Animated TV series Tina & Tony was premiered at the largest Chinese video hosting service YouKu on 23 November.
Each Friday, 13 new episodes will be added to the channel for viewing with the total of 52 episodes. Tina & Tony is a co-production of Riki Group and Central Television, JSC, produced at Petersburg Animation Studio.
Established in 2003, Riki Group is a leading animation company in Russia specialising in animation production, licensing, distribution, and promotion of animation brands for a family audience.
Riki Group International business development and distribution VP Diana Yurinova said, “Several animated brands produced by our company have reached a significant recognition rate in China, that is one of the reasons why both parties, Russian and Chinese, are interested in bringing new Riki IP’s to the local market.
Tina & Tony starts at the very right time, just several months before the Chinese New Year, which is a high season. First 13 episodes have been viewed 12 million times during the first day, so this is a record number for a Russian animated TV series in China. We are aiming at 300 million views within the next six months at YouKu.”
Tina and Tony are a baby elephant and a baby hippo who are best friends and together, they invent games using their fantasies. The characters are so real, that little viewers easily identify themselves with them.
Facing the situations and emotions which all the children experience, finding the correct behaviour model, the characters openly share their discoveries with the audience, thus helping to explore the world around them and to differentiate between good and bad.