Licensing and broadcast deals for the popular animated series undergo expanded rollouts.
Toronto, Canada -- Kratt Brothers Company and 9 Story Media Group have announced a flurry of activity for their hit animated adventure series, Wild Kratts. The series continues to grow in popularity and now holds the number one spot for kids 4-8 and kids 6-11, across all networks. The strong performance of the brand extends to toys and books, categories which have both seen highly promising results to date.
Master toy licensee Wicked Cool Toys launched a broad toy offering at Toys “R” Us (U.S.), TRU.com and shop.pbskids.org earlier this fall; this included creature power suits, talking plush, and vehicle sets. Due to the line’s strong initial performance, new items have been developed, including a Tortuga playset, deluxe power suit with sound as well as hero and villain packs. The new skus were on display at the Dallas Fall Mass Market Preview this past October, and are expected to be available at retail in Fall 2015. Random House Kids also released the first Wild Kratts book in the U.S. and Canada, as part of the publisher’s Step Into Reading Program. Sales of the first book exceeded expectations and as a result it has already received a second printing.
The expansion comes shortly after PBS KIDS greenlit a fourth season and 9 Story announced new sales of the series to France Télévisions (France), E Junior (UAE) and Canal Panda (Portugal). Wild Kratts has previously been licensed to Discovery Kids (Latin America and Asia), Super RTL (Germany), Al Jazeera Children’s Channel (Middle East), Noga (Israel), TV3 (Spain), SIC (Portugal), Dublin Films (Ireland), VRT (Belgium), Chello Media (Eastern Europe), MediaCorp PTD Ltd. (Singapore), TV3 Catalunya (Spain), Minika (Turkey) and Primetime (Colombia).
Wild Kratts premiered on PBS KIDS in the U.S. in 2011 and on TVO, Knowledge Network and Télé-Quebec in Canada. A co-production between The Kratt Brothers Company and 9 Story Entertainment, Wild Kratts is distributed in the U.S. and Canada by Kratt Brothers Company and internationally by 9 Story Media Group. The series was created and developed by real life brothers and zoologists, Martin and Chris Kratt who star in the show as animated versions of themselves. The fourth season will include 26 episodes, which will begin rolling out in the U.S. on PBS KIDS in late 2015. Wild Kratts airs weekdays on PBS stations nationwide in the U.S. (check local listings).
The Kratt brothers leap into animated action in Wild Kratts, an adventure comedy from the creators of the hit shows Kratt's Creatures and Zoboomafoo. In each episode, Chris and Martin Kratt travel to a different corner of the world to meet amazing new animals. Join the Wild Kratts for a laugh-out-loud comedy adventure, as Martin and Chris activate their Creature Power Suits to rescue their animal friends!
Source: 9 Story Media Group
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
