NICKELODEON'S "HOUSE OF ANUBIS" SERIES PREMIERE SCORES TOP SPOT WITH KIDS AND TWEENS

NEW YORK-Jan. 4, 2011-Nickelodeon rang in the New Year with a ratings win with the series premiere of House of Anubis (Saturday, Jan. 1, 8 p.m. ET/PT). The hour-long premiere scored the top telecast on broadcast and basic cable with all kid and tween demos in its time period.

The hour-long series premiere bested its closest competitor by double-digits with T9-14 (+21%) and averaged 2.4 million total viewers, a 4.0/846,000 T9-14, 4.4/952,000 K6-11 and 3.5/1.2 million K2-1.

House of Anubis, already an established Nickelodeon hit in Europe, is the first-ever Nickelodeon U.S. live-action show produced in the U.K. Combining mystery, comedy and drama, House of Anubis follows eight students who stumble upon and try to solve a hidden mystery at an English boarding school, while dealing with the highs and lows of their teenage years.

In the series premiere, Nina Martin (Nathalia Ramos) arrives from the U.S. and is excited to be starting at a brand-new school in England. She is assigned to live at Anubis House, an old spooky boarding house named after an Egyptian god, and rumored to be haunted. Nina soon discovers that one of the students, Joy (Klariza Clayton), has mysteriously disappeared from the school. Joy's best friend Patricia (Jade Ramsey) is really worried, especially when a creepy message appears on the bathroom mirror, saying "Help me! Joy." Patricia is suspicious that Nina arrived the same day Joy vanished and starts to blame the "American newbie" for her friend's disappearance.

Following its series premiere, new episodes of House of Anubis will air Monday, Jan. 10 - Friday, Jan. 14 at 7:00 p.m. (ET/PT).