Nick Sees Spots on the Upswing

By Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 3/15/2010 12:14:22 PM

New York — Nickelodeon heads into the kids’ upfront market armed with strong ratings performances and a slate of new and returning original shows it hopes will add appeal.

Nickelodeon, which presented its upfront plans to advertisers last Thursday (March 11), believes it can drive an increase in advertising dollars despite industry projections of an overall flat ad spend in the kids’ segment and increased competition in the marketplace.

“I think we’re going to see a couple of percentage points in growth just coming off of last year due mostly to the upward [ratings] momentum that we have,” Cyma Zarghami, president of Nickelodeon and MTV Kids and Family Group, told Multichannel News. “The good news is that our new stuff is making us stand up and be noticed, and it’s the current stuff that’s working now and delivering ratings day in and day out.”

Nick is on pace for its mostwatched quarter ever among total viewers. Th rough March 7, it’s averaging 2.4 million viewers for first-quarter 2010, up from 5% for the same time period last year.

Nickelodeon will launch six new shows in 2010 and return 16 hit live-action and animated comedy series, according to Zarghami. The kids’ kingpin also has five new shows scheduled to launch across Nick’s digital nets, TeenNick, Nicktoons and Nick Jr.

Among the new series slated for the network are Victorious, starring Victoria Justice (Zoey 101) as a student at an elite performing arts high school; animated series T.U.F.F. Puppy, about a crimefighting dog; Bubble Guppies, an animated variety show for the preschool set, and Kung Fu Panda: The Series, from the popular DreamWorks Animation movie.

Returning to Nick are key franchises such as iCarly, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Penguins of Madagascar, The FairlyOddParents and True Jackson VP, as well as freshman series Big Time Rush and The Troop.