Read-alouds of licensed books have become key components of the YouTube channels operated by owners of kids’ character and entertainment properties. The read-aloud genre, which consists of video productions depicting children, celebrities, or other narrators reading published books, one per episode, saw a boost during the pandemic lockdowns and has continued to thrive. The experience is akin to being at a live reading, with the page-by-page read-through typically accompanied by some simple graphics, animation, or commentary. Often the goal is to inspire kids to read more physical books, as well as give them another way to engage with books and reading.
Some notable recent initiatives include:
- Dr. Seuss Enterprises pairing with Little Dot Studios in September to rejuvenate its year-old YouTube channel, with the initial spectrum of content on the site highlighting read-alouds and read-alongs of Dr. Seuss books as a major component. The read-alouds, under the Dr. Seuss Storytime banner, are conducted by anonymous narrators and include The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, and other classic Seuss titles.
- Author Mo Willems’ Hidden Pigeon Company launching Read Alouds! With Kids! in August. The series features children reading and commenting on their favorite Mo Willems books, mirroring the way kids talk about books they love in their daily lives. Three episodes per month are based on titles starring Willems’ The Pigeon, Elephant + Piggie, Knuffle Bunny, and other characters.
- BBC Studios Social and BBC Studios Kids & Family, with Ludo Studio, introducing Bluey Book Reads in February of this year. The series, with two episodes posted per month, features celebrity narrators including Bindi Irwin, Tom Daley, Romesh Ranganathan, Suranne Jones, Jenna Fischer, Eva Mendes, Kylie and Dannii Minogue—who kicked the series off with their rendition of Mini Bluey—and others. These well known names read licensed Bluey books of their choosing, all published by Penguin Random House under license from the BBC. In this series, all the storybooks being read aloud are based on episodes of the TV series.
Other owners of properties for young children similarly offer read-alouds of books based on their brands among their YouTube content. Some notable third-party purveyors of read-alouds are also part of this trend, with Storyline Online being one example.
The sorts of official read-alouds outlined here—as part of an ecosystem that also includes TV shows, films, gaming, physical books, comics, audio, and all manner of other media and products—represent another way to expose kids to an entertainment/character property and allow them to engage with the content in a slightly different way. And they bring the added bonus of encouraging the reading of physical books, which is an appealing attribute to many parents.
A heads-up that RaugustReports will not publish this coming Thursday, November 28, 2024, in observance of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. We’ll be back to our twice-weekly schedule next Monday, December 2, 2024.
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