Where do you think Nick (and Viacom as a whole) will be in 5 years?

[Jane]

It's no secret that Nickelodeon and Viacom as a whole have been badly mismanaged for over a decade now. Executives and the head honchos are paying themselves bonuses after bonuses while underpaying a great deal of their staff and are making very retarded decisions that are leading the company into declining revenue and faltering ratings in Nick's case. With all this mind, and with the fact out there that Nick's ratings are catastrophically dropping every year, I bet that within the next five years Nick and Viacom as a whole will have some major restructuring going forward. Assuming Nick doesn't get sold off or go online only, all of the executives will hopefully get laid off and replaced with some more forward thinking executives. Literally anyone here can point out the main flaws with Nick today. They overplay SpongeBob and their hit sitcom of the day excessively, they target one demographic of kids exclusively (they seem to think shows with butt and selfie jokes are the only way to attract kids), they assume that if a show doesn't get SpongeBob tier ratings that it's a huge flop (a Harvey Beaks writer wrote about this a while ago), and they obviously need to let go of SpongeBob. I'm not the person who's gonna go and whine about how Nick doesn't appeal to me, but compared to what Cartoon Network and even Disney lately have been going, they're doing everything wrong. The other two networks have a variety of shows that appeal to different tastes.Cartoon Network has Adventure Time, a slightly edgy and trippy show that appeals to both kids and skews adults as well, Regular Show is more aimed at teens and adults that love everything 80s, Steven Universe delves into deeper themes than more cartoons and has a lot of female fans in thanks to its strong portrayl of women, and Uncle Grandpa is meant for younger kids and people in general who are into really wacky and cartoony shows. Disney on the other hand has Gravity Falls which attracts a huge fanbase of people of all ages and genders, while Wander Over Yonder is enjoyed by it's small but passionate fans. See what I mean? Nick exclusively caters to kids who are into low brow humor and while that's fine, they don't do anything else. Since they also drop more unique shows like a stone if they begin to drop in ratings, no one except those types of people wanna watch Nick anymore. They do have one show that caters outside of that demo, Harvey Beaks, but that is probably gonna get cancelled.

Within 5 years I hope whoever gets placed in charge greenlights shows aimed at people with different tastes. The other networks aren't afraid to make something new and unfortunately Nick refuses to do that. Heck, Disney just willingly cancelled Phineas and Ferb, their biggest cash cow. What does Nick do with their cash cow? Milk it until it's not even beating a dead horse but a rotting carcass. They're made two (soon to be three) movies, ordered close to 10 seasons, and kept it on for 16 years when it's not even really relevant to a lot of animation enthusiasts nowadays. Yes, the very recent episodes that have aired this year are very good, but Nick shows a dangerous unwillingness to let go of their bread and butter and try something new. Do I think it's gonna get cancelled? Hell no. Unless they get a really wise executive, it won't. But their over reliance on SpongeBob is probably the main reason (besides what I just mentioned and terrible marketing) why Nick's failing.

So, this was a long post... Where do you think Nick will be in 5 years, and why do you think their ratings are dropping?

[illiniguy34]

I hope in 5 years that they actually catch up with the times cause they really need to. If that doesn't happen, they might not exist.

[Popeye Q. Krabs]

If SpongeBob wasn't such a big hit, they probably would have sold off Nickelodeon to some other company at least. They're in a slump right now that I don't see ending for at least another couple of years until maybe CN and Disney start declining again and then they can use that as an opportunity to bounce back.

[Metal Snake]

Nickelodeon used to be awesome. It's obviously gone downhill, but that's not my problem with them. My problem is that they have shown little to no signs of improvement since then, unlike Cartoon Network which improved massively, and Disney Channel which has at least made some effort. Too many of the decisions Nickelodeon has made are just...saddening.

 

I do not see them in a good place in the future five years from now.

[Jane]

I don't blame Nick for realizing they're in deep shit and trying to change it. The problem is that they're going about it in a very wrong way.

 

See, the decline started I'd say when the SpongeBob movie came out. Steve wanted to end it obviously, but since they were expecting the movie to do well (and since it did), they wanted more episodes. Steve resigned to a less creatively involved position and Paul took charge since he asked. The movie ended up doing fantastically and SpongeBob continued to grow in popularity, and Nick wanted to double down on it, so they made every show going forward like SpongeBob, wanting another hit. More unique shows like A:TLA and Danny Phantom were pushed to the side. That led them into the slump they are now.

