Demand for Cheburashek in Russia increased by almost 20 times at the beginning of the year

In January of this year, Russians became more interested in buying toys in the form of Cheburashka on the Internet against the backdrop of the release of the film of the same name – the demand for them increased almost 20 times compared to the same period in 2022, while Spider-Man and Huggy Waggi, on the contrary, lost their former popularity, according to the price aggregator Price.ru, available to RIA Novosti. 

“In January 2023, the demand for children’s toys based on computer game characters increased. Characters … from Roblox, the recently launched Rainbow Friends toys, became especially popular. This is a horror game whose main characters are monsters of different colors with different abilities. The experience of this game is based on the video game Poppy Playtime, from which Huggy Waggi is from last year’s hit, which lost 73% in demand this year,” the study says.

It is noted that in general, toys based on the video game from Roblox began to interest Russians 96% more often compared to last year. Interest also increased in the plush characters of another computer game, Among Us (+64%), which look like humanoid creatures in space suits. “At the same time, the interest of Russians fell in Spider-Man (-48%), giving way to Cheburashkas (+1877%) and bunnies (+29%),” the company’s materials add. According to analysts, such an increase in the popularity of the latter is due to the fact that the symbol of 2023 is the rabbit.

In addition, the demand for toys based on the Russian animated series “Monsiki” has more than quadrupled. At the same time, interest in other domestic heroes, on the contrary, fell: in “Fixies” – by 32%, Winnie the Pooh – by 23%, “Three Cats” – by 43%, in Umka – by 41% and in “Kids” – by 35%.

New heroes from China were also able to gain popularity – wild screamers (+80%) – transforming cars based on the cartoon of the same name. Another new bestseller was a long soft hugging toy Cat-Baton (+183%). “Most likely, Cat Baton replaced the large soft shark from Ikea, which left Russia. The popularity of the toy has grown against the background of its frequent use in short videos on social networks,” Denis Loganov, head of the analytics and marketing department of the price aggregator, is quoted in the message. .

The film “Cheburashka” was released on January 1 with a production budget of 850 million rubles. According to the plot, Cheburashka is not a plush toy, but a real furry animal that came from an orange grove of a distant country. The picture became the highest-grossing film in the history of Russian distribution, fees exceeded 5 billion rubles.

At the end of January, Roskachestvo announced that it intends to test soft toys in the form of Cheburashka against the backdrop of the increased popularity of this character after the release of the film. The organization has previously tested Huggy Waggi toys and found them to be high in phenol.