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Revealed: The public’s all-time favourite on-screen characters of film, TV and gaming
gaming
- If search volume equated to Instagram followers, the Joker could charge $102k (£74.5k) for a sponsored post
- Rachel Green has the most Instagram posts hashtagged with her name of all sitcom characters (1 million)
- Pennywise, Chucky and Jigsaw are the most searched-for horror characters
- Games featuring Pikachu rake in highest revenue ($90 billion/£65.9 billion) of all the top gaming characters
There are hundreds of iconic characters from film, TV and gaming who will forever be household names. But which characters are the public’s all-time favourites? New research by Currys looked at online search volumes and social media posts that talked about some of the most famous personalities from various media genres. Below you can find out who topped each list as the most legendary icons of their genre.
The most iconic gaming characters
- If search volume equated to Instagram followers, Sonic could charge $67k (£48.9k) for a sponsored post
- Pikachu has the most Instagram posts hashtagged with his name of all gaming characters (7.4 million)
- Mario has appeared in the most games of all characters (259)
- Total revenue for the Pokemon game series ($90 billion/£65.9 billion) is higher than any other game, with second-placed Mario Bros lagging far behind ($30.3 billion/£22.2 billion)
The world of gaming has transformed over the decades, but is it the high-definition characters of today that are the fan favourites, or the iconic cartoons of decades gone by? The answer appears to be the latter. The ever-so-speedy Sonic the Hedgehog raced to the top of the search volume ranks, followed by Pikachu and Pac-Man. It’s a similar story on Instagram, with Pikachu, Mario and Sonic receiving the most posts.
| Rank | Character | Global Monthly Search volume | No. of Insta posts with name hashtagged |
| 1 | Sonic | 6,700,000 | 3,273,487 |
| 2 | Pikachu | 3,700,000 | 7,430,874 |
| 3 | Pac-man | 3,000,000 | 1,642,920 |
| 4 | Mario | 2,100,000 | 5,559,810 |
| 5 | Big Boss | 712,500 | 2,800,000 |
| 6 | Luigi | 641,200 | 1,300,000 |
| 7 | Lara Croft | 607,700 | 735,000 |
| 8 | Kratos | 571,900 | 654,000 |
| 9 | Yoshi | 556,700 | 1,800,000 |
| 10 | Diablo | 490,900 | 1,100,000 |
The most terrifying horror characters
- If search volume equated to Instagram followers, Pennywise could charge $15k (£10.9k) for a sponsored post
- Pennywise has the most Instagram posts hashtagged with his name of all horror characters (2 million)
- Hannibal Lecter has the highest average IMDb rating (rated 7.2)
Although many of us would probably rather forget some of the most memorable horror characters, the fact that we can’t makes them all the more iconic. Taking first place for search volume and number of Instagram posts is killer clown Pennywise, who has really had a lasting impact on audiences. He’s followed by evil doll Chucky and Saw’s murderous mastermind Jigsaw in terms of search volume, and Dracula and Halloween’s Michael Myers in number of Instagram posts.
| Rank | Character | Global monthly search volume | No. of Insta posts with name hashtagged |
| 1 | Pennywise AKA IT | 1,500,000 | 2,000,000 |
| 2 | Chucky | 1,400,000 | 1,100,000 |
| 3 | Jigsaw | 967,000 | 844,000 |
| 4 | Freddy Krueger | 943,000 | 991,000 |
| 5 | Michael Myers | 798,000 | 1,200,000 |
| 6 | Frankenstein’s Monster | 673,900 | 124,000 |
| 7 | Hannibal Lecter | 635,000 | 332,000 |
| 8 | Dracula | 632,000 | 1,500,000 |
| 9 | Slenderman | 579,500 | 517,000 |
| 10 | Eli | 324,100 | 1,000,000 |
The Best-loved sitcom characters
- If search volume equated to Instagram followers, Mr Bean could charge $11k (£8k) for a sponsored post
- Rachel Green has the most Instagram posts hashtagged with her name of all sitcom characters (1 million)
- Rachel, Monica, Ross and Phoebe from Friends have the joint highest average IMDb rating (rated 8.9)
There have been plenty of memorable sitcoms over the decades, each attracting die-hard fan bases. So, it’s interesting to see that the data reveals a landslide victory for Friends, with the cast beaten only by Mr Bean in search volume. Not only does this suggest that Friends could be the most iconic sitcom of all time, but it also answers the question many Friends fans have been dying to know – who is the most popular ‘Friend’? It turns out the on-screen couple, Ross and Rachel both take the crowns.
