Kid net Nickelodeon announced today that it is the top-rated basic cable network for the eleventh consecutive year. Home to such animated hits as SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer and Avatar: The Last Airbender, the broadcaster cites Nielsen Media Research in claiming the lead within the total programming day among all viewers and across all kids demographics for the just-completed second quarter of 2006. In addition, the network says it experienced double-digit growth in its multiple media operations, which include Nick.com, Nickjr.com and its video-on-demand service.
With its primary demo of kids 2-11, Nickelodeon posted a 3.8/1.3 million, up more than 3% from the second quarter 2005 and more than 81% ahead of Cartoon Network and 52% ahead of Disney Channel. The Network also apparently ranked first with preschoolers, averaging a 4.5/560,000 with the top-ten shows Go, Diego, Go!, Dora the Explorer, The Wonder Pets, Blue’s Clues, The Backyardigans, LazyTown and Miss Spider. The net’s closest competitor in the kids 6-11demo is The Disney Channel, which posted a 2.4 rating behind Nick’s 3.5 mark. Nick’s delivery of tweens 9-14 stayed the same but still beat the competition by double digits, according to the network.
Nickelodeon’s quarter-to-quarter growth was fueled in part by the 19th Annual Kids’ Choice Awards, which averaged 3.2 million kid viewers, and the hour-long Fairy OddParents special, Fairy Idol, which attracted an average of 3 million kids.
Broadband and other new media platforms were also good to Nickelodoen as downloads on its TurboNick service showed 46% growth over the first quarter of 2006, Meanwhile, the boradcaster’s Nick Jr. Video broadband service is approaching its 100th million stream since launching in August of 2005.
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