Bratz: The Series

TV Kids Weekly, June 26, 2007

ORIGIN: The television show is based on the award-winning fashion dolls manufactured by MGA Entertainment. The toy line first appeared on retailers’ shelves in 2001 and has since become a global phenomenon in the kids’ merchandising market, frequently ranking as the number-one fashion-themed doll.

TV SHOW: The show, produced in CGI by Mike Young Productions, currently consists of 26 half-hour episodes of season one. A second season of 26 half-hours is in production. There is also a series of 70-minute specials, including: Genie Magic, Babyz The Movie, Passion 4 Fashion Diamondz, Bratz Fashion Pixiez, Bratz Kidz Sleep-Over Adventure and Bratz Super Babyz. By the end of this year, there will be nine TV-movies/specials available.

Bratz—The Series follows the day-to-day life and adventures of four girls with a “passion 4 fashion!”—Jasmin, Sasha, Cloe and Jade. The girls leave their internship at Your Thing! magazine to start up their own style publication, Bratz. The series follows the four girls as they deal with covering all things hip while juggling boys, school and an on-going rivalry with the Tweevils, twins Kaycee and Kirstee. The show is targeted to girls aged 6 to 12. The second season is slated to begin rolling out this fall.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Isaac Larian

TV SALES: TELETOON (Canada), CiTV (U.K.), RTE (Ireland), TV2 (Denmark), TV3 (Finland), Nickelodeon (Benelux), TV3 (Latvia/Lithuania/Estonia), Mediaset (Italy), Super RTL (Germany), Canal J (France), SIC (Portugal), Antena 3 (Spain), Alter (Greece), Noga (Israel), SABC (South Africa), TCN (Latin America), Megavision (Chile), Televisa (Mexico), Venevision (Venezuela), Network Ten (Australia), ANTV (Indonesia) and TV12 (Singapore), among others.

MAJOR TOY LICENSEE: MGA Entertainment. Beyond the initial line of Bratz dolls, MGA has developed a host of spin-offs, including the Bratz Babyz line, as well as Bratz Kids and Bratz Ponyz.

OTHER PRODUCTS: There are over 500 licensees for the Bratz brand in 65 countries worldwide. Merchandise includes the Lil’ Bratz Couture fashion line from Mamiye Brothers; CD soundtracks with Universal Music; video games from THQ; consumer electronics, such as karaoke machines from The Singing Machine; DVD releases with Lionsgate Family Entertainment; a mobile phone line with Ztar Mobile, available at Wal-Mart; accessories from The Accessory Network; books from Modern Publishing; and bedding by Franco. The brand’s website, at www.bratz.com, averages 7 million visits per month.

STRATEGY FOR ROLL OUT: Building on the global recognition of the line of dolls, season one has been licensed into numerous international markets and has performed particularly well in the U.K., Denmark, Finland, Benelux, Germany and Portugal. “In the case of the Bratz, the dolls and licensed products were successful before the TV series came out,” says Isaac Larian, the founder, chairman and CEO of MGA Entertainment. “The TV series supported the brand further. The Bratz TV series is top rated in many countries around the world and continues to grow in the ratings.”

MGA is shoring up deals on the second season of the show, with 13 episodes to be delivered in the fall, with the remaining batch of 13 due to be available in January. Interest in the brand is expected to receive a boost this August, when the first live-action movie based on the Bratz line hits theaters worldwide. Distributed in the U.S. by Lionsgate, the Bratz movie is being backed by a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign, strategic partnerships with MySpace and Yahoo! Kids and a worldwide licensing campaign that will include calendars, T-shirts, publishing, accessories and other categories. In addition, a sequel is already in the works. Targeting girls aged 7 to 17, the movie is produced by Avi Arad Productions, Crystal Sky Pictures and MGA Entertainment. It stars Logan Browning as Sasha, Janel Parrish as Jade, Nathalia Ramos as Yasmin and Skyler Shaye as Cloe.