It’s been a good year for Amazon Kids+. The service was honored at the recent edition of the Kidscreen Awards where it was named the Best Kids-Only Streaming Service.
head of original video
Amazon‘s service, dedicated to children’s content, is looking for series with consumer product potential to fill its recently launched catalog of children’s originals, said Veronica Pickett, head of original video for Amazon Kids & Family.
The OTT has been noted for its curated selection designed for children ages three to 12, and through it, children get access to a variety of content, including shows, movies, games, books, educational apps, and app/games controlled by voice known as Alexa skills.
While Amazon Studios and Prime Video focus on live-action and prime-time animation for adults or the occasional family-friendly original, Amazon Kids+ exclusively seeks to create original content for kids. It’s very open to a lot of different formats, including short films, feature films, movies and series, and styles (live-action, 2D, 3D, CG, etc.), Pickett explained. ‘What unites all of our content, more than any particular style, is our content philosophy’.
The service has three pillars when it comes to creating original content: ‘The content should resonate, which means kids should find the jokes funny and feel the themes relatable and touching’, she said. His first original series, Pocket.watch and Sunlight Entertainment‘s Super Spy Ryan, follows YouTuber Ryan Kaji as he is transported into a virtual reality world where he has to stop an evil hamster, and that kind of action-packed humorous approach is what that Amazon Kids+ is looking for.
CGI animation series based on the beloved carácter owner by Sanrio Inc.
The shows must also have opportunities for auxiliary or complementary content, such as consumer products, video games or books inspired by the brand. ‘When it comes to originals, we are looking at how we can bring these worlds to life through digital and physical media’, noted. ‘When we watch a show, we look to see if it’s a fun book or game, or other ways to deepen kids’ connection to a brand’.
And the final pillar is to ensure that the content reflects all children. Amazon wants to see a variety of characters, both on and off screen, before greenlighting a project, Pickett stressed. The service is ready to tackle challenging topics but wants all of its original content to have a positive view of the world, so the team is especially focused on making sure its content doesn’t negatively impact kids by reinforcing negative stereotypes or tropes, she says.
‘When it comes to original projects, the team is being very selective about the content we commission, so we are not accepting unsolicited pitches at this time’, added. ‘Our team is proactively looking for growers and we will communicate with the industry when we are open to receive them’.
