Online video isn’t just for adults, with kids able to operate and enjoy content via their laptops, games consoles, and other connected devices in the same way as their parents do. But the user interfaces are rarely what you’d call child-friendly.
Netflix’ Streaming Future
Netflix has made it clear that its future is one where streaming reigns supreme. DVDs are dead, folks, so get over it. Delivering movies and television shows over the Web to a range of devices is faster, cheaper, and more compatible with a rapid international expansion.
If the company is heading down this route, and it most certainly is, then it has to make its ‘Watch Instantly’ service the best it can possibly be. And that means catering to every group of people and every member of the family. Including the youngest members. After all, the children are our future, as someone once sang.
Children are often as geeky or even more geeky than their parents these days. After all, they’ve grown up in the Internet age, afforded the luxury of instant information other generations could only dream of. So Netflix would do well to look after them…
‘Just For Kids’ UI
That is exactly what the company has now done, debuting ‘Just For Kids’. This is a section made specially for children, with all the content they will love and that parents will be happy to let them watch collated into one category.
Rather than being organized by title, the content is organized by characters, as that is how kids recognize the shows they love and watch over and over again.
‘Just For Kids’ is friendly for all kids aged 12 and under, and it is going to be rolled out on all Netflix connected devices over time. For now it is only available on PC and Mac in the U.S. and Canada.
Conclusions
There are some commenters on the blog post suggesting that rather than making a separate section for kids that Netflix just improves the parental controls so that it’s less convoluted to restrict and release content on a regular basis.
That is clearly an issue that needs looking at, but ‘Just For Kids’ is a good start, introducing the youngest members of the family to the joy of online video at an early age.
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