ITV has announced its plans to axe its nearly two-decades-old children's channel to make way for a new platform.
The broadcaster will launch a new children-focused channel on its streaming platform, ITVX, which will host content for children aged between 6 and 12. According to ITV, the new ITVX Kids homepage which will go live on July 2023 will feature a variety of titles as well as new content dropping each month.
The broadcaster also highlighted that data shows average broadcasting of kids TV channels watched by 4-15-year-olds a week declined by 62 per cent since 2019. Meanwhile, viewing that couldn't be identified such as gaming, DVDs, and video-sharing services, increased by 30 per cent in the same period, which the broadcaster said demonstrates the need for a kids' streaming platform
Craig Morris, Managing Editor of ITVX, said: “We’re really excited to launch this dedicated destination for kids on ITVX, which will be home to a wealth of content including new series, recognisable brands and existing favourites for a range of ages, all in one child-safe area, with editorial curation to guide viewing. The wealth of content will be available to stream for free, with the option for parents to choose ad free viewing, through a subscription to ITVX Premium.”
Announcing the news, ITV said: "As a consequence of this new streaming approach, and responding to the changing ways children and their parents are increasingly accessing content, the CITV broadcast channel will close in early Autumn, once the new streaming destination for kids has been rolled out across platforms and devices, over the summer holidays.
" However, ITV will maintain the LittleBe pre-school segment on ITVBe and will offer some children’s content in the early mornings on ITV2 from September with strong cross promotion to ITVX."
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