A Netflix-style app for children is to be offered with TalkTalk’s TV packages. Hopster hosts shows targeted at under-6s — such as The Adventures of Paddington Bear, Pingu and Sesame Street — as well as educational games that teach children how to code. It was launched in 2013 by Nick Walters, a former executive at Nickelodeon owner Viacom. He decided to create it when his then 3-year-old daughter, Matylda, was starting to browse the internet and he saw a need to make “entertainment safe and educational”. Video platforms have been dogged by claims that they are not safe for children after it was discovered that the Google-owned YouTube hosted disturbing videos, including instructions on how to sharpen knives. Parents pay to subscribe to Hopster and
TalkTalk is to offer Hopster's Nextflix-style app with its TV packages. Targeting children under six, the app hosts ad-free shows such as The Adventures of Paddington Bear, Sesame Street and educational games that teach children how to code. TalkTalk is the first pay-TV firm to tie up with the educational entertainment provider, although Hopster is understood to be in discussion with others. According to a study by musicMagpie, 25% of children under the age of six has a smartphone and almost half spend as much as 21 hours a week on them.