After Launching a YouTube app for kids last February in the United States, the tech giant is making it available to selected countries on the other side of the globe.
As reported by The Guardian, YouTube Kids can now be viewed in Australia, Canada, UK, Ireland and New Zealand. The new app will provide a whole new experience since its content was specifically created for children and will be available for free on iOS and Android.
Since the app is free, ads will still pop up. However, the advertisements shown on Youtube Kids will be appropriate for children.
The content of the app will vary depending on your country. Children in the UK will see "Wallace and Gromit," "Teletubbies," "The Magic Roundabout" and "Morph," among others. Although videos will differ per region, the service will basically be the same in all markets.
A YouTube executive said, "We only show ads that are approved as family-friendly - for example, we don't show any food and beverage ads - and all ads undergo a rigorous review process for compliance with our policies," according to The Guardian.
"All ads are clearly labeled and include ad intros. Ads don't include any click-throughs to websites or product purchase flows," the executive added.
Although YouTube Kids was designed to be child-friendly, it did not stop consumer groups from criticizing it for its inability to totally block inappropriate videos, The Telegraph reported.
Different child and consumer advocates filed a complaint in May to The US Federal Trade Commission stating that some of the app's videos were still not suitable for the younger audience, the news outlet gathered.
After receiving numerous complaints, the tech giant responded by incorporating updates in an effort to improve the app's filtering security and by adding parental controls guidelines, a report by Digital Trends stated.
Josh Golin of the group Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood expressed his comment about the app just after it was released, saying that it "exploits children's developmental vulnerabilities by delivering a steady stream of advertising that masquerades as programming," Digital Trends continued.
The tech news outlet also added that the reason why YouTube is taking its time before it releases the app outside the US is because of the issues brought up by different consumer groups.
Now that the app is available through Google Play Store and App Store, parents from other countries will no longer have a hard time searching for videos that their kids can enjoy. On the side note, they will have to spend more time with their children watching shows like "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Teletubbies".
