medialifemagazine.com
Among kids, it's about niche networks
By Toni Fitzgerald
Jul 13, 2007 - 1:10:03 AM
When it comes to kids television, Nickelodeon, Disney and Cartoon Network are still way out ahead, continuing their decades-long domination. But it’s the tiny niche cable networks that are seeing the big increases in kids 2-11 viewership.
During second quarter, total-day viewing levels for Toon Disney, Nick Toons and Noggin, which all have less than two-thirds the distribution as the Big Three, all rose 10 percent or more.
Toon Disney jumped 11 percent, from an average 122,000 kids 2-11 in 2006 to 136,000. Noggin was up 47 percent, from 75,000 to 110,000, while Nick Toons rose 11 percent, from 54,000 to 60,000. All ranked in the top 10 in the demographic.
Meanwhile, Disney had a decent quarter but Nick and Cartoon both fell, by 6 and 10 percent, respectively, to 1.18 million and 611,000.
These numbers illustrate the increasing fragmentation in children’s television as the kids’ upfront is expected to draw out for months. With an overabundance of inventory, buyers feel little urgency to make deals.
Indeed, supply far outweighs demand, and that supply is only going to rise as smaller kids' networks continue to increase their distribution.
Noggin, for example, added 10 million homes to its distribution in 2006, rising from 44.9 million households in January to 54 million in December, according to Nielsen estimates.
The commercial-free network, which is aimed at preschoolers and like Nick is owned by Viacom, airs reruns of Nickelodeon shows such as “Blue’s Clues” and “Wonder Pets” in addition to some original content from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. At night it morphs into the teenage-focused The N.
Noggin was primarily distributed on digital cable platforms when it was launched nearly a decade ago, and with more people switching to digital packages, that has increased the channel’s availability.
The same goes for Toon Disney, which jumped by more than 5 million households last year to more than 54 million, and Nick Toons, up more than 4 million to 40 million households.
By contrast, Nick, Disney and Cartoon are all available in more than 88 million homes.
Meanwhile, in other younger viewer ratings for the week ending July 1:
Among teens 12-17: Fox was first with a 1.2 rating and 5 share, followed by the CW at 0.9/4, Univision at 0.8/4, ABC, CBS and NBC at 0.7/3, Telefutura at 0.5/2, Telemundo at 0.2/1, and Azteca at 0.0/0.
Among kids 2-11: Univision led with a 0.9/5, followed by Fox at 0.8/4, ABC at 0.7/3, NBC, CBS and the CW at 0.5/2, Telefutura at 0.4/2, Telemundo at 0.2/1, and Azteca at 0.0/0.
The top five shows among kids 2-5: 1. “Dora the Explorer” (Nickelodeon, Thursday 11:30 a.m.); 2. “Blue’s Clues” (Nickelodeon, Monday 10 a.m.); 3. “SpongeBob SquarePants” (Nickelodeon, Saturday 10:30 a.m.); 4. “SpongeBob SquarePants” (Nickelodeon, Friday 11 a.m.); 5. “SpongeBob SquarePants” (Nickelodeon, Saturday 11 a.m.)
The top five shows among kids 6-11: 1. “Hannah Montana” (Disney, Tuesday 7 p.m.); 2. “Hannah Montana” (Disney, Wednesday 7 p.m.); 3. “Suite Life of Zack & Cody” (Disney, Tuesday 6:30 p.m.); 4. “Suite Life of Zack & Cody” (Disney, Friday 7:30 p.m.); 5. “Suite Life of Zack & Cody” (Disney, Wednesday 7:30 p.m.)
The top five shows among kids 9-14: 1. “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen” (Disney, Friday 8 p.m.); 2. “Hannah Montana” (Disney, Tuesday 7 p.m.); 3. “Suite Life of Zack & Cody” (Disney, Friday 7:30 p.m.); 4. “Hannah Montana” (Disney, Friday 7 p.m.); 5. “Suite Life of Zack & Cody” (Disney, Tuesday 7:30 p.m.)
