London, UK -- TV viewing statistics reveal that City of Friends has reached more than 2.9 million viewers in the UK and has increased its share of viewing amongst children by 44% and by 65% amongst children aged 4-9 since its launch one year ago on Channel 5 milkshake! in October 2011.
City of Friends has charmed UK children and parents alike with heart-warming adventures of three emergency services recruits Max, Ted and Elphie. The show has averaged an 11.8% share amongst Children 4 - 9 across its first year, and is ranked the second most popular children's series on Channel 5’s video on demand platforms including Demand 5.
City of Friends is the latest in the recent succession of Nordic TV imports that have proved phenomenally popular among UK audiences such as Borgen, The Killing and The Bridge. CreaCon Group, the owner and producer of City of Friends is Norway’s largest independent producer of children’s entertainment.
Carl Christian Hamre, CEO CreaCon Group commented, “We are thrilled that City of Friends is celebrating its first birthday in the UK with such strong growth in such a key market. We are looking forward to building on this with the launch of our UK licensing programme in 2013 to support the show’s phenomenal popularity.”
Jessica Symons, Head of Children's at Channel 5 comments: “We're delighted that City of Friends has been such a big success with the milkshake! audience on Channel 5 and the Channel 5 video on demand platforms.”
City of Friends has been sold into more than 180 countries worldwide including a recent deal with Carousel TV, the leading digital channel for families in Russia where City of Friends will premiere later this year. Broadcasters include Boomerang and Cartoon Network (Nordics), France TV (France), Aljazeera (Middle East & North Africa), M-Net (Africa), HOP! (Israel) and Yoopa (Canada). CreaCon Group launched its first City of Friends app in April, which has achieved more than 25,000 downloads and was the No. 1 pre-school app in Norway for 20 weeks. The company recently launched City of Friends Live Arena Show – which premiered in Norway in September 2012 to an audience of 15,000 people over six shows.
City of Friends is uniquely based on the adventures of real-life Norway state police officer - Carl Christian Hamre. Hamre created bedtime stories for his young son based on his day job as a police officer and within 4 years, established CreaCon Group, one of Norway’s largest independent children’s entertainment production companies with businesses spanning television production, licensing, live events, music and digital operations.
The CreaCon team will be celebrating City of Friends first birthday at Brand Licensing Europe 2012. The CreaCon team will be at stand F100.
Source: CreaCon Group