The 2x2 federal TV channel (part of Gazprom-Media Holding) has updated its programming and changed its corporate identity and logo for the first time in 14 years.
New concept, on-air personalities and programming
As of August 16, 2x2 will transform into an entire galaxy of channels. Its broadcasts will feature special-interest blocks, curated by bloggers who are experts in different fields, from sciences to art. Viewers will be able to choose which of the bloggers to follow and whose recommendations to listen to based on their own interests. Thus, by turning on 2x2, each viewer will actually be able to watch his own, personalised channel.
The channel’s new top on-air personalities will be Chuck Review, the voice of Russia’s Ancord anime community and a video blogger who is famous for his film reviews, the TikToker Ekaterina Nedorezova (Mirasol) and the video blogger Yan Topless. Each of them will curate TV blocks according to their expert subjects.
Ekaterina Nedorezova’s special-interest block about Japan, Aruto TV, will launch on August 16. It will air from Monday to Thursday in the evenings. Thursday’s programming will also feature the popular science block Topless TV with host Yan Topless.
The weekends will be filled with themed content about anime and film. This includes the Ancord TV news show about anime series and a channel about film and adult animation with Chuck Review, Chuck TV. The blocks will be put together based on their curator’s playlist. The channel will feature additional on-air personalities and topics in the future.
The updated programming grid will also feature new projects of the channel’s own production and premieres of global adult animation hits.
New logo and design
The channel’s logo is still black and white, but the font for the numbers changed from a minimalistic one to Ancient Roman. The programmer Ivan from Saratov came up with the logo. This is the first time in the history of Russian television that a federal channel and its viewer drew a logo together.
ONY agency and the insights-consulting firm Signal (part of ONY) developed 2x2’s new branding together with the channel’s team. The new concept is based on the idea of navigating through modern culture through online scrolling and FriendFeed. The design draws on a lot of visual elements from the digital world, such as pop-up windows and the styling of the logo to fit the website’s header.
Channel-produced animated films
2x2 TV channel is launching the production of high-budget adult animation films together with the PREMIER video platform. Its first premiere will be the visually spectacular blockbuster Vselennaya Hakinga (Hacking Universe) about the adventures of three Russian hackers in the geek universe. The film’s release is scheduled for the fall of 2021.
In 2022, the channel plans to premiere the animated series Take My Muffin about an acidic Silicon Valley. The series tells the story of a unicorn who suffers from memory loss but has the superpower to come up with brilliant ideas for startups.
