"
Elmo's World" is a fifteen-minute-long segment that was shown at the end of the children's television program
Sesame Street. It premiered in late 1998 as part of the show's structural changes, designed to appeal to younger viewers and to increase ratings, which had fallen in the past decade. The segment was developed out of a series of workshops that studied the changes in the viewing habits of their audience, and the reasons for the show's lower ratings. "Elmo's World" used traditional elements of production, but had a more sustained narrative. It was presented from the perspective of a three-year-old child as represented by its host, the Muppet
Elmo, who was performed by
Kevin Clash. In 2002,
Sesame Street's producers changed the rest of the show to reflect its younger demographic and the increase in their viewers' sophistication.