Hasbro Entertainment and Animaj have launched Lumee, a joint venture aimed at spearheading digital advertising sales and striking brand partnership in the kids’ content space.
Lumee will bring together Hasbro’s and Animaj’s portfolios of flagship brands, ranging from “Peppa Pig” to “Transformers,” “Pocoyo” and “Maya the Bee.”
Through the new banner, Animaj – which is a next-generation kids media company backed by strategic investor HarbourView Equity Partners — will handle these IP’s across film, television, animation and digital, through YouTube, connected TV and AVOD/FAST platforms. The joint venture is now operational and in talks with major advertisers. Together, Hasbro and Animaj say their digital networks generate more than 50 billion views per year on YouTube alone.
“Kids attention and curiosity continue to evolve faster than ever,” said Sixte de Vauplane, co-
Founder and CEO of Animaj. “With Lumee, we are building a bridge between advertisers and a
new generation of digital-native kids.”
Popular on Variety
Gregory Dray, co-founder of Animaj and chairman of Lumee, said “Kids’ and family content is currently the most undervalued real estate in the digital world.” A former Google and YouTube’s senior executive, Dray added, “The industry doesn’t have an audience problem; it has a business model problem.”
Dray pointed out Kids’ and family programming represents more than 15% of total viewing on YouTube, yet monetization has weakened significantly since 2020, when regulatory changes eliminated personalized advertising on “Made for Kids” content. While those rules strengthened child privacy protections, he argued that they also removed the primary mechanism platforms used to target advertising in the kids’ space.
Our joint venture with Animaj is a strategic move to maximize the value of our kids brands for advertisers,” said Yannick Ferrero, SVP of digital and distribution at Hasbro Entertainment. “While ensuring digital interactions remain safe and appropriate for families.”
Lumee will also support original and branded content developed around existing characters. This work will draw on Animaj’s AI-enhanced production pipeline, which the company says can reduce creative development timelines by up to 60% compared with traditional animation workflows.