2019-2020 were announced as years of cooperation between Russia and China in the DIGITAL and MEDIA industry.
On the 1st of January, the Russian animated series “Moonzy and his friends” produced by Melnitsa animation studio and TV Channel Russia One were launched on the CCTV Children’s Channel, owned by CCTV, the main public television network in Mainland China. The deal was operated with support of SPB TV.
According to the data collected from Kyun EYE(pro.eye.kuyun.com), a widely used monitoring system in TV and OTT area, Moonzy was holding the number 1 ranking in morning kids programs within the first two weeks of broadcasting. CCTV will broadcast 513 episodes of the series. Now as the winter holidays have commenced in China, the channel decided to broadcast 9 episodes daily.
Sergei Selyanov, producer: «This is a great achievement. Our animation series are aired on Chinese public television with high ratings. Our animation is sold to many countries now, however, I will point out that Russian studios make only the first move here and we must take hold of the international markets next. It is an absolutely favourable moment as the quality of Russian movies and animation has been growing rapidly and foreign TV channels and digital platforms are getting much more commercially interested in Russian projects than previously. China is one of the most strategic partners for us and we are looking forward to successful development of that cooperation»
Anton Zlatopolsky, producer: «We are very happy to continue the traditions of Russian animation. Created by talented professionals on the highest level of quality, our animation has become our love and honour at home so we would love to share our positive and kind cartoons with the whole world. China is not only our most important partner, but a state with a unique rich history of visual culture. And we are especially pleased that in China, the country with subtle art cultural traditions, kids will watch and love Moonzy as much as children in Russia».
Kirill Filippov, CEO of SPB TV: «SPB TV has been working with Chinese media with great success starting from 2013 . We are constantly participating in Russian-Chinese business missions and joined structures growing our portfolio of contacts and strengthening our relationships with Chinese partners. We are very happy that our expertise and contacts help the unique Russian animation series enter the Chinese market and we strongly believe in further successful development of the project in China.»
Alexey Volin,Deputy Minister of Communication of Russian Federation: «Moonzy launch is the first step in Russian-Chinese media communication development. More than 10 Russian series have been launched in China recently, and it is an absolute breakthrough in movies. We release from 5 to 7 Russian films annually. Now it is the turn of animation. The Ministry of Communication considers Russian animation as a very prospective product for export.»
Melnitsa is the biggest Russian independent animation studio. It was created by Sergei Selyanov, producer and CEO of CTB Film Company and Alexander Boyarsky in St. Petersburg in 1999. Melnitsa’s Art-Director Konstantin Bronzit, has been twice nominated for an Oscar Award in animation. Within 20-years the studio created 16 feature films and 731 animated series and received more than 60 international awards. The animation adventures of “Prince Ivan and Grey Wolf” and “Three Heroes” by Melnitsa have become the leaders of theatre box-office in Russia and CIS.
Melnitsa has been producing the highly popular animated series “Moonzy and his friends since 2006, launching a new season almost each year. In 2020 the studio will release the next season with a new character Moona in 3D format with participation of a US scriptwriter.
Russia 1 is a state-owned Russian television channel with an audience covering 98% of the Russian population. It is a part of the biggest media holding VGTRK in Russia. The public broadcaster has the leading positions in production of modern Russian TV content and has the primal share of audience among free-to-air national channels. Russia 1 participated proactively in television and film production and is the biggest player in Russian movie business.
CCTV Children’s Channel CCTV-14 is a Chinese free-to-air television channel that was launched on 28 December 2003 and is owned by the China Central Television, the dominant public television network in Mainland China. CCTV has a network of 50 channels broadcasting different programmes and is accessible to more than one billion viewers. As of present, there are 50 television channels, and the broadcaster provides programming in six different languages. CCTV Children’s Channel airs animated series as well as kids game shows and other young-oriented programmes.
SPB TV is a leading developer of high-performance technological solutions for broadcasting TV and video content on various screens: mobile phones, tablets, computers and TVs. SPB TV solutions in the OTT/IPTV sphere have been integrated by major Russian and some foreign mobile operators and have gained recognition from mobile device manufacturers around the world. The company's top-class technological solutions were praised at multiple prestigious international awards, including CSI Awards, TV Technology Europe STAR Awards, Russian Mobile VAS Awards, Mobile Entertainment Awards, Google Developer Challenge, the "Big Digit" award and others.