learn best when they are having fun,” he shared.
The platform features now more than 500 hours of video and plans to add more IPs monthly aimed at kids up to eight years old. Having no ads and an image-based interface, it is perfect for young kids, especially toddlers and preschoolers.
