Introducing screen-free entertainment – a new category that allows kids to go screenless while immersing themselves in stories and activities that have typically been screen-dependent – which can be seen popping up across kids’ toys and media.
Screen-free entertainment started to gain momentum during the second half of the pandemic when parents, whose kids relied heavily on screens to get them through the day, were looking for a reprieve from screen time.
In 2021, one of the top holiday toys was Toniebox, a screen-free digital listening experience that plays stories and songs when an interchangeable character is placed on top of the audio player. The Yoto Player and the StoryPod are two other similar audio storytellers for kids.
To address kids’ passion for gaming, the Storyball was created to be an audio gaming console that enables fully immersive gameplay without the need for a screen. While it’s still in a pilot launch phase, demand for the Storyball has started to grow.
In media, kid-targeted podcasts have also been on the rise. In January, Netflix released its first-ever kid podcast called Bedtime Stories, while Warner Bros and the Disney Channel also joined the kid podcasting market in 2021. The growth of kid podcasting is an offshoot of the rapid growth of podcasting at large, and the rise of smart speakers in U.S. homes is giving kids increased access to podcasts. According to a 2020 survey conducted by Morning Consult, 1 in 3 parents are likely to purchase a podcast subscription for their children, and among parents who actively listen to podcasts themselves, the rate increases to 64 percent.
As brands develop their content strategies, now is the time to think not only about capturing kids’ attention through their eyes, but through their ears as well.