Medabots: winning US slot, FKE sale

Following hot on the heels of its Fox Kids Europe pick up, Nelvana's Medabots has posted impressive stats for its first two months on North American air.

Since winning its slot among boys 6-11 on its debut on September 1 on Fox Kids, the show's figures have grown week on week from 3.7 rating/17 share to 5.1/17, then 6.4/24. On October 13, the show was #1 all morning across broadcast and cable among boys 6-11, and #1 in its 11:00 slot across broadcast among kids 2-11.

On YTV in Canada, the show pulls some 300k viewers in its Saturday 08:30 slot, with a similar figure for its Sunday 15:00 airing. The show is averaging a 23 share among kids 2-11, and 31 among kids 6-11.

Shows against which the Japanese anime Medabots is winning slots include Kids' WB's Jackie Chan Adventures, Pokemon, Dragonball Z and Rocket Power.

Some 52 half-hour episodes of Medabots, produced by Corus-owned Nelvana in association with NAS/Kodansha and TV Tokyo, was recently picked up by Fox Kids Europe. The show will air across Fox Kids' stations in Europe and Lat-Am from November. FKE also took merchandise rights, excluding home video, master toy and interactive.

FKE also walked away with Nelvana's pre-school Pecola, a show about a precocious penguin.