Nickandmore!

via Nickelodeon press release:

NICKELODEON TO DEBUT NICK JR. APP WITH TV EVERYWHERE, FEATURING CHARACTERS, EDUCATIONAL CONTENT FROM TOP-RATED PRESCHOOL SHOWS

Preschool-Focused App Distinguished by Live Streaming of Nick Jr.’s Preschool Schedule and Curriculum-Based Interactivity

NEW YORK – March 13, 2014 – Drawing from its success with the Emmy Award-winning Nick App, Nickelodeon announced today it will launch this spring, the Nick Jr. App – a new branded platform for preschoolers populated by characters from its top-rated shows on TV: Dora the Explorer; Bubble Guppies; PAW Patrol; and more. Available for iPad devices, the Nick Jr. App is an experience designed for preschoolers that incorporates signature Nick Jr. interactivity, discovery and surprises. The app will feature high-level interactivity and educational entertainment activities; offer short-form video and curriculum-based content; and with authentication, access to full-length on-demand episodes and live-streaming of Nick Jr., the 24-hour network from Nickelodeon dedicated to preschoolers and moms.

“Like the Nick App, our Nick Jr. App creates an entirely new platform for our preschool content and is literally designed to put characters like Dora and Peter Rabbit at preschoolers’ fingertips,” said Cyma Zarghami, President, Nickelodeon Group. “The Nick Jr. App offers a broader content experience unlike anywhere else, along with deep interactivity and educational elements to keep preschoolers engaged and learning.”

A unique feature of the app, which has been designed specifically for preschoolers, is the high-level interactivity with characters like Dora the Explorer, Molly and Gil from Bubble Guppies and Twist from The Fresh Beat Band, who speak directly to the user upon entering each new content area. The characters are fully animated and respond to users through tap interactions, guiding preschoolers through the experience and encouraging them to try new areas while helping to boost problem-solving skills.

The Nick Jr. App immerses users into the world of each featured character through content areas containing 3D elements and illustrations that give realistic depth, like trees moving in the wind, shimmering water and butterflies and birds flapping their wings. The series included in the app include Dora the Explorer; Team Umizoomi; Bubble Guppies; PAW Patrol; Peter Rabbit; Wallykazam!; Go, Diego, Go!; Max & Ruby; The Fresh Beat Band; The Backyardigans; and Blues Clues.

Content highlights of the Nick Jr. App include:

• An endless carousel menu featuring the preschool characters kids know and love to help start their journey through the app;

• Educational and entertaining interstitials and Nick Jr.-themed music videos;

• Curriculum content included in the app;

• Linear feed of Nick Jr. channel;

• Nick Jr. programming schedule.

The app will be available free for iPad devices via the App Store, and will roll out on additional platforms in the coming months.

Full-length on-demand episodes and the linear feed in the Nick Jr. App can be accessed by households that subscribe to a TV service package with Nickelodeon from any one of 18 distributors, including Armstrong, Astound, AT&T U-verse, Atlantic Broadband, Bright House Networks, Click! Cable TV, DIRECTV, EPB Fiber Optics, Hawaiian Telcom, Massillon Cable TV, Optimum/Cablevision, RCN, Service Electric Cablevision, Suddenlink, Time Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS, Wave Broadband and WOW!, which collectively reach more than 50 million homes.

The Nick Jr. App will be ad-supported with a commercial load similar to Nickelodeon’s preschool television block, with ads playing before episodes begin and never within them.

The Nick Jr. App is developed by the same Nickelodeon digital team that created the Emmy Award-winning Nick App. Launched February 2013, the Nick App has surpassed more than eight million downloads globally. The app serves as a creative sandbox for Nickelodeon, incubating new animated and live-action content with the potential to spinoff new series for television. It features made-for-digital short-form videos; full-length on-demand episodes of Nick’s hit series; behind-the-scenes video and photos of kids’ favorite Nick stars; and HTML5 games. The Nick App is available on iOS and Android devices, Xbox, Kindle, and Windows 8.

Nickelodeon is TV’s top destination for preschoolers and their parents, with a current portfolio of smart and fun hits like Dora the Explorer, PAW Patrol, Bubble Guppies, Peter Rabbit and Team Umizoomi–which will all have new episodes premiering in the upcoming 2014-2015 season. The network owns four of the top five preschool shows on all television, including the two top-rated shows: PAW Patrol; and Wallykazam!, which teaches literacy and represents Nick’s highest-rated preschool series premiere in almost 10 years.

The Nick Jr. App is part of Nickelodeon’s biggest content pipeline it has ever had, with new series and innovations on new platforms in every genre – animation, live action, preschool and live events. For preschool alone, the network is adding more than 100 hours of new preschool content this season to its already robust, top-rated schedule of hits.

For the 2014-15 season, Nickelodeon will launch four more preschool series, including: Dora and Friends, which features the iconic character in new animated adventures, with new friends and a new interactive curriculum; Blaze and the Monster Machines, a CG-animated series featuring a STEM curriculum and telling the story of eight-year-old AJ and his incredible monster truck Blaze; Shimmer & Shine, an animated series following twin genies who accidentally create havoc wherever they go, teaching the value of learning from mistakes along the way; and, with a curriculum teaching problem-solving, Fresh Beat Band of Spies, an animated spin-off of Nick’s live-action preschool hit, The Fresh Beat Band.

About Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon, now in its 34th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books and feature films. Nickelodeon’s U.S. television network is seen in more than 100 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for 19 consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIA.B).