Sesame Workshop has added to its list of digital partners for the Sesame Street brand, signing MeeGenius to distribute six e-book titles on iOS and Android platforms, as well as online. The e-books, which are priced from $3.99 to $4.99, feature the same content as the print versions, with added voiceover, word highlighting, and an interactive Q&A at the end.
"We’ve been cultivating our relationship with Sesame Street for about two years," says Wandy Hoh, CEO of MeeGenius. "Sesame Street has an unparalleled reputation, so this is a milestone for us."
The MeeGenius app was founded launched in 2010 and offers more than 1,000 classic and new e-books in digital form for children up to age 8, with most of the titles being digital versions of books that also are available in print. Publishers have become the leading source of content for the app, according to Hoh, followed by authors. Sesame Street is one of a relatively few TV-based content providers to date; others include Boston public television station WGBH, licensor of PEEP and the Big Wide World.
Sesame Workshop’s other digital initiatives include partnering with Impelsys for an e-book subscription store, direct-distributing e-books to Amazon and Barnes & Noble, working with developers including Callaway and Scrollmotion for e-book apps, and granting e-book rights to some of its print publishing licensees, including Random House and Publications International.
