The popular Russian children’s animation show ‘Masha and the Bear’ has reportedly become the most globally demanded among its peers. The Times once claimed it was “Putin’s propaganda” targeting toddlers.
Competing for an audience against beloved shows like ‘Peppa Pig’ and ‘PAW Patrol’, the Russian animation featuring a lively mischievous girl and her protective animal guardian has taken the lead in global popularity ratings. The news came on Thursday from its creators, the studio Animacord, which cited the metrics of the media research agency Parrot Analytics.
The analytical company monitors interest in media products across various platforms, including those distributing pirated content, giving customers updates. Its latest public report on popularity of kids programs came on Monday, putting ‘Masha and the Bear’ in second place globally, behind ‘Spongebob Squarepants’ and slightly ahead of ‘Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir’.
The Russian animation was first released in 2009 and grew into an internationally acclaimed franchise that includes dozens of short episodes of the main show and a plethora of spin-off products. The fifth season premiered last month, while four longer stand-alone specials and a feature-length film are currently in development.
The success enjoyed by the juvenile green-eyed animated troublemaker will probably give the chills to those who see her as a secret soft-power weapon deployed by the Kremlin against its political opponents in the West. The unorthodox point of view was pushed, for example, by the newspaper The Times, which in 2018 accused ‘Masha and the Bear’ of propagandizing Russian values to unsuspecting British toddlers. Lithuanian military and intelligence had the same gloomy attitude toward the show a year earlier.
Back then, Dmitry Loveyko, the head of Animaccord Animation Studio behind the hit series, reacted by saying that since they produce a comedy show, they view such claims with “irony and sense of humour.”
“We are an absolutely independent project, independent from the state and economically successful,” he added.
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