Four figures to measure the wave of “Pat’Patrouille”, back in France with the new film “La Super Patrouille”

“Paw Patrol, Paw Patrol, as soon as there’s a problem, quickly, they’ll go off again!” If you have a child between the ages of 2 and 7 around you, there is a good chance that this generic has been stuck in your skull for many weeks, if not longer.

While The Super Patrolthe second animated feature film featuring Ryder and the puppies Chase, Ruben, Rocky, Zuma, Marcus and Stella, hits theaters Wednesday, October 11, a look back in figures at the dizzying success of the franchise.

Twelve billion in revenue, more than Spielberg

This sum (which represents a whopping 11.31 billion euros) was mentioned by the creator of the characters in the series, Keith Chapman, during an interview given in February 2022 to Financial Times. Enough to give you an idea of ​​the importance of the cultural phenomenon represented by the business of the Aventureville gang. “It’s more than all the films in Steven Spielberg’s career. Paw Patrolit’s a unique phenomenon”rejoiced the British screenwriter, now based in Monaco, in the columns of the economic daily.

The Canadian Ministry of Culture even emphasized in the Globe and Mail that the series, produced by a Canadian studio, had alone generated a third of the country’s cultural export turnover in 2019.

Ten years, exceptional longevity

Paw Patrol, created in 2013, has reached the age of its leader, the little boy Ryder. And for an animated series aimed primarily at 2-5 year olds (the sector of “preschool kids” as they say in the world of animation), this is an exceptional longevity, because the average operating life in this sector does not exceed one generation.

One of the secrets of this success was to market the toys derived from the franchise less than six months after the launch of the cartoon, compared to 18 months in the classic process, boasts the Paramount site, which owns the distribution rights of the saga, via its subsidiary Nickelodeon. “From the first weeks of the series, I saw people on Pinterest making their own birthday decorations Paw Patrol”, described to Kidscreen Cat Demas, from toy giant Spin Master. “They even sculpted the puppies themselves. We saw that there was a high demand.”

In fact, the success of the series can be explained, according to Keith Chapman, by the way in which its designers created a brand rather than a simple cartoon: “It’s easy to denigrate the business side. But I learned a long time ago that if you don’t have that side, you don’t generate business.” And we can trust the man who also invented Bob the Builder. Better still, the series manages to interest boys and girls up to 7-8 years old and to increase its audience each year, according to audience analyses. According to a study conducted by Licensing International, Chase, Ruben and others dominate Mickey, Snow Queen and Peppa Pig in children under six years old. Including in France.

A first film watched an average of six times by Paramount + subscribers

Pamela Kaufman, director of international affairs at Paramount, points out on the specialist site Kidscreen that the first feature film from Ryder’s gang is ” by far the most re-watched on Paramount+ [la plateforme de vidéo à la demande du groupe] with an average of six times per household.” According to the company Parrot Analytics, the cartoon generates 40 times more demand than an average children’s series on streaming platforms. In 2022, France was ranked fourth among the countries most addicted to Paw Patrol, behind the United States, Russia and Canada, and narrowly ahead of Ukraine or Mexico. The series has been broadcast in 170 countries and translated into 35 languages.

A female character who has become number 1 in the hearts of children

While Keith Chapman’s first sketches did not include a female character, in accordance with the canons of gender separation of children’s entertainment still in force in 2013, Stella gradually established itself as the most popular in a series initially intended for boys. In terms of popularity, this female cocker spaniel “is second or third among boys, and n°1 among girls. She transcends divisions”summarizes Jen Dodge, from the HIT studio at Hollywood Reporter. Which explains the spectacular success of the Paw Patrol : when products derived from Bob the Builder were 90% purchased by little boys, gadgets bearing the image of puppies were almost 50-50 between boys and girls.

The characters of Everest – still confined to episodes taking place in the mountains – and Liberty, a female dachshund living in Aventureville introduced during the first film of 2021, reflect this desire to further feminize the gang and to give more charismatic figures to whom the little girls can relate.