History of Nickelodeon facts for kids
Nickelodeon is a popular American television network that shows programs for kids and teenagers. It's part of a bigger company called ViacomCBS. Nickelodeon has grown a lot and now has several other channels in the U.S. and around the world.
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How Nickelodeon Started (1977–1979)
The idea for Nickelodeon came from Dr. Vivian Horner. She was an educator and worked on the PBS show The Electric Company. Dr. Horner created Nickelodeon's very first show, Pinwheel.
Pinwheel first aired on December 1, 1977. It was part of a new cable TV system called QUBE in Columbus, Ohio. QUBE offered ten special channels, and one of them, C-3, showed Pinwheel every day for many hours. Pinwheel became very popular, which led Dr. Horner to think about making a whole TV channel just for kids.
At first, the company that owned Nickelodeon, Warner Cable, didn't expect it to make a lot of money. They saw it as a way to attract more people to their cable service. Having a commercial-free channel for children was a big advantage over other companies like HBO.
Nickelodeon's National Launch (1979–1984)
Nickelodeon officially launched across the country on April 1, 1979. It was the first TV network ever made just for children! Early shows included Pinwheel, Video Comic Book, America Goes Bananaz, Nickel Flicks, and By the Way. All these shows were made in the QUBE studios in Columbus. For its first few years, Pinwheel was the main show, playing for several hours each day.
Vivian Horner and her team brainstormed names for the new channel. Sandy Kavanaugh, who produced Pinwheel, suggested "Nickelodeon." She thought it sounded fun and playful. The channel's first logo was designed by Joseph Iozzi. His son, Joseph Iozzi II, was even the first model in a Nickelodeon advertisement!
Nickelodeon quickly became available to more and more viewers. It was sent out using a satellite called Satcom-1. Even though it started on the QUBE system earlier, 1979 is considered the official launch year for the national channel.
Early Programming and Changes
The first Nickelodeon logo showed a person looking into a nickelodeon machine. Since the channel didn't have commercials at first, it showed short clips between programs. These clips featured a male mime doing tricks. When it launched, Nickelodeon aired for 13 hours on weekdays and 14 hours on weekends. After Nickelodeon finished broadcasting each day, another movie channel called Star Channel (which later became The Movie Channel) took over the channel space.
In 1979, American Express bought half of Warner Cable Corporation. This led to the creation of Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, which managed Nickelodeon and Star Channel.
New shows were added in 1980, like Dusty's Treehouse and Special Delivery. In 1981, Nickelodeon got a new logo. It looked like a disco ball with colorful "Nickelodeon" text. Later that year, a Canadian comedy show called You Can't Do That on Television came to Nickelodeon. It became the channel's first big hit! This show was famous for its green slime, which Nickelodeon later used in many of its own shows, like the game show Double Dare. Other early shows included The Third Eye and Mr. Wizard's World.
On April 12, 1981, Nickelodeon started airing for 13 hours every day, seven days a week. By this time, The Movie Channel was its own 24-hour channel. During Nickelodeon's off-hours, another channel called ARTS (which later became A&E) would broadcast.
Around this time, Nickelodeon, along with music channels MTV and RTS, became part of a new company called MTV Networks. To make more money, Nickelodeon started accepting "corporate underwriting," which is like sponsorships often seen on public television.
The Laybourne Era (1984–1996)
Nickelodeon faced challenges at first and was losing money by 1984. Its shows weren't very popular, and it was one of the least-watched cable channels. To fix this, MTV Networks president Bob Pittman brought in Fred Seibert and Alan Goodman. They had created MTV's famous channel IDs and were asked to help make Nickelodeon exciting again. Many people think this led to the channel's "golden age."
Fred/Alan Inc. worked with another advertising firm to rebrand the network. The old "pinball" logo was replaced with a new one. This new logo featured the word "Nickelodeon" in a fun font called "Balloon," often placed on different orange backgrounds, especially a famous "splat" design. This logo was used in many variations for almost 25 years! The new look launched in October 1984. Within six months, Nickelodeon became the top channel for children's programming and stayed that way for a long time, even with new channels like Disney Channel and Cartoon Network appearing. Nickelodeon also started calling itself "The First Kids' Network." Along with the new look, Nickelodeon began showing traditional commercials.
