Like many young people, Lilly and Max Lieber, 5 and 7 years old, do everything to avoid brushing their teeth. "We had an obvious problem," says his father Matt Lieber, co-founder of podcasting company Gimlet Media. "How can children brush their teeth?" To promote good dental hygiene in children around the world , Lieber and the Gimlet team launched a new podcast earlier this year.
"Chompers", for children from 3 to 7 years, offers two daily episodes of two minutes each for playing in the morning and at night. The show, which returns on Monday and lasts until the end of the year, features a mix of news, jokes, and brushing tips. A recent episode of the morning described the guts of a helicopter called Birdie, which was ridiculed on the flight school. At night, the spoiler, the birdie alarm triumphs by helping to restore power in a city. "Everyone has something special to contribute to each mission," says the narrator. "All you have to do now is spit 3-2-1!"
"Chompers" has been downloaded more than 1 million times, Gimlet said. This is one of the most experimental offerings in a growing culture of podcasts for children, who see the producers as the logical direction for the medium . Wow in the World of National Public Radio, a weekly science and technology podcast for children 5 to 12 years old, released in May and according to Apple podcasts among the 20 most popular podcasts of 2017; The producers of the program said that it has been downloaded more than 10 million times. "The Inexplicable Disappearance of Mars Patel", a mysterious series by Gen-Z Media, was awarded the Peabody Award in April 2017, the second podcast after the blockbuster "Serial". According to current trends, Lieber expects that 10 to 20 million children hear podcasts in three or four years.
"Now that big companies and podcast platforms have entered the podcasting area for children, awareness has increased," says Kids Talk podcast and co-chair Lindsay Patterson, who defends children's sound. high quality Therefore, there will be more products for children. "
Podcasts provide an alternative to screen time for kids and can encourage more active media consumption. A survey of 436 parents conducted by Kids Listen found that 74% of children take action after listening to a podcast. B. start a conversation or research a topic.
Christine Elgersma of Common Sense Media, a non-profit organization, notes that children and their parents can hear podcasts together, even if they are in different rooms or busy with different activities. "A podcast lends itself to a shared experience, so sometimes the television does not work," he says.
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Children today usually have no direct access to podcasts; most listen to their parents' smartphones or in the car. But industry observers believe that smart speakers like Amazon Echo and Apple HomePod will increase the number of listeners and make podcasts a bigger part of children's media consumption. According to Edison Research and Triton Digital, 18% of Americans live in homes with at least one smart speaker, more than twice as many as a year ago, and the acceptance of smart speakers is higher than that of smartphones. its beginnings And intelligent speakers are safer for children to explore alone. In April, Amazon launched a series of child protection checks for its digital assistant Alexa in response to parents' concerns that children find inappropriate content and use speakers after bedtime.
"Smart speakers are the future of sales," says Ben Strouse, co-founder of Gen-Z Media.
"Chompers" is available through Echo, which means kids do not need their parents' smartphones to listen. Parents should make the first download, but after that, the children can access the episodes without help by saying, "Alexa, guide Chompers as if you're asking the digital assistant to turn on the lights in a hallway." ("Chompers") It's also available in podcasts by Apple, Spotify, and elsewhere.
Parents see results, according to Gimlet. The company surveyed about 100 families who heard "chompers" and found that 70% of them said it was easy to brush teeth, compared to 7% before listening. "We probably sell a lot more toothpaste," says Lieber. ("Chompers" is sponsored by Crest Kids and Oral-B).
Gimlet plans to produce more audio that will help children with housework, says Nazanin Rafsanjani, Gimlet's new vice president of entertainment development, who declined to provide more details. (Gimlet is also working on an editorial project with The Wall Street Journal.) Lieber says that "Chompers" has helped his children to intensify their brushing and trivial knowledge. "My son always tells us the facts he learned during the program," he says. "Did you know that snails have more teeth in their mouths than sharks?
