Ryan ToysReview, Pocket.watch To Premiere Five Specials On Roku’s Just-Launched ‘Kids & Family’ Channel

Pocket.watch, the kid-focused digital studio that works with YouTube creators like Ryan ToysReview, EvanTube, and HobbyKidsTV, is launching a linear channel on Roku.

The 24-hour, family-friendly channel will be programmed with content from Pocket.watch creators — all of which will be hand-picked by its in-house team to ensure age-appropriateness. On Roku devices, the Pocket.watch channel will be housed within a brand new ‘Kids & Family‘ section on The Roku Channel — Roku’s in-house hub for both free programming from myriad partner publishers as well as paid subscriptions.

As part of the pact between Pocket.watch and Roku, the new Pocket.watch channel will air five, 22-minute specials starring toy unboxing phenom Ryan ‘ToysReview’ Kaji. They will be free for Roku viewers until Nov. 19. The channel will also feature a daily, two-hour block of content form Ryan’s World — the entertainment brand formed in Kaji’s name — as well as a cartoon based on the HobbyKidsTV family co-created by Butch Hartman (Fairly Odd Parents), and a live-action and animation hybrid from EvanTube.

In the future, content from other Pocket.watch creators — including The Onyx Family and MarMar — will roll out in categories like gameplay, crafts, DIY, science, and more. The Pocket.watch station will comprise long-form shows, hosted blocks of short-form video, interstitials, and other original programming.

“Families have come to know Pocket.watch as a trusted source for family-friendly content, and it’s a top priority for us to connect families with the popular content they love in places that aspire to promote parent trust,” Pocket.watch founder and CEO Chris Williams said in a statement. “We are proud to work with Roku to deliver quality programming with today’s biggest digital stars to The Roku Channel’s quickly growing audiences.”

The new Kids & Family channel not only feature Pocket.watch, but a total of roughly 7,000 movies and TV episodes from 20 partners, including All Spark, DHX Media, Happy Kids TV, Lionsgate, Mattel, and Moonbug. ‘Kids & Family’ will be available to Roku users today on Roku devices, the web, and on select Samsung smart TVs.

At the same time that it announced the new Pocket.watch partnership, Roku announced additional PIN-based playback controls so that parents can set limits to the content that their kids are consuming based on a Roku ratings system.