Toon Goggles Takes Off

Kids’ content platform Toon Goggles has ambitious growth plans for 2016, including ramping up its slate of original IP.  

Since its launch in 2012, the children’s content platform Toon Goggles (TG) has been working aggressively to establish a presence on as many consumer-electronics devices as possible. The on-demand entertainment platform, delivering games, animated and live-action series and music, has deals with Verizon’s mobile service go90, smart-TV manufacturers like VIZIO and Hisense and tablet makers such as Kurio, among many others. That extensive reach has been key to the platform’s growth, says CEO Stephen L. Hodge.

“As crowded as the market is, in a lot of places we’re the only children’s service available,” Hodge notes. “If you were to turn on a VIZIO TV, we’re the only children’s service there. If you were to turn on a Panasonic, we’re one of two children’s services there. You turn on any smart TV, you’re going to find Toon Goggles. On a lot of those devices we’re preloaded and Imageon some of those devices we have buttons on the remotes [as is the case with] Seiki, and we’re on the packaging. From the very beginning we have focused on being where children are consuming content. There are a lot of other companies that just exist in the App Store—we’ve always focused on being a bit more than that. That’s helped us with a lot of our consumer recognition. We haven’t been spending capital on user acquisitions. Our users are discovering us from unboxing their Panasonic TV, going to the children’s section and seeing Toon Goggles heavily promoted. They’re going onto their VIZIO TV or the recently launched Hisense TV and as soon as you launch the on-demand section, you see Netflix and you see Toon Goggles.”

To propel the company forward into its next stage of growth, TG is now focusing on more original IP development and ramping up its licensing and merchandising activities. “We want to separate ourselves from others in this space,” Hodge says. “We’re at a point where we have enough distribution that our service is recognizable on many different platforms. We’d like to build our service into a destination where more engagement can happen. The easiest way to make that happen is for us to be in control of the IP, so that we can quickly make a decision to turn an IP into a show, turn it into a game, turn it into an interactive book, etc., and then licensing and merchandising plays into that.”

To aid in its IP and L&M expansion efforts, TG recently brought on Lee Adams as its CCO. For Adams, developing content for an on-demand service presents a range of new opportunities as compared with the development process at traditional linear broadcasters. “We can accelerate the development and production process,” Adams says. “Usually there’s a testing phase and then a focus group. When we have the first episode, we’re able to put it up and in real time see how kids are reacting to the characters or the plot. So it’s kind of like our audience is going to be developing the series as we are developing it. And it keeps the show relevant as we’re able to see how the trends are changing and adjust accordingly.”

Plus, Hodge adds, “While production is happening, the assets that are created can be used to produce different types of interactive books and games and other experiences that further promote the coming show, as well as provide good engagement for our users.”

Adams also points to the flexibility that an on-demand platform offers in terms of content duration. “We don’t have to do three 7-minute [segments] to fit into a half-hour. We want IP holders to lose those restrictions. So if [someone] wanted to do a show that’s 2.5 minutes or 6 minutes, but could never get it on Nick or Disney, we’re the platform for that.”

TG is also looking to add more third-party content to its offering. “We’re basically open to any acquisition or co-production model, any genre as long as it fits into family, and any medium,” Adams says.

TG’s first foray into original programming was Eddie is a Yeti, produced in association with Italy’s Mondo TV, which is distributing the show worldwide. Also in production are The Magic Academy and Fairy Tale Stories from Real Life Puppets.

Hodge says that expanding the reach of TG’s original IP is key. “We want other platforms to also be able to enjoy our properties, exploit our properties and help with distribution of those properties, because merchandising is where we really have our hopes and ambitions set. The only way for us to truly be successful in that arena is to have as many eyeballs on our content as possible.”

The platform has found that shorter-form content of 3- to 5-minute episodes tends to be more popular on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. Users on set-top boxes and smart TVs are more likely to be engaged in shows of more traditional 7- or 22-minute episode lengths.

“We also find that, because of the nature of the devices that are being used, our users want content that is as high-definition as it gets,” Hodge says. “That’s the reason Toon Goggles is also a pioneer in the distribution of 4K content. We actually have one of the largest libraries of 4K content for children, which is being consumed heavily on our platform.”

Hodge believes that this 4K expertise gives TG a leg up in its expansion plans. “A lot of cable companies are adopting an IP-based method for distributing their content. The main reason for that is so they can broadcast 4K, which cannot be distributed on traditional cable coaxial lines. That opens the door to over-the-top services like ours to become cable channels.”

Hodge and Adams have identified a number of other key growth opportunities for 2016, among them eBooks. “We’ve created a proprietary technology that makes the experience robust and the turnaround quite quick,” Adams says.

“We also really want to focus on second-screen engagement,” Hodge adds. “A children’s platform is probably the perfect place to promote some type of second-screen engagement, where an application can be interacting with the program that’s on TV or on a set-top box or on a gaming system.”