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YouTube to release kid-friendly app

Justine Underhill
·Reporter

YouTube is launching a free app for kids early next week.

The Google (GOOGL) owned video streaming giant plans to offer an Android app that provides parental controls and removes elements such as viewer comments.

YouTube Kids will also include a parent-controlled timer that stops the app after a certain amount of time, according to USA Today.

The release comes on the heels of news that YouTube will launch an ad-free subscription service in addition to a ‘Music Key’ service.

Related: YouTube's new subscription service

Yahoo Finance's Jeff Macke thinks this is a needed move for YouTube.

“I think it’s a great idea… Of course YouTube should be trying to monetize for kids. The content out there on existing platforms for kids TV is such dreck.... Any parent would welcome the chance to go to YouTube.”

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This move could prove to be competition for Nickelodeon (VIAB) and other children’s cable networks, according to Yahoo Finance's Aaron Task.

“A lot of parents are essentially giving kids age 2 and younger an iPad or some other tablet... You don’t even have to be able to read to use this app. It makes it effective as an app," he says. "And so for YouTube it’s smart business and for parents I thinks it’s something that they will go to.”

Yahoo Finance columnist Rick Newman adds that this is a great way to acquire and maintain a strong user base, “Hook them early. If you can get them as young as 2, they’ll stick with YouTube for the rest of their lives.”