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TOP 10 PROGRAMS – BROADCAST & CABLE
Kids 2-5
Week Ended July 1 |
|
|
Program |
Net |
Rtg% |
(000) |
|
1
|
DORA THE EXPLORER-06/28/2007
|
NICK
|
6.4
|
1005
|
|
2
|
BLUES CLUES-06/25/2007
|
NICK
|
6.3
|
990
|
|
3
|
SPONGEBOB-06/30/2007
|
NICK
|
6.2
|
979
|
|
4
|
SPONGEBOB-06/29/2007
|
NICK
|
6.1
|
963
|
|
5
|
SPONGEBOB-06/30/2007
|
NICK
|
6.1
|
959
|
|
6
|
BACKYARDIGANS, THE-06/25/2007
|
NICK
|
6
|
942
|
|
7
|
GO, DIEGO, GO!-06/25/2007
|
NICK
|
5.8
|
913
|
|
8
|
SPONGEBOB-06/30/2007
|
NICK
|
5.7
|
906
|
|
9
|
BLUES CLUES-06/28/2007
|
NICK
|
5.7
|
894
|
|
10
|
WONDER PETS-06/25/2007
|
NICK
|
5.6
|
889
|
|
Source: Disney-ABC Television Group, based on data from Nielsen Media Research
|
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TOP 10 PROGRAMS – BROADCAST & CABLE
Kids 6-11
Week Ended July 1 |
|
|
Program |
Net |
Rtg% |
(000) |
|
1
|
HANNAH MONTANA-06/26/2007
|
DSNY
|
7.6
|
1851
|
|
2
|
HANNAH MONTANA-06/27/2007
|
DSNY
|
7.2
|
1750
|
|
3
|
SUITE LIFE OF ZACK & CODY-06/26/2007
|
DSNY
|
6.7
|
1634
|
|
4
|
SUITE LIFE OF ZACK & CODY-06/29/2007
|
DSNY
|
6.7
|
1633
|
|
5
|
SUITE LIFE OF ZACK & CODY-06/27/2007
|
DSNY
|
6.6
|
1611
|
|
6
|
SUITE LIFE OF ZACK & CODY-06/26/2007
|
DSNY
|
6.6
|
1604
|
|
7
|
HANNAH MONTANA-06/26/2007
|
DSNY
|
6.6
|
1591
|
|
8
|
HANNAH MONTANA-06/29/2007
|
DSNY
|
6.5
|
1588
|
|
9
|
CONFESSIONS/TEENAGE DRAMA-06/29/2007
|
DSNY
|
6.2
|
1505
|
|
10
|
SPONGEBOB-06/30/2007
|
NICK
|
6.1
|
1483
|
|
Source: Disney-ABC Television Group, based on data from Nielsen Media Research
|
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TOP 10 PROGRAMS – CABLE
Kids 9-14
Week Ended July 1 |
|
Rank |
Program |
Net |
Rtg% |
(000) |
|
1
|
CONFESSIONS/TEENAGE DRAMA-06/29/2007
|
DSNY
|
7.3
|
1788
|
|
2
|
HANNAH MONTANA-06/26/2007
|
DSNY
|
7.2
|
1774
|
|
3
|
SUITE LIFE OF ZACK & CODY-06/29/2007
|
DSNY
|
6.5
|
1604
|
|
4
|
HANNAH MONTANA-06/29/2007
|
DSNY
|
6.3
|
1556
|
|
5
|
SUITE LIFE OF ZACK & CODY-06/26/2007
|
DSNY
|
6.2
|
1533
|
|
6
|
HANNAH MONTANA-06/27/2007
|
DSNY
|
6.2
|
1517
|
|
7
|
SUITE LIFE OF ZACK & CODY-06/26/2007
|
DSNY
|
5.9
|
1440
|
|
8
|
SUITE LIFE OF ZACK & CODY-06/30/2007
|
DSNY
|
5.9
|
1440
|
|
9
|
SUITE LIFE OF ZACK & CODY-06/27/2007
|
DSNY
|
5.8
|
1426
|
|
10
|
SUITE LIFE OF ZACK & CODY-06/27/2007
|
DSNY
|
5.7
|
1405
|
|
Source: Disney-ABC Television Group, based on data from Nielsen Media Research
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