.svg){kind=logo} Logo used since 2023[a] | |
| Company type | Division |
|---|---|
| Industry | Entertainment |
| Founded | May 1, 2002; 23 years ago (2002-05-01) |
| Headquarters | 1515 Broadway,, U.S. |
Key people | Jules Borkent (president) |
| Products | |
| Brands | |
| Parent | Paramount Media Networks |
| Subsidiaries | |
| Website | nick (Redirects to country/territory website outside the U.S. no longer in some countries; it redirects to Nick Global) |
Nickelodeon Group (also known asNickelodeon Networks Inc. and as its family distribution nameParamount Kids and Family Group, or simplyNickelodeon orNick), is an American company, as a children’s and family entertainment arm ofParamount Skydance Corporation through itsParamount Media Networks division that overseescabletelevision channels (including its flagship serviceNickelodeon).
Nickelodeon Group was founded in 2002, after MTV Networks (nowParamount Media Networks) merged the business operations of Nickelodeon,Nick at Nite andNicktoons into one division.
On January 4, 2006,Herb Scannell resigned from Nickelodeon.Cyma Zarghami was appointed in his place as president of the newly formed Kids & Family Group, which includedNickelodeon,Nick at Nite,Noggin,The N,Nicktoons Network,TV Land,CMT, andCMT Pure Country.[1]
In 2007, Nickelodeon entered into a four-year development deal withSony Music to produce music-themed TV shows for the network, to help fund and launch tie-in albums, and to produce original soundtrack songs that could be released as singles.[2]The Naked Brothers Band, a rock-mockumentary series of a pre-teenage rock band led by two real-life brothers who write and perform the songs, ran from 2007 to 2009; it was successful for children in the 6–11 age group. By February 2007, the band's song "Crazy Car" had appeared on theBillboard Hot 100, and the soundtrack albums from the first two seasons, each of which signed toColumbia Records, appeared on theBillboard 200. The only greenlit series produced under the Sony Music partnership,Victorious, ran from 2010 to 2013. A similar hit music-themed sitcomBig Time Rush ran from 2009 to 2013, and featured a similar partnership withColumbia Records; however, Columbia was only involved with the show's music, and Sony Music became involved with the series' production midway through its first season. It became Nickelodeon's second-most successful live-action show of all time afteriCarly; theBig Time Rush episode "Big Time School of Rocque" was viewed by 6.8 million viewers for its premiere on January 18, 2010, setting a new record as the highest-rated live action series premiere in the channel's history.
On February 1, 2009, Nickelodeon discontinued theTEENick block, as the name would soon be used for its own channel.[3]
On July 29, 2009, Nickelodeon unveiled a new logo that would be implemented toward the end of the year, designed by New York City–based creative director/designer Eric Zim. It was part of a year dedicated to strengthening the brand's identity. The logo was intended to create a unified look that can better be conveyed across all of MTV Networks' children's channels.[4] The new logo debuted on September 28, 2009, across Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, and Nicktoons, along withTeenNick (which replaced The N and named after the TEENick block) andNick Jr. Channel (which replaced Noggin and named after the concurrently-running Nick Jr. block).[4]
Thewordmark logo bug was given a blimp background in the days prior to the2010 and2011 Kids' Choice Awards to match the award given out at the ceremony; beginning the week of September 7, 2010, the logo bug was surrounded by a splat design (in the manner of the logo used from 2005 to 2009) during new episodes of Nickelodeon original series. The new logo was adopted in theUnited Kingdom on February 15, 2010, inSpain on February 19, 2010, in Southeast Asia on March 15, 2010, inLatin America on April 5, 2010, in India on June 25, 2010[5] and on theABS-CBN block "Nickelodeon on ABS-CBN" in thePhilippines on July 26, 2010. On November 2, 2009, a Canadian version of Nickelodeon was launched, in partnership between Viacom andCorus Entertainment (owners ofYTV, which had aired and continued to air Nickelodeon's series); as a result, versions of Nickelodeon now exist in most of North America.
In October 2009 and September 2010, respectively, Viacom acquired theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles andWinx Club franchises into the Nickelodeon family. Nickelodeon Animation Studio produced a newCGI-animatedTurtles series[6] and new seasons ofWinx Club with CGI sequences.[7] Both productions comprised Nickelodeon's strategy to reboot two established brands for new viewers:TMNT was intended to reach an audience of boys aged 6 to 11, andWinx was aimed at the same age group of girls. In February 2011, Viacom acquired a third ofRainbow SpA,[8] the Italian studio that introducedWinx Club. The purchase was valued at 62 million euros (US$83 million)[9] and led to new shows being co-developed by Rainbow and Nickelodeon, includingMy American Friend andClub 57.[10] Also in 2011, Nickelodeon debutedHouse of Anubis, a series based on the NickelodeonNetherlands seriesHet Huis Anubis, which became the first original scripted series to be broadcast in a daily strip (similar to the soap opera format). Produced in the United Kingdom, it was also the first original series by the flagship U.S. channel to be produced entirely outside of North America.
