Saturday Mornings Go to Nick

Continuing its dominance, Nickelodeon has claimed the Saturday-morning kids’ crown for an eighth consecutive season.

The kids’ kingpin extended its string among kids 2-11 even though its number dipped slightly.

During the recently completed 2004-05 season (Sept. 13, 2004-May 28), Nick averaged a 4.8 rating/22 share against kids 2-11, garnering 1.9 million of those viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research data supplied by the network. That compares with a 5.1/23 share and some 2 million kids viewers on average during the 2003-04 season.

Nick’s performance was flat against kids 6-11 and up among tweens 9-14. With the younger group, Nick notched a 5.1 rating/23 share and some 1.2 million watchers, compared with a 5.1/24share and 1.2 million the prior season. Among the tweens set, Nick registered a 3.4 rating/18 share, translating into 831,000 of those viewers, up from a 3.2/17 share and 787,000 of those watchers the prior year.

Cartoon Network leapfrogged past Kids’ WB on Saturday mornings in the 2004-05 season, pulling in a 2.5 rating/11 share among kids 2-11 versus a 2.0/9 share in the 2003-04 campaign. That performance pushed Cartoon, which trailed Nick by 90%, ahead of Kids’ WB, which dropped to a 2.0/9share from a 2.5/11 share. Nick beat its third-place competitor by 137%.

Disney Channel ranked fourth for the season that concluded last month, flat at a 2.0/9 share (Kids’ WB counted 801,000 viewers, 8,000 more than Disney).

Nick on CBS was next with a 1.4/7 share, up from a 1.3/6, followed by ABC’s 1.3/6, down from a 1.6/8 the season before.

Fox Box and Discovery on NBC were even with 2003-04, carving out a 1.1 rating/5 share and a 0.7/3, respectively. ABC Family pulled a 0.5/2, off from its 0.6/3, while Toon Disney rounded out the field with a 0.4/2.