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Known as Pinwheel from 1977-1979, Nickelodeon (also known as Nick) is an extremely popular American cable television network. Like many of the popular networks in America, it is owned by MTV Networks, which is of course, part of Viacom International.
Originally launched in 1979, Nickelodeon has gone through a range of development and re-branding over the years. The most recent developments include the likes of 2006, where the outfit was ran by MTVN Kids & Family Group president Cyma Zarghami.
The channel has a few target audiences, depending on the time of day. For example, the main target audience is the 6-12 year old children that watch. That being said, there is a short block screened in the morning for children that are 2-5 years old and also a later/prime time slot that is filled for the likes of 13-20 year old teenagers/young adults.
Unlike many TV networks these days, Nickelodeon decided not to air their programs 24 hours a day. The hardest thing about screening 24 hours a day is actually filling those gaps and of course, gaining advertisement that is relevant. Instead of this, they chose to have 7am-8pm Monday through to Thursday, 7am-9pm on Fridays, 6am-10pm on Saturdays and finally 6am-9pm on Sundays.
Nickelodeon started off slowly, but still managed to build up a great reputation before long. In fact, according to Nielsen Media Research's ratings since 1994, they have consistently finished high in the table. Many times, they have actually managed to take the number one spot in comparison to other cable networks that offer basic programming. This takes into account the total amount of viewers aged above 2 years old.
It did not take long for children and young adults to realize where the fun was on TV. Nickelodeon was a smash hit in the United States and its rapid growth allowed it to be available in over 50 million homes by the end of 1990.
Not long after this, Universal Studios managed to help Nickelodeon link with Pizza Hut to deliver a Nickelodeon Magazine to customers, free at all restaurants that were participating. This allowed the channel to get exposure where no other channels were getting it, hitting a much larger target audience.
The channel knew that they needed to be one step ahead of their competitors, so set about creating their first animated series. Doug, The Ren and Stimpy Show, and The Rugrats were among some of their first creations, all of which became very popular extremely quickly. In fact, by 1993 the Cartoons were known nationally and were the main reason many viewers chose to tune in to begin with!
It took up until 1996 until Nickelodeon could produce cartoons of a similar caliber. The likes of Rocko's Modern Life and The Ren and Stimpy Show would be discontinued, so there something needed to replace them. This is where KaBlam! and Hey Arnold! Came in, as they were likely to be the cartoons that would keep the Nickelodeon brand alive.
Something Nickelodeon just could not let lie was Rugrats, as they still thought there was unreleased potential there. They stuck with what they thought and eventually released a full scale movie. The originally named "The Rugrats Movie" was a smash hit before it even hit cinema screens. In fact, earning over $100 million throughout its screen time meant it had broken a record. It was the first film not to be created by Disney, to gross this much revenue.
There was something missing as far as Nickelodeon was concerned. A scheme it created back in 1994, The Big Help, was encouraging children to help out in local communities. That being said, they wanted to do more and eventually expanded this operation in 2001. The new operation would focus on getting children to talk with family and friends rather than bottling up emotions. This type of interactive behavior only increased their popularity and their database of viewers.
Jumping on a few years and Nickelodeon and their Nick at Nite feature were split by Nielsen. They saw these two blocks as separate channels due to which type of audience they were targeting and the types of ads they were displaying. Of course, this got Nickelodeon bosses furious as they saw this as a way of fixing the ratings. How could Nick at Nite compare against other channels when it only aired a few hours a night, taking up a fraction of the Nickelodeon schedule.
News in 2005 showed that the Nickelodeon Studios were shut down in 2005. Instead of working from here, it would work from the newly created Blue Man Group Sharp Aquos Theatre in 2007. This was a bold but correct move, as in 2007, the channel signed a contract for a 4 year deal with Sony, to produce series that were based around music. This was in an effort to help Sony sell more albums.
2009 right up until now has seen a range of rebranding. Take 2009 itself for instance, where Nickelodeon made a bold move by changing the logo from its well known splat feature. The new logo would be 3D, not only that but it would have "PRODUCTIONS" underneath as part of the new branding strategy. Luckily, it seemed to play no effect in collecting or losing viewers, so has stuck with the channel since.
It was not until 2009 that Canada finally got a taste of Nickelodeon. On November 2nd, the channel was finally launched thanks to a collective effort from Viacom and Corus Entertainment.
Shortly after in May 2010, Haim Saban and MTV Networks came to an agreement allowing them to purchase the rights on television for the legendry Power Rangers program. The new franchise would mean that they would air the program on its 18th season in the industry. This 18th season would be created and distributed over the course of 2011.
There is no doubt that Nickelodeon has gone from strength to strength over the last few years. The development of their network in other countries is simply adding to their growth.
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