Led by their most popular cartoon character "SpongeBob SquarePants," Nickelodeon continues on year-after-year as the No. 1 network for children's television. It's the major reason that the network keeps on leading the cable TV children's channels.
Not only is it the No. 1 network for kids, but it includes the top ten shows for children aged 2-11.
With their current hold all but impossible to break, Disney (DIS) has responded by going after the niche 9-14 tween group. They've done really well this year as "High School Musical," "Hannah Montana" and "Cheetah Girls 2," has been immensely 
popular in this space.
"The momentum just kind of exploded and kept on going as the year went along. ... We're over the moon," says Scott Garner, Disney Channel's senior vice president for programming.
As a result, Disney has had a strong 17 percent growth this year in the ratings, while Nickelodeon has remained flat for the most part. Still, Nickelodeon remains strong in its core demographic as in ages 2-11, they average 1.2 million viewers, while Disney is second at 879,000.
The two channels are doing so well that some weeks they've accounted for around 75% of the top 40 cable shows as measured by Nielsen Media Research.
I know I must be getting old when I read posts about popular television shows and I have never heard of most of them!
I remember when Nickelodeon meant the show "You Can't Do That On Television." Do todays Nick watchers even know that show existed?
Posted by: WORTH A BILLION | December 27, 2006 12:32 AM | Permalink to Comment