History of Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon is an American basic cable and satellite television network that is part of the Nickelodeon Group, a unit of the ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks division of ViacomCBS, which focuses on programs aimed at children and teenagers; it has since expanded to include four spin-off digital cable and satellite networks in the United States, and international channels in six continents.

Nickelodeon logo used since 2009.

1977–1979: Pre-launch as Pinwheel

Nickelodeon's history dates back to December 1, 1977, when QUBE,[1] the first two-way major market interactive cable television system was launched in Columbus, Ohio by Warner Cable Corp. (formerly Television Communications Corporation). One of the ten "community" channels that were offered at no additional charge to QUBE subscribers was C-3, which exclusively carried a television series under the name Pinwheel each day from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time.[2] Nickelodeon's concept prior to its launch was developed by Dr. Vivian Horner, who worked as director of research on the PBS series The Electric Company and who had created Pinwheel for QUBE (one of Nickelodeon's earliest series, which spun off from the C-3 service), along with Warner Cable CEO Gus Hauser. Nickelodeon was originally used as a loss leader for then-parent company Warner Cable.[3] As the company saw it, having a commercial-free children's channel would prove useful in franchising its cable systems across the country, with that advantage putting them over rival companies such as HBO.[4]

1979–1984: National launch as Nickelodeon

The original Nickelodeon logo from 1979, designed by creative consultant Joseph Iozzi. Font by Lubalin, Smith, Carnase, Inc.

Initially scheduled for a February 1979 launch,[5] Nickelodeon was officially launched on April 1, 1979 (as the first ever all children's network) on Warner Cable franchises across the country. Nickelodeon's name was proposed by New York based creative director/designer Joseph Iozzi, who also created the channel's first logo and original advertising campaign. Iozzi saw the word "nickelodeon" as a natural fit for the proposed children's channel: "The Nickelodeon was a turn of the century device for dispensing entertainment. The sound of the word was nice and rolled off the tongue easily". Hauser ultimately selected Iozzi's proposal out of a list out of 150 names. The other proposed names for the channel included The Savoy Channel and The Rainbow Network.[6]

The first model ever used in a Nickelodeon advertisement was the designer's son, Joseph Iozzi II, while the logo's font was designed by Lubalin, Smith, Carnase, Inc. The intent of Iozzi was to replace the graphic of the line illustration of the man peering into the Nickelodeon with a period illustration of a boy in nickers, British flat cap, big suspenders, tip toed on a stylish iron train step looking into the Nickelodeon font. Available time and new management never permitted the planned re-design.[7]

The network quickly expanded its audience reach, first to other Warner Cable systems across the country, and eventually to other cable providers.[8][9][10] It was distributed via satellite on RCA Satcom-1, which went into orbit one week earlier on March 26 – originally transmitted on transponder space purchased from televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker.[11] Despite its prior history on the QUBE system under the Pinwheel name, Nickelodeon designates 1979 as the year of the channel's official launch.[1]

External video
Nickelodeon ORIGINAL mime, 1980-1981, YouTube

Initial programming on Nickelodeon included Video Comics, Pinwheel (which was reformatted as a daily hour-long series that ran in a three- to five-hour block format, and was a precursor to the Nick Jr. block that replaced it in 1988), America Goes Bananaz, Nickel Flicks, and By the Way, all of which originated at the QUBE studios in Columbus. The network's original logo incorporated a man looking into a nickelodeon machine that was placed in the "N" in the wordmark; this was replaced the following year by another wordmark with the "Nickelodeon" text in Pinwheel's logo typeface. As Nickelodeon originally operated as a commercial-free service, the network ran interstitials between programs, consisting of a male mime portrayed by character actor/mime Jonathan Schwartz[12][13] doing tricks in front of a black background. At the time of its launch, Nickelodeon's programming aired for thirteen hours each weekday from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. and for fourteen hours on weekends from 8:00 a.m. to midnight Eastern and Pacific Time. Premium cable network Star Channel (which later relaunched as The Movie Channel in November 1979) would take over the channel space after Nickelodeon's broadcast day ended.

