Emomee calls for digital content regulations
Representative image
Children’s entertainment company Emomee is calling for stronger regulation of children’s digital content as it expands across international streaming platforms, live events and merchandise, with plans to diversify revenue beyond digital distribution.“There is a need for stronger content regulation for children’s content,” founder and CEO Pooja Jauhari said.The founders’ focus on children’s content stemmed from concerns about what their own children were watching online. Jauhari and co-founder Varun Duggirala previously ran creative digital agency The Glitch, which was acquired by WPP in 2017. Both subsequently took on global leadership roles within the network before exiting in 2022.Read more: Children have fundamental right to access internet, can't impose blanket ban on its use: SCEmomee began as a home project, with Duggirala writing stories and creating videos for their children and their friends. Feedback from other parents prompted the founders to develop the concept into a business.“Our children were a key motivation for starting Emomee, as we were concerned about the quality of content they were watching on digital platforms,” Jauhari said.The company has secured two shows on Netflix and is exploring partnerships with other global streaming platforms. It has also signed agreements with a couple of airlines for in-flight distribution, Jauhari said.Read more: Centre backs Supreme Court, plans legal bar on social media accounts for under-18sAlongside expanding distribution, Emomee is developing physical products featuring its characters. A recent live event attracted around 10,000 families, Jauhari said. The company is testing live formats and considering a larger ticketed offering.It recently launched Emomee: Big Skills for Little Ones, Minis, a 20-episode series on Netflix, with each instalment running for about 11 minutes. The show features characters E, Mo and Mee, who navigate everyday adventures designed to introduce preschoolers to confidence, curiosity, kindness, emotional intelligence and problem-solving.Emomee, which began on YouTube, has built audiences in Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, South Africa and parts of Europe. It has around 2.6 million subscribers and is about 20 months into its operations, Jauhari said.The company is also looking to localise content for different markets, with India and East Asia among its priorities. Its programming is based on social and emotional learning (SEL), with episodes designed to introduce children to emotional, social and financial literacy. Jauhari cited the National Education Policy 2020, which recognises social-emotional learning as an important component of education.Emomee is also using AI in animation production and world-building to improve efficiency and reduce costs, Jauhari said. The company is training animators to incorporate the technology into their work, rather than relying on prompt creators to generate animation.
Read the full story at The Economic Times →