In the summer of 1984, A&E decided to become a 24-hour channel. After A&E stopped sharing its space, Nickelodeon started broadcasting 24 hours a day in June. To fill the late-night hours, general manager Geraldine Laybourne came up with the idea for a block of classic TV shows. On July 1, 1985, Nickelodeon launched this new nighttime block called Nick at Nite.
In 1986, Viacom bought MTV, RTS, Nickelodeon, and VH1 from Warner Communications. This ended Warner's time in children's television. In 1988, Nickelodeon aired the first Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. This show let viewers vote for their favorite TV shows, movies, and sports stars. Nickelodeon also introduced Nick Jr., a block of shows for preschool children, which started with reruns of Pinwheel.
Nickelodeon Studios and Nicktoons
On June 7, 1990, Nickelodeon opened Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, Florida. Many of its live-action shows and game shows were filmed there. Nickelodeon also partnered with Pizza Hut to give out a new magazine called Nickelodeon Magazine for free.
While Nickelodeon had shown cartoons from other companies since it started, it didn't make its own original animated series until the early 1990s. On August 11, 1991, Nickelodeon launched its "Nicktoons" brand with three new animated shows: Doug, Rugrats, and Ren & Stimpy. These shows were a big success! Ren & Stimpy was even the most popular cable TV show at one point. This led to a fourth Nicktoon, Rocko's Modern Life, which also became a hit.
Doug and The Ren & Stimpy Show ended production around 1995. However, Doug was later brought back by ABC. Rugrats returned from a break in 1997 and became the channel's top-rated show.
Expanding Programming and New Initiatives
On August 15, 1992, Nickelodeon added a new primetime block on Saturdays called SNICK. It aired from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. SNICK became home to popular shows like Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Clarissa Explains It All, All That, The Amanda Show, and Kenan & Kel. Later, SNICK became part of TEENick, which was a block for older kids and teens.
In 1994, Nickelodeon started The Big Help, a program that encouraged kids to get involved in their communities and help the environment. That same year, Nickelodeon launched a new sketch comedy show called All That. This show helped start the careers of many actors and actresses like Kenan Thompson and Amanda Bynes. Dan Schneider, one of the show's producers, went on to create many other hit Nickelodeon series, including Drake & Josh, iCarly, and Henry Danger. Also in 1994, Nickelodeon debuted another hit Nicktoon, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters.
The Scannell Era (1996–2006)
On February 13, 1996, Herb Scannell became the president of Nickelodeon. During the 1990s, Saturday morning cartoons were very popular. However, new rules for broadcast TV stations meant they had to show more educational programs. Cable channels like Nickelodeon didn't have these same rules, which gave them an advantage. By 1997, Nickelodeon's Saturday morning shows were more popular than all the broadcast channels.
Nickelodeon released its first movie in theaters in 1996, Harriet the Spy. It made twice its budget! Two years later, the popular Rugrats cartoon became a movie, The Rugrats Movie. It earned over $100 million in the U.S., making it the first non-Disney animated movie to reach that amount.
On April 28, 1998, Nickelodeon and Sesame Workshop (the creators of Sesame Street) teamed up to create a new educational TV brand for kids aged 6–12. This new channel was called Noggin, meaning "head," to show it was about learning. Noggin launched on February 2, 1999, and showed programs from both Sesame Workshop and Nickelodeon.
The Rise of SpongeBob SquarePants
On May 1, 1999, the channel showed a preview of a new animated series called SpongeBob SquarePants right after the Kids' Choice Awards. It quickly became the most popular Nicktoon ever and is still incredibly popular today. By 2001, many adults were watching the show too. A SpongeBob SquarePants movie was announced in 2002. The SpongeBob franchise has made billions of dollars from merchandise!
In March 2004, Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite started being rated separately by Nielsen (a company that measures TV viewership). This was because they had different shows, advertisers, and target audiences.
