PBS Aims for Adults With New Apps

PBS has launched its first applications for the iPad and iPhone aimed at its core general market audience.

To date, PBS has introduced six iPad and iPhone apps aimed at children, along with a subscription-based teaching tool. The new apps are aimed at adults—i.e. fans of popular PBS shows like Frontline, Nova, Masterpiece Theater and Austin City Limits.

Full-length episodes of those shows will now be available on the iPad and iPhone apps. And to drum up interest in the new digital product, the public television network will also premiere its upcoming miniseries Circus on the iPad before it airs on TV.

PBS is also rolling out a pair of original series for the iPad, including the Nova-derived Secret Life of Scientists and FutureStates, born out of the series Independent Lens.

In addition to the new apps, PBS has undertaken a major redesign on PBS.org [1] aimed at better surfacing for its national and local content.