On September 14 of that year, American Express reached an agreement with Warner Communications to buy 50% of Warner Cable Corporation for $175 million in cash and short-term notes. Through the formation of the joint venture, which was incorporated in December 1979, Star Channel and Nickelodeon were folded into Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment (later Warner-Amex Cable Communications), a company which handled the operations of the group's cable channels (Warner Cable was folded into a separate jointly owned unit, the Warner Cable Corporation).[14]

New shows were added to the lineup in 1980, including Dusty's Treehouse, First Row Features, Special Delivery, What Will They Think Of Next? and Livewire.[15] In 1981, the network introduced a new logo, consisting of a disco ball overlaid by multicolored "Nickelodeon" text.[16] Late that year, the Canadian sketch comedy series You Can't Do That on Television made its American debut on Nickelodeon, becoming its first hit series.[17] The green slime originally featured on that program was later adopted by Nickelodeon as a primary feature of many of its shows,[18] including the game show Double Dare.[19] Other shows that were part of Nickelodeon's regular schedule during its early years included The Third Eye, Standby...Lights! Camera! Action! and Mr. Wizard's World.

On April 12, 1981, the channel shifted its daily programming to thirteen hours every day, now airing from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time, seven days a week. The Movie Channel had become a separate 24-hour channel by this point, and Nickelodeon had begun turning over its channel space during its off-hours to the Alpha Repertory Television Service (ARTS) – a fine arts-focused network owned by the Hearst Corporation and ABC joint venture Hearst/ABC Video Services; ARTS became the Arts & Entertainment Network (A&E) in 1984, after ARTS merged with NBC's struggling cable service The Entertainment Channel.[20] Around that time, Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment began divesting its assets and spun off Nickelodeon and two other channels, music networks MTV and the (now defunct) Radio Television Station (RTS) into the newly formed subsidiary MTV Networks; in order to increase revenue, Nickelodeon began to accept corporate underwriting (a method common in public television) for its programming.[21]

1984–1996: Laybourne era

The fourth logo, and most popular logo used for almost 25 years from October 1984[22] to September 27, 2009, typically accompanied by various shaped backgrounds. The 1984 logo font is called "Balloon".

Nickelodeon struggled at first, operating at a loss of $10 million by 1984.[23] The network had lacked successful programs (shows on the network that failed to gain traction during its first few years included Against the Odds and Going Great), which stagnated viewership, at one point finishing dead last among all U.S. cable channels. After firing its management staff, MTV Networks president Bob Pittman turned to Fred Seibert and Alan Goodman, who created MTV's iconic IDs a few years earlier, to reinvigorate Nickelodeon, leading to what many believe to be the channel's "golden age".[24]

One of the many different variations of Nickelodeon's "splat" logo, used from October, 1984 to September 27, 2009.

Seibert and Goodman's company, Fred/Alan Inc., teamed up with Tom Corey and Scott Nash of the advertising firm Corey McPherson Nash to rebrand the network.[25] The "pinball" logo was replaced with a new one featuring varied orange backgrounds (most notably a "splat" design) with the "Nickelodeon" name overlaid in the Balloon typeface, which would be used in hundreds of different variations over the next 24 years and 11 months. Fred/Alan also enlisted the help of animators, writers, producers and doo-wop group The Jive Five (best known for their 1961 hit "My True Story") to create new channel IDs. The rebranding went into use in October 1984,[22] and within six months, Nickelodeon would become the dominant channel in children's programming and remained so for 26 years, even in the midst of increasing competition in more recent years from other kids-oriented cable channels such as Disney Channel and Cartoon Network.[26] It also began promoting itself as "The First Kids' Network", due to its status as the first American television network aimed at children. Along with the rebrand, Nickelodeon began accepting traditional advertising.[21]

In the summer of 1984, A&E announced that it would become a separate 24-hour channel as of January 1985. After A&E stopped sharing its channel space, Nickelodeon ran text promos for their daytime shows during the night, then became a 24-hour channel in June, although some cable systems provided programming from a niche cable television service that had no room on system airing on the channel space, with BET being among the most popular choices.[27][28] Pittman tasked general manager Geraldine Laybourne to develop programming for the late evening and overnight timeslot;[29] to help with ideas, Laybourne enlisted Seibert and Goodman,[16] who conceived the idea of a classic television block modeled after the "Greatest Hits of All Time" oldies radio format after being presented with over 200 episodes of The Donna Reed Show. On July 1, 1985, Nickelodeon launched the new nighttime block, Nick at Nite,[30] in the 8:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. Eastern and Pacific time period. That same year, American Express sold its stake in Warner-Amex to Warner Communications,[31] who in 1986 turned MTV Networks into a private company, and sold MTV, RTS, Nickelodeon, and the newly launched music video network VH1 to Viacom for $685 million, ending Warner's venture into children's television until they acquired Cartoon Network in 1996.[32] In 1988, the network aired the inaugural Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (previously known as The Big Ballot), a telecast in the vein of the People's Choice Awards in which viewers select their favorites in television, movies and sports. It also introduced an educational program block for preschool-age children called Nick Jr., which replaced the former Pinwheel block.[33]

