Azteca America is gearing up for the Sept. 1 launch of La Academia Kids, a spinoff of its La Academia talent-show franchise in which young contestants compete for a prize and the chance to record an album.
According to a network spokesperson, auditions were held in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Mexico and Guatemala, with producers picking 16 contestants between 5 and 14 years old. Final casting took place Aug. 3 in Los Angeles.
While auditions took place in Mexico, the U.S. and Central America, the show will be taped at TV Azteca’s Mexico City studios.
The premiere of La Academia Kids comes on the heels of Telemundo’s record-breaking finale of La Voz Kids, whose three-hour finale gave the NBCUniversal-owned network its best performance in history in the Sunday 8-11 p.m. timeslot.
Citing Nielsen figures, Telemundo said the show’s finale delivered 2,601,000 total viewers and 1,338,000 adults 18-to-49.
