Story Time For Kids Releases Digital Stories In Hindi On YouTube
Announcement posted by Teknowledge software 08 Apr 2015
The delay is finally over. Team Story Time, the makers of the award-winning Story Time For Kids mobile app, has started releasing digital stories for kids in Hindi, on its YouTube channel. The new series is certain to generate greater awareness about the app in India, particularly in the interiors.
A press conference was convened last week, where the PR manager of Story Time announced the release of the Hindi stories on YouTube. She briefly touched upon the download figures of the mobile app for kids last quarter, before moving on to the names of the stories that would be translated and released in Hindi in the first lot. A ‘wait-and-watch’ policy is being adopted, with the makers of the app deciding to release one Hindi story on YouTube everyday. Once a proper idea of the viewer response was available, multiple kids’ stories will be uploaded at one go.
The chief developer of Story Time kids’ app also explained the reason for the delay in the arrival of its popular stories in Hindi. The company was on the hunt for a suitable, experienced, well-trained voice artist - who would be doing the voiceovers for the stories. Finding the right team for this purpose turned out to be a time-consuming process - and the launch of the Hindi Story Time stories had to be pushed back from last October (as announced earlier) to April 2015.
Just like the stories present in the free reading app for kids, the YouTube channel of Story Time (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClSNHngUXHA06SlVduwMYbA) will contain a mix of classic short stories/fairy tales, and original stories. ‘The Jungle Book’ was the first Hindi story to be uploaded by the Story Time team, and it has since been followed by engaging children’s tales like Aladdin, Gulliver’s Travels, Snow White, and Alice In Wonderland. The head of Story Time chuckled while mentioning that, as she spoke - the story of ‘Around The World In 80 Days’ (in Hindi) was being uploaded.
Each Hindi story uploaded on the YouTube channel of Story Time For Kids has a duration of 10 to 15 minutes. Emphasis has been put on maintaining an engaging narrative, to keep the young viewers interested. A reliable source from within the company informed that several rounds of auditions had been held, before finalizing the voice artists who would work on the stories. The video quality and the animations are also of first-rate - and that is a key reason behind the videos receiving plenty of views within hours of their being uploaded.
The decision to translate and launch kids’ stories in Hindi is the latest in the line of endeavors to make Story Time For Kids a multilingual brand. In addition to the digital English stories available in the iPhone app for kids, Story Time started publishing storybooks for children (in paperback and hardcover) from the second half of 2014. In the digital format too, there are French and German translated versions of all the stories. If the Hindi stories find favor among little readers (and early indications suggest they will), they will be made available for in-app purchase with the Story Time children’s application. Plans for launching Bengali stories are also in the pipeline.
While the stories are being uploaded in a regular manner at the moment, the team-leader of the mobile app development team hinted that things would be made more kid-friendly soon. As soon as all the stories are on YouTube, they would be organized in a playlist. Anyone on the Story Time YouTube channel will be able to watch the videos one after the other. A representative of Story Time stated that this would allow kids to enjoy the stories, even when their parents were not around.
Promotions for the Hindi story videos have already started via the official social media channels of Story Time. A total of 40 stories will be released in the first set, following which feedback from parents as well as children will be sought. If everything goes according to plan, original shorts in Hindi will also be uploaded from June.
The makers of Story Time For Kids are confident that the popularity of the Hindi stories would bolster the adoption rates of the mobile app in India further. In the United States, Story Time already ranks among the best iPhone apps for kids - and the team is clearly trying to replicate that type of success in India too.
For further information about Story Time For Kids, visit http://www.storytimeforkids.info/app/. You can check out all the Hindi story videos at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClSNHngUXHA06SlVduwMYbA. For resolving queries, dial 91-33-40649087 and/or send emails to support@storytimeforkids.info. YouTube videos for kids in Hindi are not particularly common - and Team Story Time deserves kudos for starting this campaign. More power to little readers!