Multilingual streamer Playground debuts in UK

Playground TV will initially feature 100 series

New streaming service Playground TV, aimed at multilingual kids, has launched in the UK ahead of its expansion into the rest of Europe and the US in late 2020 and early 2021.

Playground TV is  available as an ad-supported streaming service, with an ad-free subscription version set to follow in the coming months.

The service features a range of content for children aged two- to nine-years-old and has been developed to help kids discover content in a variety of languages in a safe way.

It is targeting the children of people living outside their country of birth who want their children to learn their mother tongue via engaging, entertaining and appropriate animated content.

To begin with it offers 14 animated channels in French, Spanish, English, Hindi, Mandarin and Persian on iOS, Android and the web, with programming including Om Nom, Mouk, Pirata & Capitano, Mr Bean, Mofy, Oddbods and Molang.

The service will initially have more than 100 series and 5,000 episodes, with more shows to follow, the company said.

Playground TV is backed by Sweden-based Playground, which was founded in 2019 by Daniel Nordberg, who previously headed the content business for Opera’s smart TV division, later spun out as Vewd Software.

“We know that language plays a crucial role in preschool kids’ development, and for parents with a different native language to the country they live in, it is particularly important to find ways to connect children with their cultural heritage,” said Daniel Nordberg, Playground TV’s founder.

Playground TV has an advisory team consisting of Alex Carloss, former head of original programming at YouTube; John Robson, co-founder of Moonbug; Rachna Bhasin, former chief business officer at Magic Leap; and Damon Berger, head of digital engagement at Mattel.

The company is financed by business angel Ulf Ivarsson, Quixel veteran Daniel Somos and Fredrik Olofsson of Twig Ventures.

Playground TV pointed to figures from the World Economic Forum that show the number of people living outside their country of birth grew by 41% between 2000 and 2016 to 244 million.