On June 7, 1990, Nickelodeon opened Nickelodeon Studios, a hybrid television production facility/attraction at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, Florida, where many of its sitcoms and game shows were filmed. It also entered into a multimillion-dollar joint marketing agreement with Pizza Hut, which provided a new kid-targeted publication Nickelodeon Magazine for free at the chain's participating restaurants.[34]

Although Nickelodeon had aired externally-produced animation since its launch in 1977, the network did not air original animated series of its own until the early 1990s. On August 11, 1991, Nickelodeon debuted their "Nicktoons" brand with three original animated series: Doug, Rugrats, and Ren & Stimpy.[35] The development of these programs was a reversal of the network's previous concerns, as Nickelodeon had previously refused to produce weekly animated series due to the high production costs.[35] The three series found success by 1992, resulting in the creation of the network's fourth Nicktoon, Rocko's Modern Life, which also became a success. Earlier, Nickelodeon partnered with Sony Wonder to release episode compilations of the network's programs, which became top sellers. Nickelodeon switched its distribution to Paramount Home Entertainment in 1994, with Paramount re-releasing episode compilations of the network's Nicktoons on VHS. Doug and The Ren & Stimpy Show both ended production around 1995; however, Doug would be revived in 1996 as part of ABC's Saturday morning lineup. Rugrats, on the other hand, returned from hiatus on May 9, 1997 (reruns continued to air up until that point).

On August 15, 1992, the network extended its Saturday schedule by two hours, with the launch of a primetime block called SNICK from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time;[36] over the years, SNICK became home to shows such as Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Clarissa Explains It All, All That, The Amanda Show, and Kenan & Kel. In 2004, the block was reformatted as the Saturday edition of TEENick, which originally debuted on Sunday evenings in 2000. The Saturday night block continues today and was not officially branded from 2009 to 2012, when the "Gotta See Saturdays" brand was adopted for the Saturday morning and primetime blocks; the TEENick branding, with its spelling altered to TeenNick, has since been used on the Nickelodeon sister channel previously known as The N. After a three-year absence following suspension of the publication in 1990, Nickelodeon resumed Nickelodeon Magazine under a pay/subscription model in June 1993.[37] In March 1993, the channel enlisted the help of viewers to come up with new shapes in which to display its iconic orange logo in the network's promotions. The designs chosen – a cap, a balloon, a gear, a rocket and a top, among other shapes – were mainly 3D renderings, and debuted alongside a new promotional graphics package in June 1993. The success of the Saturday primetime block led Nickelodeon to expand its programming into primetime on other nights in 1996, with the extension of its broadcast day to 8:30 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time (and later extended to 9:00 p.m. from 1998 to 2009) on Sunday through Friday nights.[38][39]

In 1994, Nickelodeon launched The Big Help, which spawned the spin-off program The Big Green Help in 2007; the program is intended to encourage activity and environmental preservation by children. That same year, Nickelodeon removed You Can't Do That on Television from its schedule after a 13-year run and subsequently debuted a new sketch comedy show, All That.[40] For many years, until its cancellation in 2005, All That would launch the careers of several actors and actresses including Kenan Thompson, Amanda Bynes, and Jamie Lynn Spears. Dan Schneider, one of the show's executive producers, would go on to create and produce numerous hit series for Nickelodeon including The Amanda Show, Drake & Josh, Zoey 101, iCarly, Victorious, Sam & Cat (a spin-off of the latter two series), Henry Danger, and Game Shakers. Also in 1994, Nickelodeon debuted the Nicktoon Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, which would also become a hit series. In October and December 1994, Nickelodeon sold a syndication package of Halloween and Christmas-themed episodes of its Nicktoons to television stations across the United States, in conjunction with then-new corporate relative, Paramount Domestic Television.[41]

1996–2006: Scannell era

On February 13, 1996, Herb Scannell was named president of Nickelodeon[42] for ten years, succeeding Geraldine Laybourne. Around that time, Nick at Nite and the latter's recently launched the spinoff channel TV Land.[43] In 1997, Albie Hecht became president of film and television entertainment for Nickelodeon before leaving to be president of the Viacom network TNN (now called Paramount Network) by 2003.

