The globally-popular animated property is enjoying a fantastic season in the UK.
Masha and the Bear, Animaccord’s internationally beloved kids’ cartoon, has reached another milestone by hitting 100b views worldwide on YouTube.
The property has also achieved over 1m years of watch time and accounts for 1,000 YouTube views per second. The show is rapidly expanding its audience; in the last year, the Masha and the Bear English YouTube channel has more than doubled its subscribers, now encompassing over 28m loyal viewers.
Masha leads other global rankings as well. From January to August 2021, the series has held onto its spot as the No. 1 show for pre-schoolers and No. 2 for children worldwide, behind only SpongeBob SquarePants, according to a Parrot Analytics report. Moreover, Kidz Global, an international research agency specialising in global trends, yet again ranked Masha and the Bear top within its favourite kids’ entertainment brands in its latest research from May 2021, where the show placed No. 3 among 0-6 year old kids in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
In the UK, the brand stands firm in the market, supported by media, retail and licensing partners, and bespoke marketing activities.
With the support of a local marketing agency, Animaccord is this year organising a series of varied B2C activities. These will include special projects such as a cooperation with Away Resorts and complex competitions arranged through online media, supported by Animaccord’s key partners in the region such as Simba, Tonies, William Lamb and more, as well as influencers and retail campaigns.
The animated series enjoys broad media representation in the UK. Masha and the Bear is available on Netflix and YouTube and is also regularly broadcast on Tiny Pop and Cartoonito. The show ranks No. 3 amongst the most watched pre-school shows across the TV landscape in the region (June 2021). Additional new content keeps the brand fresh: the classical Season 5, produced in 4K (UHD) resolution, is coming to Tiny Pop soon and will become a free TV premiere within the UK.
On the Consumer Products side, Animaccord managed to maintain its 2020 income at close to the pre-pandemic rate. The company saw 50% growth in H1 2021 in comparison with H1 2020, and expects these figures to increase further before year-end.
Masha and the Bear is launching its UK brand store this year. Created and operated by Star Editions, the store will offer consumers an exclusive range of print-on-demand merchandise, as well as products from existing licensees.
After last year’s successful debut of the Masha and the Bear Digital Advent Calendar, which saw thousands of participants from the UK get involved, Animaccord is to initiate a ‘Countdown to Christmas’ in 2021, attracting even more licensee partners and providing further integration with retail.
In addition to its current goals, Animaccord is also acting on ambitious future plans for the Masha and the Bear property. The company has recently unveiled its timeline of new content which will run through to 2025, which, in addition to the production of the core show’s new seasons, includes longer-form content. Of particular note are the four stand-alone themed specials, produced in 4K with a 22-minute run time for the first time in studio’s history.
For UK licensing enquiries, please contact Francesca Lisle – Francesca@lislelicensing.com.
