Today’s kids aren’t just reading books. They’re also tapping and playing with interactive stories on tablets as preschoolers, then delving into instant messaging-like chat fiction apps as teens. Amazon’s entry in this space, Amazon Rapids, was announced late last year as a way to bring this style of interactive fiction to readers in the 5 to 12 age range.The move could help Amazon gain ground in today’s increasingly competitive ‘chat fiction’ app market.
The company more recently introduced a new program called “Signature Stories” that aims to make its stories more appealing by integrating characters from TV shows kids already know and love.
Adults may not have heard of them, but chat reading apps are hugely popular on the App Store, across age ranges. For example, the number one free app in App Store’s “Books” category at present is chat stories app Hooked, which is closely followed by rival Yarn in spot #2, as well as Wattpad’s newer entry in the space, Tap, at #9. Other chat readers can also be found in the top 20.
The Rapids subscription service allows kids to read along with its stories with optional audio, and tap on words for help with pronunciation or definitions, in addition to tapping to reveal each new line of character dialog.
Rolled out just ahead of Comic-Con International last week, Amazon Rapids’ new Signature Stories program isn’t just leveraging kids TV IP – like kids’ characters themselves – from its participating partners; it’s also bringing in celebrity voice talent to narrate the new stories.
However, the program at launch is only rolling out with support from Amazon Studios, making the entire effort more of a cross-promotion between Amazon properties, for the time being. But Amazon is leaving the door open to future partners who want to find new ways to reach children in today’s digital age, where traditional book-reading now has to compete with apps, games and other mobile content.
Amazon Studios’s new original stories on Amazon Rapids feature characters from Amazon’s kids’ TV shows, including “Danger & Eggs,” and “Niko and the Sword of Light.” The former includes the celebrity voice talent of Aidy Bryant of Saturday Night Live, while the latter brings in Tom Kenny, who voices SpongeBob Squarepants.
These shows may not be the big-name kids’ brands that parents are familiar with – like Sesame Street, for example, or Disney – but assuming your household has Amazon Prime Video, there’s a good chance your kids will know of them. (I know we do.)
The stories themselves are also authored by the shows’ writers, extending the universe introduced by the series in a natural way.
While popular kids’ TV shows have historically translated into other merchandise like dolls, toys, books, and more, chat stories are something of a new frontier for studios and programmers.
Despite chat fiction apps’ current popularity, it’s unclear whether interaction stories will be a fad with a shorter shelf life, or if it represents a new way kids of the digital age will read for fun, in the longer term.
Amazon Rapids is a subscription service, which also includes a parent dashboard where mom or dad can check in on kids’ progress, as well as find information that will help them start conversations about what kids are reading. The service is available on iOS, Android, and Amazon Fire devices for $2.99 per month to start.
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