'Wow in the World' Wows with 100 Million Downloads

Tinkercast, the stand-out leader in audio-first children’s media, is celebrating its 100 millionth download. Founded in 2017 by three media veterans, parents and storytellers (Meredith Halpern-Ranzer, Guy Raz, and Mindy Thomas), Tinkercast’s mission is to provide screen alternative content that engages the minds and imaginations of the whole family and inspires today’s kids to become the tinkers and thinkers that will shape tomorrow.

While Wow in the World has seen steady growth over the last four years, the changing media habits of kids and families brought on by COVID-19 has accelerated the growth tremendously, increasing downloads by 94% since March 2020. That increase is due in part to the overall rise in media use for children as well as the increase in content Tinkercast rapidly created during the pandemic. Just six days after the coronavirus caused worldwide school closures affecting almost a billion children in March, Tinkercast launched a second podcast, Two Whats And a Wow, an interactive game show for the whole family.

“The state of social and civil unrest in the U.S. coupled with the overabundance of screen time for kids and families motivated our team of tinkerers to double-down on our mission to create “cartoons-for-the-ears” about amazing things happening in the world,” said Meredith Halpern-Ranzer, CEO at Tinkercast. “Reaching 100 million downloads this week is a testament to the fact that there is demand for well-told stories that inspire hope, joy and agency—the exact things we want more than ever for our own kids and families to feel.”

Tinkercast’s podcasts continually top the kids & family podcast charts and have won numerous awards including iheartRadio Award, Parent’s Choice Gold Award, Mom’s Choice Award, KAPI Innovation in Children’s Media Award, NYF’s International Radio Award and National Science Foundation’s SBIR Award. Wow in the World has been recognized by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, The Washingtonian, NPR’s All Things Considered, The Today Show, and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

About Tinkercast™

Tinkercast is an independent children’s media company that inspires millions of families each month to keep their “eyes up, screens down and jaws dropped” with their high-quality STEM-based audio programs and playful learning experiences. The company’s premiere podcast, Wow in the World, is hosted by Guy Raz (NPR’s How I Built This) and Mindy Thomas (SiriusXM’s Absolutely Mindy Show) who lead listeners on a creative, auditory journey into the most amazing stories in science, technology and innovation. Distributed by NPR, Wow in the World is NPR’s first and only kids and family program in its 50-year history. To learn more, connect with us at www.tinkercast.com, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.