Disney’s small gains don’t begin to account for Nick’s losses. The slide isn’t a case of other networks eating Nick’s lunch - not all of it, anyway. In September, Nick dropped 8 percent while Disney dropped 2 percent and Cartoon Network fell 5 percent. In October, Nick dropped 13 percent in the ratings while Disney gained 5 percent and the Cartoon Network dropped 12 percent. (Nick doesn’t consider it a direct competitor since it isn’t ad-supported.) The Cartoon Network was flat year-over-year in November, recovering somewhat from its own recent losses. The Disney Channel posted a 4 percent year-over-year ratings increase in November, from 0.67 to 0.7. It reached about 1.4 million households this November, down from roughly 1.7 million in November of last year.Īlso read: Rich Ross and His Decentralized Magic Kingdom - Is It Working? According to the latest numbers, Nick fell to an average 0.75 rating over each entire day in November, down from 0.91 in November of 2010. Nick first noticed the drop in September. “To date, the review process confirms that our measurement methodology, operations and related reporting processes are working as expected,” it said.
In a statement, it said it has worked with the network and the Media Rating Council, the industry’s independent auditing organization, on an “exhaustive assessment” of its ratings. 10 earnings call that Nick’s ratings are usually very predictable, and that set-top box data shows “meaningfully different viewership trends” than those Nielsen has recorded.īut Nielsen stands by its numbers. “We’re moving more aggressively,” he said.ĭauman said in a Nov.
Its new shows include “Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness.” He said the network still expects to finish the year as the top network among viewers age 2 to 11, and that the network plans 500 new episodes in the next few months to increase ratings. “The bottom line is whatever has happened with the sample, this is what we’re working with now.” This is a short-term problem,” Nickelodeon spokesman Dan Martinsen told TheWrap. 1 for 16, going on 17 years, with 2-to-11 year-olds. “We’ve been doing this for 30 years, and we’ve been No. Nick believes the problem could lie with Nielsen’s sampling of its audience, and has worked with the company behind the scenes to examine several possibilities. But in the latest monthly ratings it seems to be digging itself out, while Nickelodeon’s latest numbers have only gotten worse.Īlso read: ‘Transformers’ Helps Viacom Triple 4Q Earnings, Beat the Street Though it trails them in total-day viewing, the Cartoon Network is the third-most-watched kids’ network after Nick and the Disney Channel, and has shared some of Nick’s ratings woes. Both benefit from young audiences with plenty of spare time during the day - and parents who use it as a plug-in babysitter. The stakes are also high because no cable network earns higher total-day ratings than Nick, whose closest rival is The Disney Channel. Nick’s slide comes at a particularly bad time: The last three months of the year are especially important to the network because of ads for holiday films and toys.
ALL THAT NICKELODEON VIEWERSHIP TV
20 of this TV season, an average of 5.8 million children between age 2 and 11 are watching television at any given minute, an increase of 1.7 percent over last season, Nielsen says. It’s definitely not a case of kids spending more time on their homework: Preteen viewership is up overall. “The ratings strength of Disney Channel and Disney XD is ‘inexplicable’ to some but we are very clear on what’s happening - it’s the popularity of our programming.”Ĭould SpongeBob - gulp - just be getting old?Īlso read: ‘Spongebob’s’ Latest Tormentor: The American Academy of Pediatrics
“We don’t think there’s a glitch in kids ratings,” the Disney Channel said in a statement to TheWrap. Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman calls the slide “inexplicable” and an “aberration” - but so far, a coordinated effort by the network and Nielsen to find some glitch that might explain it has come up empty.Īt least one Nick rival doesn’t buy the idea that there’s anything wrong with the way Nielsen tracks childrens’ ratings - and poked fun at Dauman’s choice of words. Wall Street is paying attention: This week, one analyst downgraded his rating on Viacom stock from buy to neutral and the other lowered his target price slightly. In just-released November ratings, Nickelodeon was down 19 percent year-over-year in ratings for viewers age 2 and older. _stq.Nickelodeon is down in the ratings, and in the dark about why.Īfter 16 years of dominating children’s television, the network finds itself in the midst of a mysterious ratings slide serious enough to drive concerns about its parent company’s stock and prompt an investigation with Nielsen.