Following the success of Sherlock and Planet Earth II in China, CBeebies programming is the latest British cultural export to be taking the country by storm.Increasing numbers of Chinese children are tuning into CBeebies favourites including Hey Duggee and Go Jetters as British kid’s programmes prove popular throughout the nation.

Figures released by BBC Worldwide show that BAFTA and International Emmy Award-winning Hey Duggee has racked up more than 200 million views on China’s online video platforms including Tencent and iQIYI since its launch on the sites in April and May respectively.

On iQIYI alone, CBeebies content has been viewed over 166 million times since the provider became the first digital platform in China to offer a ‘block’ of 37 CBeebies titles branded under 思贝斯 (sī bèi sī) in May. This comes after iQIYI licensed 300 hours of children’s content from BBC Worldwide earlier this year including Dinopaws and Andy’s Dinosaur Adventures.

These successes follow the recent involvement of Go Jetters in the Children’s Day Gala 2017 organised by state broadcaster China Central Television’s children’s channel (CCTV 14). Characters from the globally popular animation series took part in the annual parade which was broadcast to an audience of 110 million and saw over 200 million streams on mobile streaming platforms – triple the viewership record of the previous year.

Tim Davie, Chief Executive, BBC Worldwide, said, ‘Twenty years ago we had great success taking Teletubbies to international audiences. Now Hey Duggee and Go Jetters are the new British kids shows enthralling children all around the world.’

Kelvin Yau, General Manager for China, said, ‘Chinese children love CBeebies for the stories and characters. Their parents love it because they know the content is always suitable and helps their children to learn while having fun.’