Like Nastya Is Making the Jump From YouTube to Disney With New Content Deal

The way children discover their favorite characters and personalities has changed dramatically over the past decade. Television might still have plenty of power, but an entire generation has grown up discovering new favorites through YouTube, short-form videos and creators who can reach audiences around the world with the push of a button.

Now, one of the biggest names to emerge from that world is heading to Disney.

YouTube star Like Nastya has entered into a content development deal with Disney that will see the two sides work together on an original animated preschool series for Disney Jr. and Disney+, alongside potential live-action content aimed at kids, tweens, teens and families. Disney will also bring a curated collection of existing Like Nastya library content to its platforms.

For anyone familiar with the massive reach of Like Nastya, the partnership is perhaps not all that surprising. Originally founded in 2016, the brand has grown to encompass more than 25 YouTube channels with a combined audience of over 450 million subscribers. Its content is also available in 22 languages, turning what began in the world of online video into a genuinely global children’s entertainment brand.

Yet the Disney deal represents an interesting next step.

Rather than simply bringing existing videos to another platform, the partnership opens the door for Like Nastya to move into more traditional forms of children’s entertainment. An original animated preschool series would take the brand into a very different storytelling space, while the planned development of live-action projects across several age groups potentially allows Nastya and her audience to grow together.

It also arrives as Disney continues looking toward the creators and entertainment brands children are already finding online. Like Nastya joins a growing collection of digital-first talent working with the company, following recently announced partnerships involving Dhar Mann Studios, Gracie’s Corner and Lenny Pearce. Disney has also been expanding its relationship with short-form content through a separate TikTok agreement and its upcoming vertical-video offering, Verts.

There is something fascinating about watching the lines between “online creator” and more traditional children’s entertainment continue to disappear. For today’s kids, there may not be much of a distinction in the first place. A favorite can come from Disney Jr., YouTube, a streaming series or a video watched on a parent’s phone, and increasingly those worlds are beginning to overlap.

Like Nastya is particularly well positioned for that transition. With hundreds of millions of subscribers spread across numerous languages, she already has the kind of international recognition that children’s entertainment companies spend years trying to build.

Now Disney gets to see what happens when that enormous digital audience is given an animated world of its own.

No premiere date or additional details surrounding the planned Like Nastya animated series have been announced, but the agreement includes development for Disney Jr. and Disney+ as well as live-action projects for kids, tweens, teens and families.

For Like Nastya, YouTube may have been where the story began.

It certainly doesn’t look like it is where the story ends.