Toon Goggles is an American on-demand entertainment service for children that provides animated cartoons,

live-action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games or ...

shows, games and music worldwide via the web and

mobile applications A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...

smartphones A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as mult ...

, OTT devices,

smart TV A smart TV, also known as a connected TV (CTV or, rarely, CoTV), is a traditional television set with integrated Internet and interactive Web 2.0 features that allow users to stream music and videos, browse the internet, and view photos. Smart T ...

s and tablets, led by CEO and co-founder Stephen Hodge. Based in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, Toon Goggles has developed partnerships with

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

and

Roku Roku ( ) is a brand of consumer electronics that includes streaming players, smart TVs (and their operating systems), as well as a free TV streaming service. The brand is owned by Roku, Inc., an American company. As of 2024, Roku is the U ...

.Gary Rusak
"Toon Goggles added to Samsung’s Smart TV platform"
, ''Kids Screen'', 1/23/2014 Their children's content is compliant with COPPA (

Children's Online Privacy Protection Act The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) is a United States federal law The law of the United States comprises many levels of Codification (law), codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the supreme law is ...

). Toon Goggles allows animators to publish their shows for free. Animation rights holders are then provided with analytical data regarding the popularity of each show that they can present to network producers or

investors An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of property. Types of in ...

. In December 2014, Toon Goggles introduced 4K streaming of 18 series within their service.

Features

Many of Toon Goggles customers use the service on children's tablets, especially Techno Source's Kurio7Anna Attkisson
"Techno Source Kurio 7 Review"
, ''Laptop Mag'', 09/14/2012 and Oregon Scientific's MEEP!Jeremy Dickson
"Toon Goggles hits the Meep! screen tablet"
,''Kids Screen'', 9/12/2012 *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

Background

The Toon Goggles application is developed by Toon Goggles Inc., a

start-up A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses that do not intend ...

based in Los Angeles. 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 is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Japan. It was founded in 1918 as in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Fukushima by Kōnosuke Matsushita. The company was incorporated in 1935 and renamed and c ...

to appear on the VIERA Connect television.Jeremy Dickson
"Toon Goggles content to reach Panasonic smart TVs"
,''Kids Screen'', 6/14/2012 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. James R. Cahall, Chief Technology Officer, heads the service's technology development and feature integration, including the company's move to offer 4K streaming. Jordan Warkol, Director of Business Development was an actor for 15 years starting at the age of 4 playing 'Froggy' in the 1994 version of "The Little Rascals.".

Business model

Originally a free service, Toon Goggles now follows the

Freemium Freemium, a portmanteau of the words "free" and "premium", is a pricing strategy by which a basic product or service is provided free of charge, but money (a premium) is charged for additional features, services, or virtual (online) or physical ( ...

model, offering users free content with pre-screened advertising and the ability to upgrade to the subscription service with an ad-free model.

Partners

Toon Goggles has the following partnerships. *

* Sharp Aquos *

Western Digital Western Digital Corporation is an American data storage company headquartered in San Jose, California. Established in 1970, the company is one of the world's largest manufacturers of hard disk drives (HDDs). History 1970s Western Digital ...

* Vizio *

Wide Open West WideOpenWest, Inc. (doing business as WOW!) is the eighth largest cable operator in the United States with their network passing 1.9 million homes and businesses. The company offers landline telephone, cable television, and broadband Internet s ...

* Seiki * KD Interactive * Techno Source * Oregon Scientific * Netrange * Southern Telecom *

Hisense Hisense Group Co., Ltd. is a Chinese multinational major appliance and electronics manufacturer headquartered in Qingdao, Shandong province. Television sets are its main product, and it has been the largest TV manufacturer in China by market ...

* Idolian Mobile * Nook * U.S. Cellular * Other Partners: **

PacketVideo PacketVideo Corporation or PV was a San Diego–based company that produced software for wireless multimedia, including the display of video on mobile handsets. The PacketVideo name wasn't actively used after being acquired by Lynx Technology. H ...

Lawsuit

In mid to late 2019, Toon Goggles was involved in the lawsuit ''

Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...

v. Toon Goggles Inc., et al.'' According to the lawsuit, co-founder Ira Warkol held at least five unregistered broker deals to around 400 investors from August 2012 to late 2016, raising over US$19 million. The lawsuit also stated that the commissions were performed under several entities, such as another start-up called NetKids and two divisions from Toon Goggles themselves: Dinomite Apps and Yeti Productions (both of which dissolved in 2015 and 2016 respectively). Toon Goggles also failed to get complete records of their investors, including the number of shares and money gained. Warkol neither admitted nor denied the allegations and agreed to a settlement stating that he had to return $2 million and pay another US$190,000 fine, along with being permanently banned from any future security sales. The case was settled on October 29, 2019. A separate but similar preceding had the SEC accuse director of operations' Brendan Pollitz for facilitating broker-dealer registration violations. Pollitz agreed to a

cease-and-desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the other ...

order, paying additional fines of up to $43,589.

References

External links

Official Website

Informational Website
{{VOD services Video on demand services