Up through the 1990s, Saturday morning cartoons had been the most popular children's programs on television. In part because of the imposition of educational television mandates on all broadcast stations in 1996, Nickelodeon and other children's-oriented cable networks (never subject to those mandates as they did not broadcast over the air) now had an advantage in not having to have its programs comply with the mandate. By 1997, Nickelodeon's Saturday morning lineup had shot ahead of all of its broadcast competition, where it would remain for the next several years.[44]

Nickelodeon released its first feature-length film in theaters in 1996, an adaptation of the Louise Fitzhugh novel Harriet the Spy starring Michelle Trachtenberg and Rosie O'Donnell. The film went on to earn twice its $13 million budget.[45] Two years after Harriet's success, Nickelodeon developed its popular Rugrats cartoon onto the big screen with The Rugrats Movie, which grossed more than $100 million in the United States and became the first non-Disney animated movie to surpass that amount. On May 1, 1999, the channel previewed the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants directly after the Kids' Choice Awards.[46] It became the most popular Nicktoon in the channel's history, and has remained very popular to this day, consistently ranking as the channel's highest-rated series since 2000.[47] By 2001, a third of the series' audience was made up of adults, and the show was run in evening slots.[46] A film adaptation of SpongeBob SquarePants was announced in 2002.[48] The ensuing SpongeBob media franchise went on to generate over $13 billion in merchandising revenue for Nickelodeon.[49]

In March 2004, Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite were separated in the Nielsen primetime and total day ratings, due to the different programming, advertisers and target audiences between the two services. This caused controversy by cable executives believing this manipulated the ratings, given that Nick at Nite's broadcast day takes up only a fraction of Nickelodeon's programming schedule.[50][51] Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite's respective ratings periods encompass only the hours they each operate under the total day rankings, though Nickelodeon only is rated for the daytime ratings; this is due to a ruling by Nielsen in July 2004 that networks must program for 51% or more of a daypart to qualify for ratings for a particular daypart.[52]

On June 14, 2005, Viacom decided to split itself into two companies as a result of the declining performance of its stock, which Sumner Redstone stated "was necessary to respond to a changing industry landscape."[53] Both resulting companies would be controlled by Viacom's parent National Amusements. In December 2005, Nickelodeon and the remainder of the MTV Networks division, as well as Paramount Pictures, BET Networks, and Famous Music (a record label that the company sold off in 2007), were spun off to the new Viacom. The original Viacom was renamed CBS Corporation and retained CBS and its other broadcasting assets, Showtime Networks, Paramount Television (now the separate arms CBS Television Studios for network and cable production, and CBS Television Distribution for production of first-run syndicated programs and off-network series distribution), advertising firm Viacom Outdoor (which was renamed CBS Outdoor), Simon & Schuster, and Paramount Parks (which was later sold).

Nickelodeon Studios closed in 2005[54] and was converted into the Blue Man Group Sharp Aquos Theatre in 2007; Nickelodeon moved its live-action series to the Nickelodeon on Sunset studios (formerly the Earl Carroll Theatre) in Hollywood, California as well as other studio facilities in Hollywood and other locations. The company continued to film at the Sunset location until 2017.[55] In 2005, Nickelodeon premiered the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender,[56] which became a hit series for the network.

On December 31, 2005, the original incarnation of Viacom split into two new companies, resulting in the creation of CBS Corporation and a new incarnation of Viacom.

2006–2018: Zarghami era

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 included Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., TeenNick, Nicktoons, TV Land, CMT, and CMT Pure Country.[57]

In 2007, Nickelodeon entered into a four-year development deal with Sony 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.[58] The Naked Brothers Band, a rock-mockumentary series that tells of a pre-teenage rock band led by two real-life brothers who write and perform the songs, broadcast from 2007 to 2009; it was successful for children in the 6-11 age group. By February 2007, the band's song "Crazy Car" was on the Billboard Hot 100, and the soundtrack albums from the first two seasons, each of which signed to Columbia Records, were on Billboard 200. The only greenlit series produced under the Sony Music partnership, Victorious, ran from 2010 to 2013. A similar hit music-themed sitcom Big Time Rush ran from 2009 to 2013, and featured a similar partnership with Columbia 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 after iCarly; Big Time Rush garnered 6.8 million viewers for its official debut on January 18, 2010, setting a new record as the highest-rated live action series premiere in the channel's history.