2011 saw Nickelodeon's longtime ratings dominance among all children's cable channels begin to topple: it was the highest-rated cable channel during the first half of that year,[11] only for its viewership to experience a sharp double-digit decline by the end of 2011, described as "inexplicable" by Viacom management.[12] The channel would not experience a calendar week ratings increase until November 2012 (with viewership slowly rebounding after that point);[13] however its 17-year streak as the highest-rated cable network in total day viewership was broken by Disney Channel during that year.[14] Around late 2012, Nickelodeon made a sweeping change to their network by cancelling or ending their teen shows (How to Rock,iCarly,Victorious,Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures,Supah Ninjas,Life With Boys andBig Time Rush) in favor of newer shows targeted to a younger block.[15][16] On July 17, 2014, the network televised the inauguralKids' Choice Sports, a spin-off of the Kids' Choice Awards that honors athletes and teams from the previous year in sports.
Since 2016, the network has begun to produce TV movies based on its older properties, including those ofLegends of the Hidden Temple,Hey Arnold!,Rocko's Modern Life, andInvader Zim. The former two aired on the Nickelodeon channel, while the latter two premiered in August 2019 onNetflix.[17]
In June 2018, Cyma Zarghami resigned as president of Nickelodeon, after 33 years of working at the network.[18] In October 2018,All That co-creatorBrian Robbins succeeded her as president of Nickelodeon.[19]
On January 22, 2019, Viacom acquired the streaming servicePluto TV for $340 million, which has since launched various Nickelodeon-branded channels.[20][21] On August 6, 2019, Viacom acquired the rights to theGarfield franchise, with plans for a new animated series.[22][23] Later that year, Viacom signed a multi-year content production agreement withNetflix to produce several original films and series based on Nickelodeon properties.[24][25][26]
After Viacomre-merged with CBS Corporation to formViacomCBS at the end of 2019, it was announced that Nickelodeon content would be available for streaming on the CBS All Access streaming service[27][28][29] (later relaunched asParamount+ on March 4, 2021), withSpongeBob SquarePants spinoffKamp Koral andThe SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run debuting on the service that same day.[30] Throughout 2021, Paramount+ would announce and debut new programming based on Nickelodeon IP, including alive-action sequel series toThe Fairly OddParents that premiered in March 2022, aCGI-animated reboot ofRugrats, and aniCarlysequel series.[31]
By January 2021, Nickelodeon Group announced it had consolidated its live-action film & television production operations including current series & studio content and had combined it with those of ViacomCBS's fellow production & digital media and entertainment subsidiaryAwesomeness into forming one live-action production studio under the Nickelodeon Productions and Awesomeness names with Nickelodeon's head of live-action production Shauna Phelan and Zack Olin would serve as co-presidents of the combined production unit Nickelodeon/Awesomess Live-Action Studio whilst continued co-heading Nickelodeon's live-action scripted production operations as they would now heading Awesomeness's live-action production operations whilst Nickelodeon and Awesomnesss Films executive VP Syrinthia Studer would oversee the combined live-action production under the Nickelodeon Productions and Awesomeness names as executive vice president of live-action films.[32][33]
CBS Sports began partnering with Nickelodeon on itscoverage of theNational Football League, with Nickelodeon simulcasting a special version of an early2021 Wild Card playoff game under theNFL on Nickelodeon banner.[34][35] Nickelodeon would also figure prominently in CBS' own coverage ofSuper Bowl LV later that year, with special programming and content pertaining to the game itself.[36] The NFL would extend its partnership with Nickelodeon by allowing them to air another Wild Card game in January 2022, and a weekly highlights show hosted by CBS'Nate Burleson andTyler Perry's Young Dylan star Dylan Gilmer.[37] Nickelodeon aired its first regular-season game in 2022, with theDenver Broncos taking on the defending Super Bowl championLos Angeles Rams as part of the NFL's Christmas Day slate.[38]
On October 2025, two months after Paramount Global merged with Skydance Media to form Paramount Skydance Corporation, the newly-revivedParamount Television Studios, which had already foldedShowtime/MTV Entertainment Studios andSkydance Television shortly after the merger, had folded Nickelodeon and Awesomeness' live-action production unit under the Nickelodeon Productions and Awesomeness names including Nickelodeon's & Awesomeness' production states. Paramount Television Studios would then take over Nickelodeon's current production state alongside Awesomeness' current productions, and would produce their future production slates beginning with the upcomingVictorious spin-off seriesHollywood Arts which was originally ordered at Nickelodeon had moved to Netflix as its first Nickelodeon-branded series produced by the revived studio.[39]
