The Cartoon Network has announced the ratings for the debut of the Bakugan anime series on February 24th.  The 9 pm broadcast drew some 788,000 viewers from the 6-11 demographic and topped the Disney channel in the number of boys.  Viewership declined to 597,000 for the 9:30 pm episode.  Bakugan benefited from the lead-in provided by the premier of Pokemon Movie #10: Rise of Darkrai, which drew 1.435 million viewers, and easily topped the offerings on Nickelodeon and Disney.

The first wave of Bakugan Battle Brawlers toys from Spin Master is available at retail.  The toys have done well in Canada and it should be interesting to see how they do here in the States.  The Bakugan property, which contains many facets including a card game and toys (see 'Bakugan, an International Multi-Media Property'), is clearly one to watch, but it is too early to tell whether it will ever approach the 'craze' phase that some have predicted for it.