Nickelodeon Sees Digital Dollars Surge on 'Multi-Splatform' Approach
Andrew Hampp
Advertising Age
February 25, 2008
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- A couple of years ago,
Nickelodeon's digital revenue was on par with the
average broadcast network -- a few banner ads,
accounting for about 10% of overall ad dollars. But
after a booming, "multi-splatform" season, the network
can claim that digital dollars made up almost a third of
its nearly billion-dollar take in 2007.
Not bad for a network whose top-rated site, nick.com,
still trails the ad-free Disney group of sites in unique
visitors by more than half on a monthly basis, according
to ComScore Media Metrix.
"We have a lot of different business on the digital
front, whether it's Nick or Neopets or Addicting Games
or Shockwave," said Jim Perry, exec VP-ad sales for
Nickelodeon and MTV Networks' Kids and Family Group. Mr.
Perry's group has five kid-targeted web properties that
together reach 3 million or more unique visitors a
month, thus justifying the boom in ad spend.
Up next: an expansion of vertical ad network
ParentsConnect, which recently was added to its Babunga
family. "We really have some opportunities in going
after the mom and dad and overall family," Mr. Perry
said. "We know marketers are out there looking to reach
families for a variety of categories, like travel, auto
and package goods, and it will be a big focus of ours
going forward."
Gaming is key
The ParentsConnect expansion is one of many recent
acquisitions and add-ons TV networks have made in the
past year to increase their upfront offerings. Cartoon
Network's sites, which reach an average of 6.8 million
monthly unique visitors, are major gaming destinations
for its core audience of boys 6 to 11 but had been
bought as add-ons in their first eight years.
John O'Hara, the kiddie cabler's senior VP-ad sales,
considered last year's upfront a "milestone" in terms of
significant online dollars shifting to upfront buys from
scatter. "We think advertisers came around in a bigger
way to commit money to our digital properties," he said.
"The result of that is the recognition that kids are
such strong consumers online and spend so much time
online."
David Tepper, who buys kids' media for Hasbro at WPP
Group's MediaCom, said Cartoon has been effective in
threading multiplatform deals together for his clients.
Yet the monetization of some of the gaming activity
remains tricky. "You can't have a Doritos try be part of
a game; it's against FCC regulations," Mr. Tepper said.
FCC guidelines prevent marketers from integrating their
products into children's programming without giving full
disclosure.
Digital spending so far has tended to be proportional to
the network's ratings strength. Nick, which has seen
upticks in ratings in its flagship events such as the
Kids Choice Awards as well as breakout hits such as "The
Naked Brothers Band" and "iCarly," is in a good position
to command a larger share of digital ad spend while
Cartoon will have to create a bit more demand.