From its initial days when parents were reluctant to put expensive devices in their kids’ hands, the children’s digital publishing market has exploded into an industry all its own. Part of the reason for that is there are very special considerations when introducing content to children via a tablet or smartphone. The typical methods of embedding ads or offering in-app purchases are not popular with parents who may have concerns about what their children view or what they have access to buy.
Zuuka, the parent company of popular children’s novelization app book developer iStoryTime, has now teamed up with TapJoy to offer the value pricing that users can benefit from thanks to ads and purchases, but without putting young users at risk. Under this new model, parents will earn points towards free content by interacting with the ads offered through TapJoy’s mobile value exchange system, although young readers will not be exposed to them. Additionally, parents can make new book purchases, but can feel confident that their kids cannot stack up an expensive bill by accessing those purchase options.
According to Steve Wadsworth, CEO of TapJoy, “With Zukka and the iStoryTime app, we are empowering parents to earn credits for use toward their family’s favourite narrated books. We are seeing a trend of app publishers utilising the mobile value exchange model to enable their users to get the premium content they want.”
Some of the ways parents will be expected to interact with an ad are to take a survey or watch a video, while some of the companies have opted to allow parents to simply scroll through the ad. Zuuka has ensured that all of the advertising is pertinent to their customers’ needs and that none of it detracts from the reading experience for the children.
Mercy Pilkington is a Senior Editor for Good e-Reader. She is also the CEO and founder of a hybrid publishing and consulting company.