The series - called ZooMoo Animal Friends - co-produced by NHNZ's ZooMoo Networks and state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), was launched in China last month.
Since then, it has become the No 1 show in its time slot for the age 4 to 14 demographic.
The show airs on CCTV14 and has been viewed by 72.68 million children aged 4 to 14, with 25 to 34-year-olds the second-largest demographic, with 41.94 million viewers. Over the two-week Chinese New Year period, it was viewed by more than 252 million people.
The series - like ZooMoo's television channel, which has been launched in other parts of the world - explores the animal world by using a cast of funny, furry characters, with the aim of fostering a lifelong love of wildlife conservation.
NHNZ managing director Kyle Murdoch said the programme's popularity in China was a big deal for NHNZ's Dunedin studio, where the majority of content for ZooMoo was produced.
‘‘They have basically given us an order for another 60 half-hour blocks to be produced and delivered over the next 18 months.
‘‘With that sort of demand, it means that we will keep churning out content out of this little studio in Dunedin,'' Mr Murdoch said.
It was especially impressive considering it was competing with children's television giants like Disney and started with ‘‘nothing'' two and a-half years ago in what was once NHNZ's meeting room.
ZooMoo creative director Ian McGee said the success in China provided ‘‘justification'' for everything staff at the Dunedin studio were doing on the educational channel.
‘‘We have poured all our heart and soul and energy into this because we believe it is a niche that is important.''
ZooMoo Networks head of programming Karin Simoncini was thrilled by the response to the Chinese-adapted content.
‘‘We expected the series to do well, but to have such outstanding ratings on its very first outing was terrific.''
Conceived as a stand-alone channel, ZooMoo was repackaged into 60 half-hour episodes, with CCTV's animation studios producing content tailored specifically for local audiences.
ZooMoo Networks international chief executive David Haslingden, who developed the channel in 2012, said it was ‘‘remarkably satisfying to know that our uniquely created content is being seen by so many of China's young''.
CCTV Kids head Zhuang Dianjun said the ratings reflected the perfect matching of wildlife content with this age group and the appeal of the original characters.
