SpongeBob 'Best Day Ever' Gives Nickelodeon Its Most Watched, Highest Rated Day Ever in Network History

SpongeBob 'Best Day Ever' Gives Nickelodeon Its Most Watched, Highest Rated Day Ever in Network History

New 'Best Day Ever' Special Averages Almost 7 Million Total Viewers - The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie Absorbs More Than 7 Million Total Viewers

'Best Day Ever' Online Voting Campaign Generates Almost 5 Million Streams on TurboNick

NEW YORK, Nov. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- This past Friday, Nov. 10, marked the "best day ever" for Nickelodeon. The network's SpongeBob SquarePants all-day marathon earned Nick its most-watched and highest-rated total programming day in its history, averaging 1.9/4.4 million total viewers (P2+). Overall, during its total programming day (from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET/PT) on Friday, Nick averaged a 7.6/2.5 million kids 2-11, a network high average in terms of kid 2-11 viewers, and a 7.5/1.5 million kids 6-11.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20061113/NYM267 )

The Nickelodeon celebration of the happy-go-lucky sponge began Thursday, Nov. 9 at 8:00 p.m. featuring viewers' top 100 cartoon picks, and culminating in an all-new "Best Day Ever" SpongeBob SquarePants special on Friday, November 10 at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT. The marathon was followed by the network premiere of the Paramount Pictures/Nickelodeon Movies feature film, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT.

The "Best Day Ever" special squeezed out tremendous numbers as well, averaged a 12.0/4.0 million kids 2-11, 12.8/2.6 million kids 6-11 and 6.7 million total viewers. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie averaged a 13.3/4.4 million kids 2-11, 14.6/2.9 million kids 6-11 and 7.3 million total viewers.

The marathon kicked on Thursday with a bang. The initial telecast on Nov. 9 at 8 p.m. - 9 p.m. earned a 7.1/2.3 million kids 2-11, 7.7/1.5 Kids 6-11, with 3.9 million total viewers (P2+). The portion of the SpongeBob SquarePants marathon on Nick at Nite (9 p.m. to 11 p.m.) increased ratings and delivery by triple digits among kids 2-11 and 6-11 with a 5.3/1.8 million K2-11, an increase of +204%, and 6.1/1.2 million K6-11, an increase of +188%. An average of 3.2 million viewers tuned in during primetime, with 831,000 adults 18-49.

Leading up to the "Best Day Ever" event, Nickelodeon invited kids to vote (beginning Oct. 5) for their favorite SpongeBob SquarePants cartoons on a new super-site www.nick.com/bestdayever. Kids were encouraged to choose their 10 favorites by viewing clips from multiple SpongeBob SquarePants episodes. The super-site received almost 5 million streams and 3.2 million votes. The fans' votes determined the order of the 24-hour marathon leading up to the premiere of the "Best Day Ever" special. Overall, SpongeBob's "Best Day Ever" campaign was the most successful online campaign for the property to date.

The "SpongeBob Best Day Ever" game went live on Nov. 9 and in just three days, generated 1.3 million game plays and more than 867,000 unique visitors. SpongeBob's "Best Day Ever" full length music video was the number-two video of last week on TurboNick (Nov. 6 to Nov. 12) generating more than 1.4 million streams, with 471,000 unique visitors. The "Best Day Ever" promotion video on TurboNick ranked within the top 10 videos on the broadband player during the same time period with 370,000 streams.

In addition, during the week of Nov. 6, Nick.com experienced a +35% increase in unique visitors over last year, and page views were up 16% over year ago levels. TurboNick also witnessed a +327% increase in streams over year ago levels. Activity increases can be attributed to the online campaign surrounding the SpongeBob "Best Day Ever" television event (source: Omniture SiteCatalyst 2006 & 2005).

In the "Best Day Ever" special, SpongeBob is determined to have the perfect day. His ideal day starts with doing what he loves best -- working at the Krusty Krab, going to meet Sandy for a little Ka-Ra-Tay, jelly fishing with Patrick and topping it all off with Squidward's highly-anticipated clarinet recital. But to his great disappointment, the day does not go at all as he planned. Each of his friends seems to be having a different problem, so naturally he sets out to help them. In doing so, every activity on his perfect day agenda is spoiled. As SpongeBob realizes that he sacrificed his whole day to help others, his friends rally around him with their heartfelt thanks. Brimming with happiness and friendship, SpongeBob realizes that he had his best day ever after all.

The recently released SpongeBob SquarePants': The Best Day Ever CD features all-new, original music as well as the "Best Day Ever" theme song . The critically acclaimed CD features special quests and rock and roll royalty including Brian Wilson and Tommy Ramone. Also at retail, nearly 2 million units of select SpongeBob products include one of five collectible Best Day Ever promotional cards which bring consumers a variety of free SpongeBob downloads.

Launched in July 1999, SpongeBob SquarePants has since emerged as a pop culture phenomenon and one of the most popular series in kids' television history. The Saturday morning play of the series currently ranks as the number-one rated program among Kids 2-11. Nearly 61.4 million viewers tune into the show each month, including 22 million Kids 2-11, 13.7 million Tweens 9-14 and 29.1 million Adults 18+. (Source: Nielsen Cume Data - July 2006). Adult viewers also continue to tune in and have increased by 76% since the premiere of the show.

The most widely distributed property in MTV Networks history, SpongeBob SquarePants is syndicated in 171 markets in 25 languages and consistently rates in the top 3 series among kids in every major market it currently airs in across Europe, Asia, Australia, Latin America and the United States.

Nickelodeon, in its 27th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in more than 90 million households and has been the number- one-rated basic cable network for eleven consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA)(NYSE:and)(NYSE:VIA.B).

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20061113/NYM267
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
AP PhotoExpress Network: PRN20
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Nickelodeon

CONTACT: Joanna Roses, +1-212-846-7326, or Nicole Parker,
+1-818-736-3613, both of Nickelodeon

Web site: http://www.nick.com/
http://www.nick.com/bestdayever

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