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LG Uplus U+tv YouTube Kids Service Announcement Press Conference

  • Saturday, October 14, 2017, 2:49 pm
  • ACROFAN=Yong-Man Kwon
  • yongman.kwon@acrofan.com
On August 30, LG Uplus announced that it will introduce 'YouTube Kids' service as an Android TV version in the IPTV child service platform 'U+tv Kids Country' through a press conference at LG Uplus Yongsan office in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. This service was introduced as the world's first example of providing YouTube Kids service in IPTV environment.

'YouTube Kids', a child-centric app, categorized contents to make them easier for children and infants to search, and by providing block and allow function of channels and contents, it allowed parents with young children to protect their children from harmful contents. Especially, videos in foreign language are expected to help language education, and they will make it possible to have an interest in foreign language naturally by singing, dancing, playing with, and meeting popular characters. Meanwhile, LG Uplus announced it will continue to offer services such as "voice search function," which allows children who can not read to find videos they want.

Apart from YouTube Kids, LG Uplus also unveiled IPTV child service platform, 'U+tv Kids Country'. At U+tv Kids Country, you can easily access popular character contents or YouTube channels recommended by parents with gifted children, childcare experts, child psychologists, etc., with a hotkey on the remote control. It provides an optimized UI for parents and children so that they can use infants content in one-stop. Customers who have the U+tv UHD, soundbar, woofer set-top can use U+tv Kids Country without any additional charge, while U+tv set-top customers are required to change to U+tv UHD2 set-top for using the service.

 
▲ Choi Joo-sik, Vice President of LG Uplus FC(Future and Converged) Division

 
▲ Don Anderson, General Director of Family and Learning Partnership at YouTube Asia Pacific

Choi Joo-sik, Vice President of LG Uplus FC(Future and Converged) Division said that, in cooperation with Google, the world's first Android TV version of 'YouTube Kids' is provided in IPTV environment so that it is easily accessible with pressing the button once. In addition, he also added that 'U+tv Kids Country,' an child service platform composed of new contents and functions focused on childcares, such as children talking to their parents with one button and teachers reading books, is officially presented at the conference.

Don Anderson, General Director of Family and Learning Partnership at YouTube Asia Pacific, said that there has been an overall shift in both distribution and consumption of children's content, and within YouTube, the family entertainment segment is the fastest growing category. He also added that 'YouTube Kids' was newly imagined for families and kids, developed by 'parents' in YouTube. Previously, it was provided through free apps on smartphones and tablets, but now it has expanded to LG Uplus's IPTV platform.

YouTube Kids aimed to improve the YouTube experience for children and their families, provide a safe and enjoyable environment for them, and target children aged 3 to 10 years. Today, the service is available in 35 countries and 7 local languages, and it will be expanded further. It became a popular app for 11 million users every week. He added that the total number of views over the next two years after the release has exceeded 30 billion. Moreover, in the "YouTube Kids" app, the role of the parent is also important, and it provides easy-to-set instructions for parents to start the app for the first time.

 
▲ YouTube Kids is now available in 35 countries and 7 local languages.

 
▲ Representative contents for each category are familiar to everyone.

YouTube Kids consists of four categories including program, music, learning, and exploring to make massive content accessible to children's diverse interests and make easy and simple to access. Through algorithms and proper management, it is introduced that only appropriate contents to children are provided. Children can choose their own videos via YouTube Kids, which allows for active media consumption, and this stands out in the learning and browsing categories. Moreover, as well as a variety of content from famous studios from various countries, original contents such as learning or following children's song are provided.

The 'Learning' section is also one of the largely growing areas on YouTube, and it has been shown that YouTube receives 500 million views of learning content every day. More than one million learning-related video contents are uploaded and shared every day around the world, with more than half of the uploaded videos being uploaded outside the United States. What's more, YouTube has made it easier to access these content via a channel only for learning, and in September the contents with English learning in YouTube Kids will be enhanced.

Meanwhile, YouTube Kids offers a variety of tools and permissions for parents. "Search settings" allows parents to watch videos that are appropriate for their children, or they can restrict search to access only some content. In addition, they can report or block harmful videos, creating an optimized viewing experience for children. In addition, YouTube Kids emphasized that it makes their families closer by exploring, enjoying and learning in an easy and fun way.

 
▲ Jung Dae-yoon, taking charge of LG Uplus Home, Media Products Division

 
▲ YouTube kids is considered to be the core content of 'Kids Country'

Jung Dae-yoon, taking charge of LG Uplus Home, Media Products Division, mentioned high spending on education compared to GDP, working parents and parenting by grandparents as recent domestic trends. Therefore, parents have 'sorriness' to their children, and grandparents have 'difficulties' in adapting to the new environment in their parenting process. Experts pointed out that a requirement for 'good TV for children' is a content that can help develop emotions and curiosity, less stimulate, and have rhythm and repetition.

Desirable methods of watching TV for children are "active watch," moving the body and being active while watching TV, and "sympathy and conversation," talking with parents while watching. He also explained that watching television should be a social promise between parents and children, as well as managing the appropriate time and frequency to create the right watching habits. He introduced that LG Uplus has a variety of functions and contents that can meet these needs in the IPTV child service platform 'U+tv Kids Country'.

The core content of the U+tv Kids Country is 'YouTube Kids', and you can easily access popular character contents or YouTube channels recommended by parents with gifted children, childcare experts, child psychologists, etc., with a hotkey on the remote control. It provides an optimized UI for parents and children so that they can use infants content in one-stop. In addition, good contents of YouTube Kids can be enjoyed in multiple languages, enabling parents to solve their concerns about how to nurture their children's foreign languages and other habits and use without worrying about harmful content and advertisements.

 
▲ 'Book Reading TV' is a content that reads carefully selected children's books.

 
▲ Watching management made children voluntarily follow by using cute characters.

In addition to YouTube Kids, U+tv Kids Country has introduced differentiated content and features tailored to the Korean market. First of all, with carefully selected children's books among the bookstores' bestselling books and the books from the three children's book awards, 'Book Reading TV' was introduced as a content that reads children's books by a professional storytelling teacher with realizing illustrations of the book and moving pictures. In addition, the 'TV Phone Play' allows to make video calls with parents through the remote control of the TV, to communicate with character friends, and to make popular characters follow the child's words.

In aspect of content provision, there is 'Recommendation of Teachers' that suggests contents classified into children's emotional development and situation by children's psychologists. Busy working parents, novice parents, and grandparents who care for their children, such as those who are not accustomed to child care, have also been able to correctly shape their child's lifestyle through recommended content. Besides, 'Character', which presents children's favorite characters in both images and letters, helps communication between parents, grandparents and children. In addition, specialized functions such as the eye protection mode, which is verified with Korean Ophthalmological Society, and the 'watching management' function with the bear are also provided.

With regard to U+tv Kids Country, which will be release from September 1, customers who have the U+tv UHD, soundbar, woofer set-top can use U+tv Kids Country without any additional charge. U+tv set-top customers are required to change to U+tv UHD2 set-top for using the service, which is introduced to be the aspect of ensuring the minimum environment for running the app on the 'Android TV' platform. In addition, U+tv Kids Country have been recognized worldwide for excellence of the design of the entire UX (user experience) and dedicated remote control at the Red Dot Design Award and IDEA (International Design Excellence Award).