The company is discontinuing the YouTube Kids TV app.
As you may recall, YouTube integrated its Kids features into its main app in 2023, enabling users to navigate between YouTube and YouTube Kids within a single app on devices like smart TVs and game consoles.
Currently, YouTube intends to delete the Kids app entirely in July.
A recent Google support document announced this change.
The Kids app will no longer be supported by all living room TV platforms, including smart TVs, streaming devices (such as Chromecast and Amazon Fire Stick), and video gaming consoles.
This won’t impact the Kids app for iOS and Android smartphones. Furthermore, it won’t impact YouTube’s Kids division in any other way; according to Android Police, TV viewers in living rooms who visit YouTube Kids via the main YouTube app will still be able to use all of its kid safety and parental control features. People now using the Kids app on TVs will thus need to switch to the main app, but they will still be able to access all the same features.
We’re interested to know how much TV viewership has changed in the last few months as a result of YouTube’s move to include Kids in the main YouTube app for TVs. One of YouTube’s main concerns for years has been TV viewership, and it’s paying off: On TVs in living rooms, YouTube viewers watch over a billion hours of material daily.
