Arab News: LONDON: Netflix has unveiled a significant expansion of its children’s entertainment offering, launching a new interactive gaming application and announcing a raft of new and returning preschool series, as the streaming giant doubles down on its position as a destination for young audiences and their parents.

The centerpiece of the announcement is Netflix Playground, a free gaming app for children aged 8 and under that allows them to play interactive games featuring characters from popular Netflix shows, including “Peppa Pig,” “Sesame Street” and “Dr. Seuss.”

The app, which carries no advertisements, in-app purchases or additional fees, is included with all Netflix memberships. All games are available offline, making them suitable for travel.

“We’re building a world where kids can not only watch their favorite stories, they can step inside them and interact with their favorite characters,” said John Derderian, Netflix vice president of animation and kids and family TV, in a press release.

Netflix Playground launched this week in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, the Philippines and New Zealand, with a global rollout — including across the Middle East and North Africa — scheduled for April 28.

Netflix also announced the renewal of children’s series “Trash Truck” for a third season and “The Creature Cases” for a seventh chapter, as well as a new original series, “Young MacDonald” — a musical show following the grandson of Old MacDonald as he navigates farm life and problem-solving with animal friends.

Upcoming releases include new seasons of “Sesame Street,” “Ms. Rachel” — the early childhood educator whose show has become one of Netflix’s most-watched titles globally — and Mark Rober’s “CrunchLabs” science series.

The push underscores the growing commercial weight of children’s content on the platform.

Between 2023 and 2025, the four most-watched shows and six of the top 10 titles on Netflix globally were from the kids’ genre, making it the second most-watched category on the platform.

The expansion is particularly significant for MENA audiences, where Netflix has seen strong growth in family and children’s viewing.

The region has one of the world’s youngest populations — the Arab world’s median age sits below 25 — and demand for high-quality, ad-free children’s content in both Arabic and English has grown sharply alongside rising broadband and smartphone penetration.