Nick is tops with kids, but Disney's closing in
Together, networks dominate the cable ratings

December 18, 2006

BY MIKE DUFFY
FREE PRESS TV CRITIC

It's no secret that "SpongeBob SquarePants" soaks up young viewers.

Nickelodeon's cheerfully wacko animated ocean dweller is the reigning king of kidvid, the most popular personality in children's television, and a prime reason the network keeps leading the cable TV youth pack.

In fact, Nick recently clicked off its 11th straight year as the No. 1 network for kids, where it rolls along with the Top 10 shows for children age 2-11.

But wait, what's that sound? It's the buzz being generated by Nick's main rival, the Disney Channel. The rising "tween machine" of cable -- deftly striking a chord with viewers age 9-14 who are caught between childhood and adolescence -- has been on a sensational 2006 hot streak with such breakout successes as "High School Musical," "Hannah Montana" and "Cheetah Girls 2."

"The momentum just kind of exploded and kept on going as the year went along ... We're over the moon," says Scott Garner, Disney Channel's senior vice president for programming.

Not so fast, says Tom Ascheim, Nickelodeon's executive vice president and general manager.

"It's always nice to be the star of every story. And Disney has had a great run this year," notes Ascheim. "But we're confident of staying No. 1." Or as Aschiem puts it, Nickelodeon has been No. 1 for 11 years "and counting."

Disney's ratings have soared 17% this year, while Nickelodeon's remained flat. But the viewership bottom line still significantly favors SpongeBob Nation.

In the two networks' core audience of viewers 2-11, Nickelodeon averages 1.2 million viewers, a 39% edge on Disney's average of 870,000 viewers. The Cartoon Network, averaging 680,000 viewers in that age group, remains a distant third.

But the buzz currently belongs to the Disney Channel, a rejuvenated Mouse that's roaring.

Either way, the two channels are happy to be magnets for young viewers. And a check of any week's Top 40 cable programs, as measured by Nielsen Media Research, offers vivid proof of Nickelodeon and Disney's allure.

During one week in late November and early December, 27 of the 40 cablecasts were either Nickelodeon or Disney programs. The week before, it was 31 of 40, with such familiar names as "SpongeBob," "Hannah Montana," "Drake & Josh" and "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody" regularly appearing multiple times.

What's the magic formula?

Nickelodeon is a place where young viewers "feel comfortable," says Ascheim. And? "Humor. All our shows have a sense of humor."

For Disney Channel, it's about daydream believing.

"Every program we do is very aspirational," says Garner. "Kids can see themselves in many of the characters. And there's always a strong core of music because that's something kids really relate to."

You could say Nickelodeon and Disney Channel both have a good entertainment beat. And the children of America are dancing over to their TV sets to watch a lot.

Contact MIKE DUFFY at [email][email protected][/email]

The thing that really depresses me is the part where it refers to Nickelodeon as "Spongebob Nation". WHY DON"T THEY EVER STOP WATCHING THAT RETARDED SHOW?

I know. Disney will be the supreme ruler of the kid nation as soon as Nick can get rid of Spongebob. :twisted: Drake & Josh is the only thing worth watching on Nickelodeon.

i hope they get rid of the yellow little f*cker.

and...i hope disney beats Nick, because, to me, Nick died 7 years ago.

I find Disney programming more annoying than the Nick programming. Too many teen shows.

I feel Your Pain, I also hate THAT RETARDED YellowTHING!!

No wonder why I tend to hate shows with teenagers in them. The whole school drama/gossip thing gets boring after a while.

These shows are so stupid and not worth watching. But yes I dealed with watching those shows before. I mean my sister actually likes those shows and she's 15 years old (I'm 16 years old). Yes I dealed with watching full episodes of Lizzie McGuire, Zoey 101, That's so Raven, Unfabulous, etc. I can barely stand most of those shows.

Aw man.
How can you hate such a lovable(albeit very anoying), yellow sponge? I'm 16 and I watch it every day after school.
But that's not the point.
The point is, people love it, people hate it. But it's kind of ...mean?... to call it retarded. It's not very nice.
-inner DARE mentor shining through-

Yeah and besides most modern day disney teen dating shows all have the same faces.

I can't stand these shows either there so boring. I've had to sit through a few of the shows that you mentioned above a couple of times too and when I sat through them I died of boredome which is why I went into another room. Part of the reason why some ppl like boring shows like the ones you just menionted might have to do with because for a while disney channel was premium and a lot of ppl didn't have it on their cable package than when it became unpremium a lot of people first got it and got very into it and nearly took over in terms of what type of tv programs they like to watch. I unfortinetly didn't have Disney Channel on my cable package back when it wasn't teen dating oriented.

Spongebob ran its course and finished it after the 60th episode mark. I was actually a huge fan of the show back then. After a while, Nick started depending on the damn show to run their network. Let's face it, without Spongebob, Nickelodeon wouldn't get half the ratings it does now. Spongebob represents all that is washed-up, overplayed, and unoriginal in the animation business alongside Jetix.

I look at the children channels like network TV stations. Nickelodeon, Disney, and CN are the equivilent to the CBS, ABC, NBC, and FOX. And as programs on these kids channels become 100% original programming, we'll see high and low years for all of the channels, as we have seen on network TV.

Oh how I HATE Spongebob!!!

I don't hate Spongebob, but, I've never seen it a lot, so that's probably why. I have seen some eps that have made me laugh, though. That episode when you find out that Spongebob had to pay Mr. Krabs to work for him was hilarious. I just imagine all of the legal trouble Mr. Krabs would be in if Spongebob and Squidward sued him or something for cruelty. Seriously, he had fees for everything. That's about all I remember about the episode.

I've never really watched spongebob either. I never had Nick as a kid, so I was always more into the Disney characters anyway.

yah disney channel was once great it sucks balls now

yah disney channel was once great it sucks balls now

Stop bumping threads from 2006 plox.

don't talk sh*t about Spongebob