New YouTube Kids app keeps things G-rated

Kids are set to get their own YouTube app starting Monday - and that should be a relief to parents.

The YouTube Kids app available for Android devices will feature shows produced specifically for a younger audience including those from DreamWorks TV, Jim Henson TV, Mother Goose Club, Talking Tom and Friends, and Geographic Kids.

There will also be controls allowing parents to limit their children's viewing time as well as features allowing them to turn the sound and search function on or off.

"This is actually kind of great," Jeff Bakalar, a senior editor at CNET, told CBS News.

"It's going to be kid-friendly, curated app giving that sort of kid friendly content, delivering new kinds of parental controls and limiting what is actually watched on YouTube," he said.

While YouTube itself has proven popular with children, parents have expressed frustration with the time their kids spend watching it and the videos kids end up watching after what they were supposed to be watching is over.

"I hear, you know, there is maybe not-so-kid-friendly content [auto-playing] after a video that is kid-friendly," Bakalar said. "That is a paradox."

Larry Magid, co-director of the group ConnectSafely, a Silicon Valley nonprofit which gets funding from Google and educates users about Internet safety, privacy and security, welcomed the new app.

"This is good for kids and parents. YouTube has done a good job providing curated content that's suitable for kids and easy for kids and parents to discover," he said in an e-mail interview. "There is no substitute for engaged parenting, but it never hurts to have a little help. As with any media, parents need to be sure their kids are getting a balanced diet, so it's good that Google included a timer to help limit how long a child can use the app."

The app follows a similar one for kids launched by Vine in January and is an attempt to take advantage of the fact that children represent a huge potential market.

"Parents were constantly asking us, can you make YouTube a better place for our kids," Shimrit Ben-Yair, the project's group product manager told USA Today. "We've seen 50 percent growth in viewing time (year-over-year) on YouTube, but for our family entertainment channels, it's more like 200 percent."