Nicktoons Network

World
Screen Weekly, June 12, 2008

COUNTRY: U.S.

LAUNCH
DATE: May 1, 2002

OWNERSHIP: Nicktoons Network is part of the MTV
Networks expanded suite of channels available for digital distribution. MTV
Networks is a division of Viacom.

DISTRIBUTION: 50.2 million homes

DESCRIPTION:
A sister service of
Nickelodeon, the 24-hour animation network features a wide range of programming
targeted at kids 6 to 14, with a majority of its schedule devoted to content
that is exclusive to the channel.

GENERAL
MANAGER, NICKTOONS NETWORK & SENIOR VP, NICKELODEON PROGRAMMING
PARTNERSHIPS: Keith
Dawkins

VP, PROGRAM
PLANNING & STRATEGY:
Sakeena Irish

DIRECTOR,
PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT: Christina Vann

CREATIVE
DIRECTOR: Terry
McCormick

DIRECTOR OF
MARKETING: Craig
Coleman

PROGRAMMING
STRATEGY: While
Nicktoons Network is targeted broadly at 6- to 14-year-olds, the channel’s
programming does tend to skew towards the boy demographic. “As a channel, we’re
kids 6 to 14, that’s who we play to, but at the same time, we’re all animation,
all the time; all the research shows—and our audience composition shows—that
more boys watch animation,” says Keith Dawkins, the general manager of
Nicktoons Network and senior VP of Nickelodeon Programming Partnerships.

In line with
this strategy, Nicktoons Network recently premiered Speed Racer: The Next
Generation, a new
series that builds on the original 1967 program. Since its debut on May 2, Speed
Racer: The Next Generation has been rating quite well. “We’re really excited about the
potential [for] this property; it’s both new and fresh for its audience, it’s
iconic, it goes back to what I would call anime before we began using the term
anime.”

Other
boy-skewing properties coming up on the channel include Three Delivery, which is scheduled to air this month.
Co-produced by Animation Collective and Canada’s Fatkat Studios, the series
sees teen heroes use extreme biking and kung fu to protect a magic cookbook
from an evil sorcerer set on destroying Chinatown and the world. “We’re going
after the Speed Racers of the world, this kind of high-octane, adventure stuff [that has
a] great narrative, a great story line,” explains Dawkins.

At the same
time, Dawkins does not want to alienate other viewers within the 6-to-14
demographic. “We have the great Nick hits that are gender neutral and big
comedy and they get everyone—they keep the young end of our demo in and
they keep the girls in.”

Dawkins
divides the channel’s programming into two segments. The first is “a big bucket”
comprising 70 to 75 percent of the channel’s schedule with content exclusive to
Nicktoons Network. This includes series like Three Delivery and Kappa Mikey. The second segment consists of
content that is shared with Nickelodeon, such as The Fairly OddParents, SpongeBob SquarePants and Jimmy Neutron. Dawkins says that the channel aims to
“maintain a healthy balance” of Nick hits and new, original fare.

Nicktoons
Network is also focused on “building an audience at any given time,” says
Dawkins, and reaching kids when they’re available, whether it’s in the mornings
before school, after school, or prime time, evenings and weekends. The channel
also rolls out programming stunts based around certain holidays or related to a
show launch. For example, if Nicktoons Network has new episodes of a series coming
up, it will do a marathon of that series to set up the new season. “I don’t
want our air to not feel exciting and engaging for our audience at any given
moment of the day,” says Dawkins.

WHAT’S NEW:
Upcoming launches for
the channel include the 2009 rollouts of the Marvel Entertainment properties Wolverine
and the X-Men and Iron
Man: The Animated Series.
He notes that the deal with Marvel is indicative of Nicktoons Network’s prime
positioning in the kids’ television business. "Marvel is a major player in
the entertainment [industry] as they have iconic properties and characters. Our
deal with them will help continue our growth in the kids’ space. It also speaks
to our current status because Marvel wants to have a home with us."

In fact,
Nicktoons Network was the fastest-growing kids’ network in the past year among
kids 6 to 14, kids 9 to 14 and kids 12 to 17.

A priority for
Dawkins in 2008 is the Nicktoons Network Animation Festival, which features
animated shorts and is going into its fifth year this October. It is the “first
multiplatform animation festival and the largest of its kind in North America.”

WEBSITE: nicktoonsnetwork.nick.com

—By
Irene Lew