Common sense media has made a name for itself with parents as a useful tool for checking entertainment and technology for age justice. Well, the for-profit subsidiary of the organization, Common sense networks, lets go of these kid-friendly recommendations with the introduction of the new streaming service called. to inspire Sensual. The service offers age-appropriate, entertaining, and educational videos for children ages 2 to 10.
To launch, the free, ad-supported service includes over 15,000 hand-curated videos and over 50 themed channels for kids to explore. And unlike other platforms like Netflix or YouTube, Sensical doesn’t use algorithms to make content recommendations. Instead, children are encouraged to follow their own interests and passions on over 50 topic-based channels. This includes things like adventure, animals, crafts, music, science, sports, video games, and other kid-friendly topics.
Children can mark these channels or individual videos or series in order to stay up to date on their favorite content in a special favorites area within the app.
Children see a selection of these channels based on their age, but the company is working to expand the channel offering to include more specific categories in the future. Instead of just “sport”, for example, there could be channels like “soccer” or “gymnastics”. Instead of “art” there could also be “drawing” or “origami”. Instead of just “science”, it could include channels like “geography” or “robotics” and so on.
Credit: Common sense networks
The app also features a live TV section programmed with kid-friendly content throughout the day so kids don’t have to search to find something quickly.
While other streaming services in the market offer kid-friendly content – since it’s a big selling point for subscribers – it’s not always organized in a meaningful way. Sometimes all content is grouped into a general “Children” category, mixing videos for young children with content for older children. Sensical, on the other hand, curates the content recommendations into three different experiences, including preschool (2-4), small kids (5-7), and big kids (8-10).
What the child sees depends on how parents configure their profile. In addition, parents can use the service’s ParentZone in-app dashboard to set screen time limits, extend the limits as needed, and view daily reports of what the child has seen.
However, the best feature of the service is that the content is age appropriate – even the ads.
This is possible because Sensical has a curation approach that is very different from YouTube Kids. The children’s YouTube app relies on algorithms to filter adult content out of the broader YouTube library, but the company doesn’t manually review all of the videos in it. It warns parents that inappropriate content could slip through. (And it has). According to Common Sense Networks, dozens of trained child development experts view, review, and rate “every single frame of video” that goes live on their service using its proprietary IP and patent pending process. This system also includes tagging content with specific child development benefits.
Sensical also reviews its advertisements on which the service is endorsed, with similar direct oversight. Its experts review the sponsor’s content to make sure it’s suitable for children – an area that is often overlooked on other services.
Credit: Common sense networks
To fill its library, Common Sense Networks has partnered with dozens of studios and distributors, as well as digital-first creators.
Studio and sales partners are CAKE (Poppy cat), Cyber Group Studios (Leo the Wildlife Ranger), The Jim Henson Company (The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, Jim Henson’s animal show with Stinky and Jake), Mattel (Kipper, Pingu, Max Steel), Raydar Media (The limited series from Five Apples, Apple Tree House), Superights (Bo Bear, Handico), WildBrain (Teletubbies, Rev & Roll), Xilam animation (Learn and play with peppers, moka’s fabulous adventures), ZDF company (Lexi & Lottie, School of Roar), Zodiac children (Mister Maker, Tea and Mon), ABC Commercial, CBC & Radio-Canada Distribution, Jetpack Distribution, Nelvana, 9 Story Distribution International, Sesame Workshop, Serious Lunch and Studio 100.
The digital creators meanwhile include ABCMouse, Aaron’s Animals, Alphabet Rockers, BatteryPOP, California Academy of Sciences, GoldieBlox, Gotham Reads of the Gotham Group, Guggenheim Museum, Howdytoons, Kids’ Black History, MEL Science + Chemistry, N * Gen, Pinkfong, Penguin Random House’s Brightly Storytime, Studio71 (Parry Gripp, Maymo, Hyper Roblox), Tankee, Ubongo Kids, Vooks, Bounce Patrol, Hevesh5, Mother Goose Club, StacyPlays, Super Simple Songs and The Whistle.
The service complies with U.S. Children’s Data Protection Laws (COPPA) and is certified by the kidSAFE seal program.
Credit: Common sense networks
After playing around with the mobile app for a while, Sensical seems to be working as described. If I had any complaints personally, it would be just that the experience of older children approaching their twelve years of age could be dismissed as “baby stuff” due to the cute imagery and youthful iconography used in the design of the app . Children in older age groups have problems being treated like younger – and they pay special attention to everything that does. The same goes for the live TV program, which when tried out was clearly aimed at smaller children, although the app was tested as a child profile whose age was set to “10”.
I also think it would be nice if there was a better way to keep track of favorite channels and see when they update with new videos as kids who switch from YouTube to Sensical feel like they are still up with new and fresh ones Content, not a library. But Sensical is not YouTube. There’s a tradeoff between hand curation and timeliness, and Sensical prefers the former.
Sensical was first unveiled this spring during a closed beta, but is now publicly available for streaming on the web and mobile on iOS, Android, Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV. This summer it will be expanded to other distribution platforms, including VIZIO.
