Toon Goggles

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Toon Goggles is an on-demand entertainment service for children that offers animated cartoons, live-action shows, games and music worldwide via the web and mobile applications on smartphones, OTT devices, smart TVs and tablets, led by CEO and co-founder Stephen Hodge. Based in Los Angeles, CA, Toon Goggles has developed partnerships with many large consumer electronics companies such as Sony, Samsung and Roku. Their pre-screened children's content is compliant with COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act).

The platform caters to both children and animators in that animators have the opportunity to publish their shows on Toon Goggles for free. Animation rights holders are then provided with analytical data regarding the popularity of each show that they can present to network producers and/or investors.

In December 2014, Toon Goggles introduced 4K streaming of 18 series within their service. The Ultra High-Definition cartoons and live-action shows appear on VIZIO and Sony 4K TVs.

Video Toon Goggles

Features

Many of Toon Goggles customers use the service on children's tablets, especially Techno Source's Kurio7 and Oregon Scientific's MEEP! The application is available on both the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store.

Some Features Include:
- 6 show categories including boys, girls, action, comedy, preschool, and educational
- 6 game categories including arcade, puzzle, sports, action, strategy and adventures
- News stories and educational content for kids and tweens
- TG Radio, a kid-safe music service with pop hits and soundtracks
- Parental control switch to monitor viewing
- UHD 4K streaming
- Access over 3G/4G/Wi-Fi and ability to save cartoons for offline viewing
- Localized interface in 18 different languages for global use

Maps Toon Goggles

Background

The Toon Goggles application is developed by Toon Goggles Inc., a start-up based in Los Angeles, CA. In 2011, a demo website (www.toongoggles.com) was created to take to MIPCOM to show animation companies the exposure they could receive by placing their cartoons on the Toon Goggles service. The mobile application was created soon after. In 2012, the platform secured one of its first partnerships with Panasonic to appear on the VIERA Connect television. Toon Goggles has been pre-installed and promoted on a variety of devices for sale.

Stephen L. Hodge, Managing Director, spearheaded the creation of Toon Goggles in 2011, even coming up with the name, "Toon Goggles," and initial builds. Stephen meets face-to-face with large consumer electronics manufacturers around the world, securing partnerships for the platform.

James R. Cahall, Chief Technology Officer, heads the service's technology development and feature integration, including the company's move to offer 4K streaming. James has led Toon Goggles' platform agnostic design implementation to support delivery to millions of users on most modern devices.

Jordan Warkol, Director of Business Development, was compelled to work in the children's entertainment space as a result of his 15 years as an actor, starting at the age of 4 playing 'Froggy' in the 1994 version of "The Little Rascals." Jordan oversees day-to-day activities at the office, specializing in marketing, human resources, and content acquisition and distribution.

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Business model

Originally a free service, Toon Goggles now follows the Freemium model, offering users free content with pre-screened advertising and the ability to upgrade to the subscription service with an ad-free model. After a 30-day free trial period, the premium subscription is $4.99 a month. TG Radio is an additional $2.99 per month after a one-week free trial. Some of the TV shows offered require the subscription service in order to view every episode

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Partners

Toon Goggles has aggregated a high amount of partnerships with consumer electronic companies, animation content producers as well as other partners, which has made them with excellent distribution as well as giving them great strides in technology.

Consumer Electronic Partners:
- Samsung
- Panasonic
- Sharp Aquos
- Sony
- Roku
- Western Digital
- Vizio
- Wide Open West
- Seiki
- KD Interactive
- Techno Source
- Oregon Scientific
- Netrange
- Southern Telecom
- Hisense
- Idolian Mobile
- Nook
- U.S. Cellular
Other Partners:
- PacketVideo