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New survey examines how teachers use digital games
INTERACTIVE / KID INSIGHTIn efforts to further understand the impact of digital media in kindergarten to grade eight classrooms, The Joan Ganz Cooney Center has released results from its first US national teacher survey on games and teaching called Teacher Attitudes about Digital Games in the Classroom.
8 days ago
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NBCUniversal, Corus up their stakes in KidsCo
BROADCASTING / PEOPLE MOVES / TVNBCUniversal International has acquired a controlling 51% stake in global children’s channel KidsCo and Corus Entertainment also upped its stake to 43.8%.
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Video games sales nosedive by 42% in April
CONSUMER PRODUCTS / INTERACTIVE / RETAILThe video game industry took another hit in April. Sales of video games software fell by 42% that month versus a year ago, reports market researcher The NPD Group.
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Children’s Emmy nominees announced
TVNominees for the 39th annual Daytime Emmy Awards, which will air on June 23, have been revealed. PBS leads the pack with 51 nominations in the Children’s categories – Sesame Street alone garnered 16 nods – while Nickelodeon racked up 40 nominations. Read on for a list of nominees in key categories.
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Walmart launches AR experience with new Avengers app
CONSUMER PRODUCTS / INTERACTIVE / RETAILIn a move to create a fun, engaging in-store experience leveraging mobile apps, Walmart has partnered with Marvel and released Super Hero Augmented Reality, a new game app based on the highly anticipated May 4 feature film Marvel’s The Avengers.
Disney’s Where’s My Water heads into merchandising
CONSUMER PRODUCTS / INTERACTIVE / RETAILFollowing in the footsteps of Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, and Cut the Rope, Disney’s hit app Where’s My Water is expanding into merchandising after only seven months since its debut on the Apple App Store.
Joshism
Planet PreschoolWhen my friend Cathy Chilco, my boss on the Israeli-Palestinian version of Sesame Street in the late 90′s, gives me a book, I read it. When I was in Vancouver last week, she gave me a book by the Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön called Comfortable With Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion. Though I don’t expect that I’ll be converting to Buddhism anytime soon, the book was very interesting. I even found many parallels between the suffering that is at the heart of all Buddhist teachings and the suffering that is at the heart of being an independent kids’ TV producer.
Kids prefer free gaming apps to other mobile content
KID INSIGHTLooking at the mobile app habits and preferences of kids ages two to 14, The NPD Group’s new study, Kids and Apps: A New Era of Play, has revealed that gaming apps are the most popular and the majority (88%) of apps kids have access to are acquired for free.
Kidscreened
- Mark Zuckerberg rings the opening bell marking Facebook’s Wall Street debut, let the trading frenzy begin (The New York Times)
- Netflix claims one third of its new subscribers are old customers coming back to the service (Mashable)
- New global study reveals gamers aren’t excited by motion sensor gaming or touch screen controllers (Forbes)
- Only one original member of The Wiggles remains after lineup changes for first time in 21 years (The Telegraph)
Cookie Jar named licensing agent/distributor for Scan2Go
CONSUMER PRODUCTS / RETAIL / TVTokyo-based animation producer and distributor d-rights and Dubai, UAE-based toyco NewBoy have appointed Cookie Jar Group as the exclusive TV distributor for North and South America and licensing agent for North America for its hit space adventure, car-racing animated series Scan2Go (52 x 30 minutes).
Discovery Kids Latin America makes Pocoyo renewal/pick up
CONSUMER PRODUCTS / INTERACTIVE / RETAIL / TVThe third season of Zinkia Entertainment’s s hit animated preschool series Pocoyo, titled Let’s Go Pocoyo, has been acquired by Discovery Kids Latin America for its pan regional cable platform, and the kids cablenet also renewed Pocoyo seasons one and two.
Joan Grasso joins eOne Family as VP, licensing North America
PEOPLE MOVESEntertainment One Family has named Joan Grasso as VP of licensing for North America and will head up the August US merchandising launch of hit preschool IP Peppa Pig.
Ratings Watch Global
TVThis week, EurodataTV has provided us with the ratings for the top-five program broadcasts with kids two to 11 in the US between March 5 and April 1, 2012.
Kidscreened
- How the BBC’s decision to move its kids programming could impact family viewing (The Guardian)
- How indie comic book artists have influenced a slew of hit Cartoon Network series (Publishers Weekly)
- New study finds 77% of parents think tablets are beneficial to kids (Mashable)
- Lego’s traveled the world and even been to space, but this latest record-breaker is impressive (MailOnline)
Olly the Little White Van gets an app
INTERACTIVEIn a move that expands the brand into the digital space, UK-based indie prodco Ideas at Work has launched a free app for iPhone and iPad devices based on its animated preschool series Olly the Little White Van.
The definitive kids ent resource.Photos
Kidscreen Summit 2010 -