U.S. privacy, tax laws hit Malaysia-made Islamic children’s cartoon YouTube revenues
Islamic children’s cartoon Omar & Hana has been viewed over 3 billion times in 50 countries across its YouTube channels but this past year has been a struggle for Digital Durian, the Malaysian production company behind the show. Monetisation has been impacted by a new tax policy and U.S. legal cases on data collection from children’s content on streaming platforms, while the COVID-19 pandemic has hit merchandising.
Launched in 2017, the show about four and six-year-old siblings Omar and Hana quickly became popular in Malaysia, with its YouTube channel now nearing 5 million subscribers.
When an English language channel was launched, Omar & Hana attracted an international audience, with 830,000 now subscribing and daily views reaching 100,000. There were some 2 million views per day during Ramadan this year.
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