Hopster inks partnership with STV

Hopster inks partnership with STV
Editor
| 01 August 2018

In a move that it says will see high quality children’s content available to the Scottish broadcaster’s online streaming platform, Hopster has added its kids’ learning and entertainment TV app to the STV Player.

STV hopstar 1AUg2018The Hopster partnership is part of STV’s three-year strategy for creative and digital growth, which will see the company invest £15 million in new original content and its digital service STV Player to re-establish STV as an independent creative force in Scotland and beyond.

STV Player is claimed to be the UK’s fastest-growing public service broadcaster VOD service and the new deal will see hundreds of episodes of family favourites like In the Night Garden become freely accessible on a new dedicated Hopster-branded children’s area within STV Player. Also available will be science shows such as Little Malabar and Story Bots, animations encouraging inclusivity such as Punky about a little girl with Down syndrome, and original productions only available on Hopster including STEM show Clever Brenda, and Grimms’ fairy tales spin-offs, Two Minute Tales.

In all, over the coming months, more than 300 episodes of family favourites will be accessible and the Hopster children’s area will be curated to tie into a unique ‘Discovery Learning Map’, teaching important early years’ skills such as sharing, turn-taking, numeracy and literacy.

In the next phase of the partnership, STV Player users will be able to subscribe to Hopster directly via STV’s website and bundling the Hopster app with STV’s new ad-free subscription version of STV Player.

Commenting on the move, Hopster CEO Nick Walters said: “We couldn’t be more excited to be powering STV Player’s new children’s service. We started Hopster to help make screen time a win-win for kids and parents through fun educational programming without the ads. Through our new agreement with STV, we hope to reach thousands of families and help them keep their little ones entertained in a safe and ad-free environment.”

Added STV chief executive Simon Pitts: “We’re delighted to be partnering with Nick and his award-winning team at Hopster to bring a wide range of fun and educational pre-school programmes to STV Player. At a stroke this gives STV Player a compelling kids’ offer for the very first time. We have ambitious plans to turn STV Player into a world-class streaming service, delivering a personalised STV for everyone. The Hopster-STV partnership reinforces our reputation as Scotland’s number 1 streaming service for family viewing.”
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