Advertising for young children looks promising on a new YouTube app for kids

With 71% of kids in US watching web video - this is where marketers want to be. Nevertheless advertisers are careful pulling their ad dollars away from linear TV advertising as they can´t make up for the lost numbers via other media. This week´s launch of a new YouTube app for kids makes targeting to youngsters more straightforward for online marketers.

by Hanna Nicolo and Sasha Puhova

Officially announced on February 23, the YouTube Kids app is the first Google product built from the ground up with little ones in mind. It makes it easy and safe for children to find videos on topics they want to explore. With large buttons and bold icons, instant full-screen and more, it's fast and simple for children to navigate without the help of their peers. It´s even possible to search among videos using voice-search.

The app´s channels and playlists can be browsed by four categories: Shows, Music, Learning and Explore. Themes vary from how to build a model volcano to math tutorials but mainly cater to preschoolers with video content such as "Sesame Street". So for now the core audience is children aged 5 and under, which means advertisers are left wanting for more. According to Wall Street Journal, a higher age group of 6 to 11 year-olds is a known "sweet spot for many toy, food and movie advertisers." Who knows? May be this app is just a beginning of a growing app for children that chose to address the needs of the most vulnerable age group first.

So far YouTube for kids displays in-house ads but the idea is that they will open up for family oriented brands. In addition those youngsters will finally get off the mainstream YouTube channel, allowing ads to become more targeted to adults. To put it in words of a satisfied parent: "Glad to see Google doing something besides making my kids watch 30 seconds ads for coffee every time they repeat a nursery rhyme clip!"

YouTube app for kids is available for free on Google Play and the App Store in the U.S.