JellyTelly has been a great source of Christian based kids programming for my kids for the past few years.
It included hours of videos and games that I could let me children watch and explore without worrying about the content. For me, it was more than just “not worrying, ” I suppose, as the programming on JellyTelly was filled with Biblical education and meshes with my worldview. Something you won’t find on Nick Jr.
For the last few years Focus on the Family has been underwriting JellyTelly (created by Phil Vischer), so it’s been totally free–until now.
Club JellyTelly
Slightly re-branded, JellyTelly has been relaunched as “Club JellyTelly.” The subscription rate is $5 per month, which isn’t bad. Consider the price of a Happy Meal or Starbucks, it’s a small price to pay for solid kids programming.
However, in the Internet world of free, I am afraid there won’t be enough subscribers to see JellyTelly sustain. I usually like being right, but in this case, I hope I’m wrong. JellyTelly is entertaining, educational, and best of all, done well.
What’s good kid programming worth to you?
Learn more about JellyTelly and try it free for 2-weeks.
Wes Molebash says
I read Phil’s book “Me, Myself, and Bob” and found it absolutely fascinating. One of the things he talks about in the book was the difficulty VeggieTales had early on in regard to sales. Even though VT was a high-quality program, it was getting killed by other family videos that had the “Focus on the Family” stamp of approval on them. Phil talked about how that seal of approval was vital for family-friendly Christian entertainment back in the 90s, and he never got it (either FotF was not interested in adding more content to their lineup or Vischer didn’t push hard to get the approval – I can’t remember which).
I found it interesting that JellyTelly DID have that ever-elusive seal of approval from Focus on the Family, and I’m wondering if Phil Vischer was underwhelmed with what that relationship brought him. Perhaps the FotF seal of approval doesn’t carry the weight it once did in the 90s. Maybe Vischer expected more support from FotF. Or, maybe the relationship served the exact purpose it was meant to, and Vischer planned to go solo at some point all along.
Who knows.
I am excited that he’s venturing out on his own, though, and I’m hopeful the subscription model works for him. I have the same reservations you do about offering a subscription, but I’ve seen it work for other websites that I thought would most definitely fail.
We’ll see what happens. 🙂
Eric Dye says
Great feedback and insight, Wes. Thank you!