| Rank | Character | Global monthly search volume | No. of Insta posts with name hashtagged |
| 1 | Mr Bean | 1,100,000 | 568,000 |
| 2 | Ross Geller | 589,300 | 932,000 |
| 3 | Rachel Green | 509,400 | 1,000,000 |
| 4 | Monica Geller | 491,700 | 969,000 |
| 5 | Joey Tribbiani | 470,000 | 957,000 |
| 6 | Will Smith | 364,000 | 247,000 |
| 7 | Phoebe Buffay | 338,000 | 812,000 |
| 8 | Bart Simpson | 303,000 | 590,000 |
| 9 | Jerry Seinfeld | 273,000 | 125,000 |
| 10 | Homer Simpson | 266,000 | 688,000 |
The most legendary superheroes and villains
- The Joker, Spider-Man and Black Panther are the most searched-for superheroes and villains in the world
- Batman has the most Instagram posts hashtagged with his name of all superheroes and villains (28.2 million)
- Black Panther has the highest average IMDb rating for all films he has featured in (rated 8.1)
Who steals the title as the greatest superhero is a popular topic of debate. As is the Marvel vs. DC Comics rivalry. To settle these disputes once and for all, the data reveals that Batman, and his nemesis the Joker, take the victory as the most-searched-for and posted about characters. But if we’re basing the win on a majority vote, Marvel and DC Comics are neck and neck, with five characters each ranking in the top 10 – leaving the competition very much open between the two market leaders.
| Rank | Character | Global monthly search volume | No. of Insta posts with name hashtagged |
| 1 | Joker | 10,200,000 | 13,700,000 |
| 2 | Spider-Man | 7,200,000 | 20,500,000 |
| 3 | Black Panther | 4,400,000 | 6,000,000 |
| 4 | Wonder Woman | 3,800,000 | 9,300,000 |
| 5 | Iron Man | 3,400,000 | 16,600,000 |
| 6 | Batman | 3,200,000 | 28,200,000 |
| 7 | Harley Quinn | 3,200,000 | 6,600,000 |
| 8 | Thor | 2,800,000 | 10,900,000 |
| 9 | Deadpool | 2,700,000 | 6,100,000 |
| 10 | Aquaman | 2,600,000 | 2,500,000 |
Methodology
The top characters were identified using Google searches for the “top sitcom characters”, etc. From this, a list of approximately 100 characters was curated for each category, which was narrowed down to 15 based on the highest search volumes (found using SEMRush). Instagram hashtag counts are based on the number of posts hashtagged with the characters’ names, e.g. #Sonic, etc. Potential Instagram earnings were calculated by using the search volume for each character as a hypothetical ‘follower count’. With these figures, we calculated an earning per post based on an unspoken industry standard rate of $100 per 10,000 followers. IMDb ratings were calculated by averaging the IMDb rating of all TV shows or films the character has featured in. For gaming, we identified the total number of games the characters have featured in.
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iGaming
Tugi Tark and Narnium Solutions Announce Strategic Partnership to Strengthen Player Support Across Multiple iGaming Brands
Tugi Tark has entered into a strategic partnership with Narnium Solutions, an operator managing multiple online casino brands, to deploy its customer service platform alongside AI-powered support agents across the operator’s portfolio.
Narnium Solutions brings over 15 years of experience spanning casino operations, compliance, payments, marketing, and platform management. As the company continues to expand across both emerging and established markets, delivering scalable and consistent player support has become a key operational priority.
Through this collaboration, Narnium Solutions is integrating Tugi Tark’s platform and AI agents—trained on more than 10 million real iGaming support interactions—to streamline player communication across all brands within a single, unified environment.
A company representative at Narnium Solutions said:
“Partnering with Tugi Tark marks an important step forward for us. We’re excited to introduce an AI-powered chat experience into our ecosystem, strengthening our modern iGaming stack and enhancing player communication across our brands.”
The platform is being used to centralise support operations across the NarniaSlots brand family. Tugi Tark’s AI-driven chat widget is embedded directly into each site, enabling automated handling of player queries while allowing support teams to focus on more complex cases within a shared workspace.
The solution is designed to scale alongside Narnium Solutions’ growing pipeline, which includes upcoming brands such as Lucky Mary and House of Slots, as the company continues to expand its footprint.
Harpo Lilja, CEO of Tugi Tark, said:
“Narnium Solutions operates on a global scale with the kind of multi-brand complexity our platform was built to support. We’re pleased to welcome them on board and to power player support across their entire portfolio.”
The partnership aligns with Narnium Solutions’ broader strategy of building compliant, scalable iGaming operations across international markets. With a centralised support infrastructure and AI-driven capabilities in place, the company is well positioned to deliver consistent, high-quality player experiences as it continues to grow.
The post Tugi Tark and Narnium Solutions Announce Strategic Partnership to Strengthen Player Support Across Multiple iGaming Brands appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Industry News
QTech Games recruits banking and AI leader Jonny Youssef as CTO to drive next phase of its growth journey
QTech Games, the leading game aggregator for emerging markets, has appointed Jonny Youssef as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to lead the next phase of the company’s technology organisation, innovation and technology strategy as QTech accelerates its global expansion. Jonny will lead the continued development of QTech’s platform architecture and engineering organisation, focusing on scalability, AI-driven capabilities and next-generation tools designed to support operators and content partners across fast-growing markets. Jonny brings more than 20 years of technology leadership experience across banking, fintech, SaaS platforms and AI-driven innovation. His background combines enterprise-scale infrastructure expertise with hands-on experience building and scaling digital platforms and emerging technology systems. Previously, Jonny served as Head of Innovation for Swedbank Group Lending & Payments, where he led digital initiatives across lending, payments, APIs and digital channels within one of the Nordic region’s largest banking groups. He has also held senior technology leadership roles at Entercard Group, overseeing technology infrastructure and mission-critical production environments supporting large-scale payment operations across Nordic markets. Alongside his enterprise leadership experience, Jonny has founded and scaled several technology ventures and digital platforms. As a technology founder and CTO, he has led the design and development of international platforms operating across Europe and Asia, building distributed engineering teams and scalable digital infrastructure.
