Last October, Toca Boca launched Toca TV, their excellent subscription-based streaming video service for kids.

It offered kids (and parents) a safe and fun place to watch carefully curated kid-friendly video content from YouTube as well as their own funny and creative original content.

I subscribed to the service when Toca Boca ran their Cyber Monday deal last November, and my girls (ages 7 and 9) have been hooked ever since. Toca TV is easily the best video app for kids, with an excellent selection of content and as a parent, I never have any concerns that my girls are accidentally watching something inappropriate.

Unfortunately we just received word from Toca Boca’s CEO & Co-Founder, Björn Jeffery that due to low viewership, Toca Boca will be shuttering the Toca TV service at the end of the month. If you have an active subscription, it will remain active through March 31st.

toca-tv_1067607699_ipad_01More details will be available soon with regards to refunds for annual subscribers. In the meantime, if you have technical questions about Toca TV and/or your subscription, there is a help page set up where you can get further support.

This is a real bummer! I hope that we at least will still continue to see some of Toca Boca’s brilliant original video content (like their humorous What’s Going On series based on Toca Life and the infectious Don’t Mix Us Up) appear on Toca Boca’s YouTube Channel.

Now I need to figure out how I’m going to break this news to my girls.

You can read Björn Jeffery’s full letter to subscribers below:

Hi there,

It is with regret I am emailing to inform you that we will be closing Toca TV down on March 31. We tried to make a new kind of video platform for kids — one where kids could both view and make their own videos. We wanted to create an environment that you as parents could feel safe with, knowing that all advertising and inappropriate content had been removed.

Unfortunately, we have not seen the interest we’d hoped for. As you can imagine, this is very disappointing and not anything we wanted to do. I would like to personally thank you for your support of Toca Boca and apologize for the inconvenience this might cause you and your family.

If you currently have an active subscription to Toca TV, your subscription will remain active through March 31. We’ll follow up shortly with further details including information about refunds. If you have technical questions about Toca TV and your subscription, please visit our help page for further support.

I want to personally thank you for supporting Toca TV and Toca Boca. Your support means we can keep making new products that kids love and families trust. Thank you.

Best regards,

Björn Jeffery
CEO & Co-Founder