On June 14, 2005, Viacom, the company that owned Nickelodeon, decided to split into two separate companies. In December 2005, Nickelodeon and the rest of the MTV Networks division became part of the new Viacom company. The original Viacom was renamed CBS Corporation.
Nickelodeon Studios closed in 2005. Nickelodeon then moved its live-action show productions to studios in Hollywood, California. In 2005, Nickelodeon also premiered the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender, which became another big hit for the network.
The Zarghami Era (2006–2018)
On January 4, 2006, Cyma Zarghami became the new president of Nickelodeon. She was in charge of a new group called Kids & Family Group, which included Nickelodeon and its sister channels like Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., TeenNick, and Nicktoons.
In 2007, Nickelodeon partnered with Sony Music to create music-themed TV shows. One successful show was The Naked Brothers Band, which was about a pre-teen rock band. Their songs even made it onto the Billboard music charts! Another popular music-themed show was Big Time Rush, which ran from 2009 to 2013. It became Nickelodeon's second-most successful live-action show after iCarly.
New Logo and Global Expansion
In early 2009, Nickelodeon revealed a new logo. It was designed to create a more unified look across all of MTV Networks' children's channels. The new logo debuted on September 28, 2009, on Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, and Nicktoons, as well as the newly launched TeenNick and Nick Jr. channels.
This new logo was then adopted by Nickelodeon channels around the world, including in the United Kingdom, Spain, Asia, and Latin America. In November 2009, a Canadian version of Nickelodeon was launched.
In 2009 and 2010, Viacom bought the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Winx Club franchises. Nickelodeon Animation Studio then produced a new CGI-animated Turtles series and new seasons of Winx Club. These were part of Nickelodeon's plan to bring back popular brands for new viewers. In 2011, Nickelodeon also debuted House of Anubis, a mystery series based on a Dutch show. It was the first original series for the U.S. channel to be produced entirely outside of North America.
Around 2011, Nickelodeon's long streak as the highest-rated children's cable channel started to change. Its viewership declined, and Disney Channel became the top-rated cable network that year. However, Nickelodeon's viewership slowly started to recover. On July 17, 2014, the network televised the first Kids' Choice Sports, a spin-off of the Kids' Choice Awards that celebrates athletes.
Since 2016, Nickelodeon has started making TV movies based on its older shows, like Legends of the Hidden Temple and Hey Arnold!. Some of these movies, like Rocko's Modern Life and Invader Zim, premiered on Netflix.
The Robbins Era (2018–Present)
In June 2018, Cyma Zarghami stepped down as president of Nickelodeon. In October 2018, Brian Robbins took over as the new president.
In January 2019, Viacom bought a free streaming service called Pluto TV. They then created free channels for Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. on Pluto TV. These included channels like NickMovies (for live-action movies), NickGames (for game shows), Dora TV (for Dora the Explorer episodes), and Totally Turtles (for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episodes). In August 2019, Viacom also bought Garfield, with plans for a new animated TV series.
In late 2019, Nickelodeon and Netflix signed a deal to create new animated movies and TV series based on Nickelodeon characters. This was to compete with new streaming services like Disney+. Some projects include a music project based on SpongeBob SquarePants character Squidward Tentacles and specials based on The Loud House.
After Viacom merged with CBS Corporation to form ViacomCBS at the end of 2019, much of Nickelodeon's content moved to the CBS All Access streaming service. This service was later renamed Paramount+ on March 4, 2021. New shows like the SpongeBob SquarePants spin-off Kamp Koral and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run debuted on Paramount+. ViacomCBS also announced that other content based on classic Nickelodeon series would stream on Paramount+ in the future, including a live-action The Fairly OddParents, a CGI Rugrats, and a rebooted iCarly.
As a result of the ViacomCBS merger, CBS Sports started working with Nickelodeon on its NFL coverage. This allowed Nickelodeon to show a special youth-focused version of an NFL playoff game in 2021. Nickelodeon also played a big part in CBS's coverage of Super Bowl LV that year, with special programming and online content related to the game.
Images for kids
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One of the many different variations of Nickelodeon's "splat" logo, used from October 1984 to September 27, 2009.