In recent years, Jonny has contributed to the development of next-generation AI and sustainability technology initiatives, including work with Circular Living and Biotonomy, where advanced AI, IoT and Edge AI systems are used to power intelligent environments, autonomous infrastructure and real-time operational insights. Beyond his commercial initiatives, he is also a board member and early contributor to The AI Community of Sweden, a national innovation network connecting professionals, enterprises and academia to collaborate on AI innovation. At QTech Games, Jonny will focus on strengthening the company’s technology foundations as it continues to scale globally, enhancing AI-driven functionality, automation and analytics capabilities that enable partners to unlock greater value from the platform. He will also oversee QTech’s engineering and technology teams to ensure continued innovation while maintaining the speed, reliability and integration flexibility that have become hallmarks of QTech’s aggregation platform.
QTech Games’ CEO, Philip Doftvik, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Jonny to QTech at an important moment in our growth journey.
“He brings a rare combination of enterprise technology leadership, platform-building expertise and forward-looking innovation in AI and automation. His experience across banking infrastructure, global digital platforms and emerging technology ecosystems makes him uniquely positioned to guide us through its next phase of technological evolution.
“As we continue to expand across emerging markets, Jonny’s leadership will help ensure we remain at the forefront of innovation — delivering scalable infrastructure, AI-driven insights and powerful technology solutions that help our partners grow.”
Jonny Youssef added: “QTech Games has built a strong reputation as one of the most innovative and reliable aggregation platforms serving emerging markets.
“What impressed me most is the company’s focus on speed, simplicity and partner success — combined with a clear ambition to continue evolving the platform through technology. I’m excited to join the team at a time when AI, automation and data-driven capabilities are creating new opportunities to deliver even greater value to operators and game providers.
“My focus will be on strengthening the platform architecture, scaling our technology capabilities with AI and supporting the next phase of QTech’s growth.”
The post QTech Games recruits banking and AI leader Jonny Youssef as CTO to drive next phase of its growth journey appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Games Global
Games Global and Stormcraft Studios dive into aquatic adventure with Mermaid’s Millions Cashingo™
Games Global, together with exclusive studio partner Stormcraft Studios, has unveiled Mermaid’s Millions Cashingo
, a vibrant deep-sea slot blending enchanting visuals with engaging mechanics to deliver a layered gameplay experience.
Building on more than 15 years of success enjoyed by the heritage title, Mermaid’s Millions, the upgraded sequel introduces the Cashingo
and ULTRA Link&Win
features to enhance gameplay.
Set in a shimmering underwater kingdom, the 5×5, 40-payline title unfolds among coral caverns and glittering reefs, with win potential in excess of 13,000x.
At the heart of the game is the Cashingo
feature, where Cash and Jackpot Coins populate a dedicated grid during both the base game and Bonus Spins. Some coins appear as glowing pearls, duplicating onto the grid where they stick and accumulate.
Forming horizontal, vertical, or diagonal lines awards instant prizes and jackpots, while pearls landing on occupied positions merge their values to increase potential payouts.
Further intrigue comes through the ULTRA Link&Win
feature, activated by landing six or more coin symbols. The feature begins with three respins on a 5×5 grid, with coin symbols locking in place while the remaining positions continue to respin.
Special Seahorse Coins can unlock additional rows, expanding the reels and increasing reward potential, while boosters such as Collectors, Doublers, Persistent modifiers and Extra Life Coins can appear to increase winnings and extend the feature.
The adventure continues with Bonus Spins, activated by three or more scatter symbols to award 10 spins, where wild and coin symbols can appear Power Stacked to heighten the chance of significant wins.
Combining ocean-themed visuals with proven mechanics, Mermaid’s Millions Cashingo
delivers a dynamic experience designed to keep players engaged.
Terence Igesund, Executive Producer at Stormcraft Studios, said: “Mermaid’s Millions Cashingo
was made to feel vibrant and full of momentum from the very first spin.
“The ocean setting gave us the perfect canvas to build something visually rich, while the mechanics keep the action evolving as the grid fills and the reels expand.”
David Reynolds, Director of Games Strategy and Partner Management at Games Global, said: “Stormcraft Studios has delivered yet another title that blends strong visual identity with mechanics that are both engaging and easy to understand.
“Mermaid’s Millions Cashingo
captures that balance well and is another example of how our studio network continues to deliver diverse, high-quality content that strengthens the breadth of the Games Global portfolio.”
The post Games Global and Stormcraft Studios dive into aquatic adventure with Mermaid’s Millions Cashingo™ appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
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