Parents, Gen Alpha Opps: Nickelodeon rebrands, launches first spots of new campaign (Score 80)

Sales Lead: Nickelodeon recently launched its first rebrand in 14 years, bringing back its nostalgia-packed splat.

• The first of five spots of a new campaign, the "Portal to Fun," made its debut.
  • All five will continue running across Nickelodeon's linear, social, and digital platforms.
• The campaign was made by six agencies, which included creative agency partner Roger. Roger that?
• The initiative also involves an experiential effort in which Nickelodeon reps went to 400 nationwide schools, allowing 250,k kids to slime their favorite teachers.
  • In an additional experience initiative, the brand will host two large events in Philadelphia and DC.
• Per parent company Paramount's ad sales chief, John Halley, the brand is "not going back" to its former, more traditional approach.
• The brand will likely:
  • Continue increasing national TV spend
  • Ramp up digital spend as it launches the rest of the spots
  • Seek new agency partners
• Target demographic: 
  • Gen Alpha
  • Millennial and Gen-X parents

Recent leadership shifts:

• In January, Nickelodeon selected a new marketing and brand strategy EVP, Sabrina Caluori, last summer.
  • Since then, her role has expanded to include Paramount+ kids and family marketing EVP.
• Additionally, it hired program director Dina Madhani in July 2022​​​​.

Additional spending insights:

• Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: So far this year, Nickelodeon has spent approximately $319.2k on national TV commercials, 19% more than the approximately $268.9k spent within the same 2022 timeframe.
  • Last year: In 2022, the channel ended up spending around $2m on this channel, up 5% from when it spent around $1.9m in 2021.
  • 2023 ad programming: Nickelodeon's 2023 commercials have targeted sports-enthused dads watching shows such as NFL Football, Good Morning Football, NFL GameDay Morning, NFL Now, and NFL Football - Classic Replay.
• Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: The brand has allocated roughly $5.4m toward digital ads YTD, 18% less than the roughly $6.6m allocated by this point last year.
  • YTD data: Since the beginning of 2023, Nickelodeon has earned ~590.8m digital impressions via Instagram (42%), YouTube (40%), Facebook (15%), desktop video (1%), mobile display (1%), and desktop display (1%) ads.
  • Last year: The brand's estimated full-year 2022 spend, $23.5m, decreased by 13% from that of $27.1m in 2021.
• Additional channel insights  
  • Nickelodeon utilizes print, local broadcast, digital, radio, OOH, Google Ads, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and online video (primarily via Youtube.com) ads.
  • The brand sponsors podcasts such as Pop Culture Happy Hour.
  • The channel holds planning conversations in Q2 and buying conversations in Q1.

Additional agency insights:

• Opportunity: Nickelodeon's recent leadership shifts could certainly lead to agency reviews, so contact soon to remain top-of-mind.
• Current agency roster:
  • Roger: Creative agency partner
  • BARU Advertising: Creative and multicultural agency partner

Insight Sources: Broadcast insights estimated by iSpot; digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics; additional channel insights estimated by Vivvix; podcast insights by Podchaser.

View our recent update on parent company Paramount here.

Additional contact info:

• RogerTV: Josh Libitsky: Executive Producer - josh@roger.tv