Azoomee licenses BBC content

Azoomee is a digital entertainment service for primary school-aged kids that offers TV shows, games, audiobooks, an art studio and messaging in one safe app. Azoomee launched in the UK in July 2016 and works on any mobile device.

“We are incredibly excited to add BBC’s award-winning shows to Azoomee’s rapidly growing content library. These shows explore a wide range of important values, which fit perfectly with our overall mission to provide entertainment that is good for children”, said Estelle Lloyd, co-founder of Azoomee. “The BBC content has recently been made available on the app and is already proving extremely popular with our young audience – Charlie and Lola is currently the most watched show on Azoomee. We are looking forward to a long and prosperous relationship with the BBC.”

Jonathan Newman, head of business development at BBCWW, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Azoomee and bringing the best of BBC Children’s content to their customers. We look forward to working with them in the coming months and hopefully building on our relationship in the longer term.”

Azoomee has licensed the following shows from the BBC as part of a 12-month agreement:

· Charlie and Lola (Winner of BAFTA Children’s Awards, Annie Awards, Broadcast Awards, RTS Awards, Annecy Animation Festival and more). Children can learn all about healthy sibling relationships with Charlie and Lola and explore values of patience, friendship and imagination.

· Horrible Histories (Winner of BAFTA Children’s Awards, Kidscreen Awards, RTS Awards, Rose D’Or Award, British Comedy Awards and more). This British sketch comedy series brings history lessons into the 21st century and gives them a modern-day twist enlivened with gory details. Children can learn about gruesome historical moments in all their yuckiest splendour.

· Katie Morag (Winner of BAFTA Children’s Awards, BAFTA Scotland Awards, RTS Scotland Awards, Kidscreen Awards, Peabody Awards and more). Children can learn life lessons about emotions, relationships and self-realisation by following the adventures of Katie Morag in this live-action, family-friendly drama.

· The Next Step (Winner of BAFTA Children’s Awards, Canadian Screen Awards, Shaw Rocket Prize and more). This reality-style drama follows the lives of a group of dancers, the A-Troupe, as they experience the highs and lows of the dancing world. As well as learning new dance moves, children can learn about friendship and loyalty as relationships are put to the test.

· Deadly 60 (Winner of BAFTA Children’s Awards). This show inspires bravery, strength and courage as kids follow zoologist Steve Backshall’s adventures to seek out the 60 deadliest animals in the world.

· Nina and the Neurons (Winner of BAFTA Scotland). Follow scientist Nina in this educational series where children’s scientific questions are explored, dissected and answered through experiments and investigations.

· Little Human Planet. Travel the globe with this documentary series where children can learn about different countries, cultures and climates, and meet people whose lives are totally unique and different from each other.

Howard Litton, who advises Azoomee on content acquisitions, commented: “Acquiring this blue-chip BBC kids content is an exciting and crucial step in cementing Azoomee’s already growing reputation as a ‘good for you’ quality platform for children in the UK”.

Azoomee’s video content includes a mix of very well-known children’s brands and independent productions from around the world. A clear emphasis is on shows that teach children new skills (arts and crafts, football, magic, etc.) and encourage them to get ‘off the screen’ and be active. A dedicated in-house team of children’s experts is responsible for the entire content curation process.

Azoomee also produces its own original content, including Search It Up, which is an 18-part animated series on internet safety that was recently nominated for a BAFTA (Primary Learning category).

This deal positions Azoomee as one of a very small number of entertainment services (along with Netflix and Sky) to have signed SVOD (subscription video on demand) content licensing deals with the BBC in the last year in the UK.