In February 2009, Nickelodeon announced that it would rebrand Noggin and The N as Nick Jr. and TeenNick respectively. On February 2, Nickelodeon discontinued the TEENick and Nick Jr. blocks, although the programming featured within the blocks remained.[59] Nickelodeon later announced in May 2009 that Nickelodeon Magazine would cease publication by the end of the year. In July 2009, Nickelodeon unveiled a new logo for the first time in 25 years on the packaging of DVD sets of the network's programs, on Nickelodeon Australia, and at that year's Nickelodeon Animation Festival, intending to create a unified look to be conveyed across all of MTV Networks' children's channels.[60]

The new logo as well as new on-air graphics debuted on September 28, 2009 across Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite, along with the rebranded TeenNick, Nick Jr. and Nicktoons (formerly The N, Noggin and Nicktoons Network, respectively) channels in varying versions.[60] A new logo for Nickelodeon Productions was also used in end credit tags on all Nickelodeon shows, even on episodes aired before the new logo launch (TeenNick and Nicktoons use this vanity card on end credit tags of their programs regardless of the program's original airdate, whereas Nick Jr. only uses it and its variants for original programs on episodes of series made after the rebrand). Designed by New York City–based creative director/designer Eric Zim, the overall presentation package as well as the renaming of The N and Noggin was designed to bring each of the MTV Networks Kids & Family Group channels in line with the Nickelodeon brand identity, with a new logo system introduced to represent the network's entire family of networks and other sub-brands. The 2009 logo font is called "Litebulb".

The wordmark logo bug was given a blimp background in the days prior to the 2010 and 2011 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 the United Kingdom on February 15, 2010, in Spain on February 19, 2010, in Asia on March 15, 2010,[61] in Latin America on April 5, 2010,[62] and on the ABS-CBN block "Nickelodeon on ABS-CBN" in the Philippines on July 26, 2010. On November 2, 2009, a Canadian version of Nickelodeon was launched, in partnership between Viacom and Corus Entertainment (owners of YTV, 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 brought Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Winx Club into the Nickelodeon family by purchasing both franchises. Nickelodeon Animation Studio produced a new CGI-animated Turtles series[63] and new seasons of Winx Club with CGI sequences.[64] 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, and Winx was aimed at the same age group of girls. In February 2011, Viacom bought out a third of Rainbow SpA,[65] the Italian studio that introduced Winx Club. The purchase was valued at 62 million euros (US$83 million)[66] and led to new shows being co-developed by Rainbow and Nickelodeon, including My American Friend and Club 57.[67] Also in 2011, Nickelodeon debuted House of Anubis, a series based on the Nickelodeon Netherlands series Het Huis Anubis, which became the first original scripted series to be broadcast in a weekdaily 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,[68] only for its viewership to experience a sharp double-digit decline by the end of 2011, described as "inexplicable" by Viacom management.[69] The channel would not experience a calendar week ratings increase until November 2012 (with viewership slowly rebounding after that point);[70] however its 17-year streak as the highest-rated cable network in total day viewership was broken by Disney Channel during that year.[71] On July 17, 2014, the network televised the inaugural Kids' 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 of Legends of the Hidden Temple, Hey Arnold!, Rocko's Modern Life, and Invader Zim. The former two aired on the Nickelodeon channel, while the latter two premiered in August 2019 on Netflix.[72]

2018–present: Robbins era

In June 2018, Cyma Zarghami stepped down from the network after 33 years.[73] In October 2018, Brian Robbins succeeded her as president of Nickelodeon.[74]

In January 2019, Viacom acquired free-streaming service Pluto TV and since have made free channels for Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. respectively, including four new subnetworks: NickMovies (which shows a variety of Nickelodeon's live action movies,), NickGames, (a Nick GAS type of channel; showcasing more newer Nickelodeon game shows), Dora TV (an all day stream of Dora the Explorer episodes; including double-length episodes, though not including spin-offs Go, Diego, Go! and Dora and Friends: Into the City respectively), and Totally Turtles (an all day stream of both the 2003 and 2012 episodes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). In August 2019, Viacom brought Garfield into the Nickelodeon family when it purchased its owner Paws, Inc., with plans for a new animated TV series.[75]

In mid-November 2019, Nickelodeon and Netflix signed a multiyear content production agreement to produce several original animated feature films and television series based on Nickelodeon's library of characters to compete with the new Disney+ streaming service. Known projects include a music project based on SpongeBob SquarePants character Squidward Tentacles and specials based on The Loud House and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.[76][77][78]

Toward the end of 2019, Viacom merged with CBS Corporation to form ViacomCBS.[79] As part of the merger, CBS announced plans to add content from Nickelodeon to its All Access streaming service.[80][81] Additionally, the National Football League announced that Nickelodeon would air a youth-specific broadcast of an early 2021 Wild Card playoff game that CBS Sports acquired the rights to, marking the first major live sporting event on the channel.[82]

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Works cited

• Denisoff, R. Serge (1988). Inside MTV. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-0-8873-8173-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Hendershot, Heather, ed. (2004). Nickelodeon Nation: The History, Politics, and Economics of America's Only TV Channel for Kids. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-3652-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)