 

What are they doing to try and get out of it? Copy Regular Show and Adventure Time and make a lot of their shows have a lot of selfie and fart jokes to soulessly attract kids. They gave newer SpongeBob a bigger budget because the second movie did so well. Probably the only reason SpongeBob is a lot better now.

[So Sejima]

[Guest]

They'll sell SpongeBob to CN and die.

[illiniguy34]

They'll sell SpongeBob to CN and die.

[Jane]

I don't think Viacom woud ever sell SpongeBob. That is their most valuable property they own if I had to guess.

[Burgerpants]

[Minty Car]

Only going to get worse I imagine. I don't see an answer to salvage things coming anytime soon and the downward spiral continues

[TJ]

I'm honestly not sure where they'll be in five years. It all depends on Nick shaping up their weak spots, which is a lot right now. Better writers, less reliance of SB, etc. If they can turn themselves around before it's too late, than they'll be good.

[PatrickStar]

I always thought that if SpongeBob was gone, Nick would just be nothing. And at it's current state, it still certainly seems that way. I don't watch the channel anymore unless, well, SpongeBob is on. And even then that's still not often.

 

This channel has literally nothing worth watching anymore. I'm looking at my TV's guide, and it looks like Sanjay and Craig is dying and so is Harvey Beaks.

The weekly schedule consists of tons of SpongeBob, Alvinnn! and the Chipmunks, Thundermans, Game Shakers, and Henry Danger.

 

I mean jeez, Nick. Have some variety.

[PatBack]

I doubt Viacom as a whole will go down: in spite of our romanticized vision on how companies work, they do not simply collapse like Jenga blocks. Viacom still has other channels are, regardless of their quality, still get sufficient ratings to keep it afloat for, let's say the next ten years or so. Nickelodeon, on the other hand, I can see getting reformed.

 

But let's talk realistically: Nick may get poor ratings compared to their heyday, but when you consider viewership inflation it's relatively sound. Truth is, all channels are getting significantly less ratings than they did in the past, and it's because of the internet. I wouldn't be surprised if television in general goes the way of the radio. So people are being far too hasty about Nickelodeon.

[Jane]

I doubt Viacom as a whole will go down: in spite of our romanticized vision on how companies work, they do not simply collapse like Jenga blocks. Viacom still has other channels are, regardless of their quality, still get sufficient ratings to keep it afloat for, let's say the next ten years or so. Nickelodeon, on the other hand, I can see getting reformed.

 

But let's talk realistically: Nick may get poor ratings compared to their heyday, but when you consider viewership inflation it's relatively sound. Truth is, all channels are getting significantly less ratings than they did in the past, and it's because of the internet. I wouldn't be surprised if television in general goes the way of the radio. So people are being far too hasty about Nickelodeon.

It won't go the way of the radio, at least not for another decade. Tv stations have loads of money right now. Eventually internet will fully take over (it already kinda is though, I mean Pewdiepie has 56 million subscribers, as much as some cable companies have customers) and television will get a wake up call. Cable companies will probably lower prices when they realize that and upload stuff on the internet simuelnateously.

[crushingmayhem]

A lot of things can happen in 5 years so its hard to say what will happen. But all I can say is this, things might change on the network, whether it will be change for the good or for the bad is up to guess. Spongebob being as popular as it is might just last a few more years, contrary to many predictions done by several people. In my opinion, if Nick wants to regain its old reputation, it might just have to open itself a little to general audiences and perhaps contract a group of writers and artists to come up with a new show that could become a big hit. SB was pretty much the same back in the day, and look at it now.

[Jane]

so this is a REALLY interesting thread to come back to LMFAO

 

the entire industry changed almost overnight because of COVID and streaming, it's completely different from the industry we knew even a year or two ago. i was talking to an industry friend about this the other day

[Steel Sponge]

As long as ViacomCBS & Nick are able to embrace streaming and as long as they still have SpongeBob, I don't see either them taking a downward turn at this point. It looks like Nickelodeon, as a network, is trying to make room for improvement by trying to move past their old ways (Unless you see It's Pony's move to the Nicktoons channel as a sign that things haven't really changed all that much when it comes to how the network manages their animated programs). They don't seem to care so much about finding their next big hit now that they also have The Loud House and they have every incentive to oversaturate SB to keep themselves alive, even if the network is standing on its last legs, but so is cable in general.