Turning a Tablet Into a Child’s Interactive TV
Molly Wood offers tips for parents to make their tablets and smartphones more child-friendly before handing them over.
MY
son has been having conversations with imaginary characters. I know,
because I can listen to some of them, and even see pictures.
The
children’s entertainment publisher ToyTalk created an interactive
program, the Winston Show, and as my son talks back to the characters in
that show, I get emails with subject lines like, “Your kid said
something awesome.”
I
can sign into my account and find multiple sound files and screenshots
of him having a conversation with an imaginary character from a show
he’s been watching on his iPad. It’s adorable, and it’s the interactive
future of tablet-based television.
Tablets
and phones are an increasingly common way for children to consume
television. And that is changing the way content developers and even
advertisers try to reach children in new locations.
The
Winston Show is an example of the innovative new content types that are
possible when a TV is also a hand-held computer. It’s an iPad-only
production, available as a free app, that is now in its second
four-episode “season.”
The
company, based in San Francisco, was founded by two Pixar veterans,
Oren Jacob and Martin Reddy, with the goal of providing interactive
children’s programming. As youngsters watch the show, the characters ask
them questions; when they respond, the app uses speech recognition to
interpret their answers, which then help drive the story line of each
episode. The shows even use the front-facing camera to engage children
in, say, trying on a character-appropriate hat.
The
Winston Show has no ads, and ToyTalk said it hoped eventually to make
money by licensing its technology to generate multiple story lines and
recognize children’s speech.
ToyTalk
was developed for the iPad, Mr. Jacob said, because it was a device
that combines the way children want to watch television with the tools
necessary for the Winston Show experience: a camera, a microphone and a
touch screen (to activate the mike).
“I
think that children want to be in control of what they watch and what
they interact with,” Mr. Jacob said. “That happens by giving them a
device they’re in control of. That puts the choice of what they do in
their own hands.”
Hard
data on children’s viewing habits is hard to come by, because the
Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act requires parental consent for
data collection.
But
anecdotally, most parents would say their children watch increasing
amounts of television on tablets, and a look around any airplane,
restaurant or living room says tablet viewing is a big deal. The
research firm Forrester found that of children ages 12 to 17 who
regularly use a tablet, 42 percent are streaming video or TV from sites
like Netflix or YouTube, and 39 percent are watching TV programming
stored on the device.
The
Winston Show is the only one of its kind, but traditional publishers
are also looking for new ways to reach children when they’re not in
front of TVs.
The Cartoon Network of Turner Broadcasting just announced a new mobile phone app
it is calling a “micro-network,” aimed at bringing original content to
four-inch screens, as a way to be wherever youngsters are. Publishers
like Nickelodeon and PBS offer clips, games and episodes with apps, and
DreamWorks Animation is working to develop a branded tablet, the DreamTab, that would deliver DreamWorks content in a child-friendly design.
These
models have advantages for parents. Mobile devices are easy to apply
parental controls to. They’re portable, and they can deliver educational
apps and books in addition to TV.
But
they also raise questions about data collection, privacy, in-app
purchasing and how exactly content publishers will make money in a world
without commercials.
No
doubt, my son’s experience with TV, movies and games meant for children
is already far different from my own. And he’s not unique.
“Right
now, the two biggest streaming devices for kids in the Netflix
ecosystem are tablets and smart TVs, and they are neck and neck,” said
Todd Yellin, Netflix’s vice president of product innovation.
Children’s
content is so important at Netflix, Mr. Yellin said, that the company
just hired a product development boss specifically focused on it. The
lack of commercials is a point of pride, especially in children’s
programming, Mr. Yellin said.
“It’s
one thing if you’re a grown-up and you know that’s a commercial, but
kids merge the commercials with the entertainment content,” he said. “To
be able to tell the difference isn’t as easy as we think.”
It
may become even more difficult, some experts say, as companies try to
innovate to find children across their various devices.
Cross-promotional, embedded digital ads and product placement
advertising is becoming more typical, according to Common Sense Media.
In a recent study,
the group said it was difficult to measure the impact of digital ad
trends on children. Exposure to online ads, and advertising in video
games and through branded sites that cross-promote shows with toys is
probably very high, the report said, and more study is needed.
For
original programming publishers like Cartoon Network, the shift in
viewing behavior means combining traditional television programming with
figuring out how to engage viewers on completely new platforms — a challenge facing all publishers, children’s or otherwise.
“We’re
not just figuring out what to program onto these devices,” said Chris
Waldron, vice president of Cartoon Network Digital. “We’re figuring out
the interface, how it should be constructed, and it’s basically as if
we’re going back in time and inventing the television set, and inventing
the cable network.”
Back
at ToyTalk, inventing a new kind of interactive content is a technical
challenge on a couple of levels. First, writing episodes with multiple
potential story lines per character is a remarkable creative feat. The
show’s writers script “thousands” of possible responses, ToyTalk’s Mr.
Jacob said.
Second,
he said, the company is building “speech recognition for kids, which no
one’s built before.” The better the speech recognition, the more
realistic the character interaction.
One
note for parents: To improve the speech recognition, ToyTalk collects
recordings of your child as he or she interacts with the characters.
That’s also how you get the recorded snippets, which come complete with
little screenshots of your child in action.
I
admit, this made me uncomfortable at first, although it’s clearly
disclosed in the activation email you receive when you sign up for a
ToyTalk account. It’s still disconcerting to know an app is recording
everything your child says, along with photos — and that ToyTalk
employees are listening to transcripts to improve their product.
But
the end result is a good show. My son, age 7, loved interacting with
the Winston Show, and can’t wait for new episodes. And I liked getting
his little recordings in email, too. Sometimes oversharing has its
purpose.
Also,
if you’re a parent who chooses to allow screen time for your child,
it’s somehow more comforting to watch a child truly interacting and
imagining along with a show, instead of passively staring at the screen.
If
children are the testing ground for new models of content, advertising
and device-specific behavior, it’s because this generation is fluent in a
panoply of devices.
“There’s
a fluidity going back from the television to the tablet to the phone,”
Mr. Waldron of Cartoon Network said. “As long as they’re comfortable
moving back and forth, that’s good for us, too. Our job is to entertain
them on whatever device they happen to enjoy our content on.”