By way of The Drum, we learn that Virgin TiVo set-tops have just published My Nick Jr – a customizable app of pre-school edutainment:
My Nick Jr. features 650 Nick Jr. episodes including episodes of beloved Nick Jr. titles such as Dora the Explorer, Bubble Guppies, Tickety Toc and Dinosaur Train. Using the app, parents can create an individual My Nick Jr. profile for their child. Within this profile, parents may select specific topics that they wish to make prominent in their child’s My Nick Jr. playlist as well as the duration for which they wish their child to watch Nick Jr. programming. Once a child has finished watching an episode they are asked to rate the show using the ‘arrow up’ or ‘arrow down,’ via Virgin Media’s TiVo remote. The Nick Jr. app learns the preferences of the child and chooses episodes to play accordingly. Through the app, parents may elect to be sent emails summarising what their children have watched and which topics have been covered within the viewed episodes.
What makes this interesting to TiVo devotees in the US is a reinforcement of Glenn’s point – with 2 million deployed boxes and the backing of a major cable provider, Virgin TiVo customers may see more attention and partner experiences than the several hundred thousand retail Roamio and Premiere DVRs afford. Having said that, despite TiVo’s small retail numbers, the company has generated oversized buzz these last few months… and we have it on good authority the Amazon Instant experience is being reworked.