Brazilian cartoon chook's rise to stardom

A still from the children's cartoon Galinha Pintadinha on YouTube.

Brazil's biggest YouTube star is a blue hen named Galinha Pintadinha (Lottie Dottie) out to take over the world.

The cartoon is to Brazilian toddlers what Justin Bieber is to tween girls. Her YouTube channel has been viewed more than 1.8 billion times.

The chicken's rise to stardom - co-creators Juliano Prado and Marcos Luporini first posted the cartoon on YouTube and it took off by word of mouth, generating more than $917 million in revenue last year - shows the power of online media, said Devra Prywes, at online advertising technology company Unruly. "If you have quality content, kids don't care if you're working out of your garage ... or if you're Disney. Social video and online video - it's the great equaliser."

A still from the children's cartoon Galinha Pintadinha on YouTube.

In Brazil, Galinha Pintadinha hocks tablets, shoes and toothpaste. Big fuzzy versions of her and her frog and cockroach friends serenade children at birthday parties.

Ex-bandmates from high school, Prado, 44, made online greeting cards and Luporini, 45, worked at a music studio. They scored a meeting with a local producer to present the idea in 2006 but couldn't make it on time. So they slapped the video on YouTube and had a friend pitch it instead. The meeting went nowhere, but the video garnered more than half a million hits online within months. Parents wanted more. DVDs and videos ensued.