‘The tragedy!’: Cookie Monster endorses ad tech, sort of

On a recent tour of the new “Sesame Street” set, Digiday ran into Cookie Monster, a central character of the show for its entire run. As the program prepares to enter its 46th season, the set has been upgraded, along with a few other updates that will be announced later in the year.

“Over the years, lots of changes,” said Cookie Monster, apparently pleased with the new look of his old home.

Not that the formula is broken: A recent study of the public television juggernaut has shown that “Sesame Street” leads to improved early educational outcomes for children across demographics.

But that’s not what’s on Cookie Monster’s mind at the moment. The social media phenomenon — upwards of 37,000 followers on Twitter and nearly 9.5 million Facebook fans — has a message for his fans: “Maybe they can each send me a cookie,” he suggested.

A brief interview threatened to turn contentious, however, when the topic of deleting cookies came up. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the furry blue monster came out strongly against the practice. “That tragic!” he said, in disbelief. “The tragedy! You no delete cookies! No, you send cookies to me.”

More in Media

YouTube’s AI remix push exposes a looming reckoning for the creator economy 

YouTube’s Gemini Omni integration has highlighted some of the major problems generative AI poses in the creator economy.

Why creator Lola Torres prefers the stability of affiliate marketing over brand partnerships

Creator Lola Torres on the hustle of building her career in affiliate marketing, the challenge of creator programs, and more.

Media Briefing: Perplexity’s new ‘trust and transparency’ pitch does little to win over publishers

Perplexity wants to be a trusted partner to publishers, but a growing list of copyright lawsuits are making that a difficult sell.