BBFC hands out first ever app classification to Hopster
The British Board of Film Classification has moved to give a U rating to Hopster, a new subscription based TV and learning app designed for children aged 2-6. It is the first time that the body has ever classified an app in this way.
Developed in conjunction with the UK Early years Foundation the iPad app offers more than 1,000 episodes of pre-school TV content plus a number of learning games.
David Austin, Assistant Director, BBFC, said: “Age rating the Hopster app for children is a further demonstration of how classification can be used to help parents ensure their children are consuming age appropriate material online. We saw our online classification work double during 2013 compared to 2012 in terms of the number of online works we classified and a similar increase was seen in the number of companies submitting work to us.
“Our recent research into public attitudes to classification showed real concern amongst parents about what their children are exposed to online and it is encouraging to work with content providers, like Hopster, who provide a service in which parents can be confident their children are consuming age appropriate material.”
New content will be made available on a weekly basis via the Apple store to subscribers who pay a monthly fee.