Tatiana Rodriguez

Senior VP, Programming & Creative Strategy
Nickelodeon Latin America

Just a few weeks ago it was announced that Tatiana Rodriguez would be upped to the role of senior VP of programming and creative strategy for Nickelodeon Latin America, a deserving promotion for this Venezuelan native, who has been with the company for more than a decade.

"The beauty of the experience of working at Nickelodeon over these 13 years has been that the promotions don’t come alone," she says. "The promotions come with a lot of new challenges that keep you interested in what you’re doing. I continue to learn, I continue to be challenged. First it was one feed, then two feeds for the region, then it was the launch in Brazil, then it was Nick Jr., then it’s co-productions. There’s always something new that keeps you alive, happy and the best part of the job is you continue to work with little ones."

And Rodriguez has lined up a strong slate for the channel’s ’09 grid to entertain these youngsters. Among the new shows to debut on the channel’s Nick Jr. block is Ni Hao, Kai-Lan, a colorful series that introduces kids to the Mandarin language, along with elements of Chinese culture and values. The show sits alongside Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom, an acquisition from E1 Television International, as a top preschool highlight.

It’s not all about the younger set, either. Nickelodeon Latin America has a strong lineup of new series for elementary-aged children, led by The Penguins of Madagascar. "It’s a co-production with DreamWorks and we’re super excited about it. It’s based on the penguins of the hit movie Madagascar, and they’re so funny! They’re sure to be getting the attention of kids." 

Also on the roster, in the way of animation, are The Mighty B!, Lionsgate’s Speed Racer: The Next Generation and Jimmy Two Shoes, from Canada’s Breakthrough Entertainment. New live-action series are slated as well. "True Jackson, VP is an original Nickelodeon show that has been working beautifully in the U.S.," says Rodriguez. "We also have a live-action acquisition called The Elephant Princess from the same people who did H20."

New seasons of returning hits form the backbone of the channel’s schedule, and Rodriguez has clearly identified her favorites. "It’s all about SpongeBob this year," she says. "There’s a lineup of events and every month we have a special of SpongeBob. We are also adding more iCarly. She’s like our baby girl, we’re putting a lot of attention to it. We also have more Isa TKM, our original novela. We are already working on identifying the next books that we’re going to be developing in the local market. We’re working right now and making decisions on what will be the next novela-type projects."

Isa TKM has been quite the success for the channel, from how it rates to its record-breaking downloads. "It oversold SpongeBob and Dora in its first two months. TKM means I love you much in text-message speak in Spanish. We just brought a fun promotion with one of the main characters of the show saying ‘Send me through SMS any secret code that you may use on SMS texting to talk to your friends.’ We got over 20,000 codes from kids. That’s been extremely successful. It’s one of the properties that’s working 360-degrees and getting every area involved makes it work. We produce it in Venezuela in Spanish, and now we’re dubbing it into Portuguese and we will be launching it in Brazil in April. We hope it will have the same success."

Rodriguez credits the show for helping reach a slightly older demographic, the 7-to-14 set, skewing up to 17. This is a demo not often targeted by the channel, she explains. "We never have a communications strategy for them specifically, but the content itself has attracted them. We’re more than happy to welcome them, and now we’re really thinking of creating little areas of the channel that are dedicated to them. iCarly, Zoey, Isa are really attracting that audience. I also believe that from that age target, they are really looking for things that are not complicated. They just want to come home, sit and watch."

"Definitely animation is something that we’re already doing and we want to continue to do," Rodriguez says of her plans looking forward. "The next natural step for Nickelodeon is to look for a long-form animation in the region. I know that live action is doing extremely well, and we are full speed ahead with it. We’re doing a great job and will continue to deliver to that audience. But the animation is such a big part of our game that we just don’t want to let go and not have it. It’s something that we want to push and continue to adapt."