Neil Gruninger is president and chief product officer of Kidoodle TV.
Neil Gruninger
What is Kidoodle TV?
Gruninger: Kidoodle.TV is a Safe Streaming video service for children that delivers thousands of hours of vetted children’s programs to Internet-connected devices, such as smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, personal computers, Roku, Apple TV and many others.
How, when and why was it started?
Gruninger: We founded A Parent Media Co. Inc. in 2012 as a dual purpose business: to help protect children and families online, and to capitalize on the changing viewing habits of families that were evolving from traditional cable to the Internet.
Kidoodle.TV was commercially launched in January 2014 and we soon realized that we had an opportunity to expand both our content offering and availability across connected environments, devices and countries to meet emerging market needs.
Can you give me a sense of what your audience is like and your reach?
Gruninger: Kidoodle.TV is designed for families with kids 12 and under. The Safe Streaming service is in over 160 countries with millions of app installs and we’re adding six figure installs per month with double-digit, month-over-month growth in 2019.
What’s new with the company in the past year?
Gruninger: In addition to adding an AVOD service to the Kidoodle.TV subscription (SVOD) service as a way for families to subsidize premium content, we’ve been busy getting ready to launch with over 50 pay TV and telecom operators from around the world, which is a massive undertaking in terms of building the technological infrastructure required for successful integration.
We also anticipate the announcement of additional telecom OEM collaborations in summer 2019.
What are your growth plans for the company?
Gruninger: As streaming video users become more and more aware of the dangers for children online, we are focused on making Kidoodle.TV a Safe Streaming viable YouTube alternative for families, content producers and family brands.
Content producers and brands are concerned about their content being placed alongside nefarious or unsavoury content. They’re looking for a safe place to house their content and to reach families in an appropriate way. Families in turn are looking for great viewing experiences and a diversity of content, all within a safe environment that protects their children.
We’re working hard to serve the needs of these three groups and are excited about the next chapter of where this takes us. We also have exciting new content to add to our library that will be rolling out over the coming months.
– Mario Toneguzzi for Calgary’s Business
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