Project Paramount - Rebuilding Nickelodeon and Parting Words

Much like its first real sibling MTV, Nickelodeon has lost its way. While no longer the destination for kids entertainment it was decades ago, Nick is still largely seen as a kids brand and should be respected as one. Children’s entertainment is still important, and Nick should be the center of children’s entertainment. 

However, I think the folks at Paramount need to understand an ultimate truth:

Nickelodeon is also a nostalgia brand, much like MTV. 

Second-half members of Generation X, Millennials, and Zenials were the core audience of Nickelodeon at its peak and still look fondly on the brand a lot more than their kids do. Nick has constantly tried to attract them more, especially the audience that largely dominated the culture in the 1990s. 

Some folks have a problem with Nick going in a little more into its '90s-era nostalgia more than with today's audience and not really where they are, which is everywhere BUT cable and streaming platforms.  

So, there’s where Nickelodeon is right now. It’s a kids brand and it’s a nostalgia brand, and it’s high time that Paramount learns to balance both sides of the brand’s legacy.

• Reestablish Nickelodeon as the leading children’s cable brand. This doesn’t have to be hard. Remember the foundations of what made the brand work, utilize that on the actual linear channel as well as across streaming platforms, including Paramount+ and Pluto TV, and modernize the formula without deviating from the foundational standards of the brand. 
• Invest in original live-action and animated productions and air them ON Nickelodeon with secondary premieres on Paramount+ and Pluto TV. You must incubate new and rising talent within Nickelodeon in live-action and animation divisions to develop new concepts and stories. Remember the past but always look forward. Focus on the actual Nickelodeon brand on the Nickelodeon linear network first. Nick should always be the first platform when it comes to original Nickelodeon-branded programming. Not Paramount+, not Pluto TV, and definitely not Netflix. That said...
• Expand Nick’s digital footprint outside of Paramount+ and Pluto TV. I know I mentioned not having Netflix synonymous with the Nick brand. This only extends to PREMIERES, not shows from the Nickelodeon library. The library should found be where the audiences are, including Netflix, YouTube, The Roku Channel, Prime Video, Tubi, and various non-Paramount AVOD platforms. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles FAST channel that airs the 1987 series is a great example of a Nick brand seen beyond its own walled gardens. I'm not suggesting Nick put their spongy golden cow out everywhere, but the bulk of the library should be out there. Warner Bros Animation just announced that several of its Cartoon Network originals are heading to Tubi. Certainly, Nickelodeon would try to put some of their older pre-Spongebob Nicktoons there as well like the original three (Doug, Rugrats, and The Ren and Stimpy Show), Rocko's Modern Life, and Hey Arnold there as well
• Launch an actual retro Nicktoons channel on third-party digital and streaming platforms with pre-SpongeBob originals as well as The Alvin Show, Star Trek: The Animated Series, Terrytoons, Paramount theatrical shorts, and third-party shows from Nick's past like Pelswick, Inspector Gadget, Heathcliff, Danger Mouse, Count Duckula, and even stuff like Grimm's Fairy Tale Theater, Maya the Bee, The World of David the Gnome, and The Mysterious Cities of Gold on a network under the Nick branding would be a hell of a throwback. I'd work like hell to get streaming rights to some of those
• Build up social media footprint across third-party sites including YouTube, as well as reestablish nick.com as a safe outlet for younger users.
• Create Nick-branded digital networks outside of Pluto TV for third-party streaming platforms targeted towards Gen X/Millennial audiences with library shows and acquisitions from the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s without going overboard with SpongeBob SquarePants and other Nicktoons or the Fred Schneider-era sitcoms. Work with third-party producers of shows that once graced Nickelodeon to add variety to them. Curate the channels and set a new standard. Oh, and it must use the 1984 branding elements, not the current 2009 branding since that's the visual identity of that era of Nick. Every nostalgia brand should use the 1984 branding.
• Shut down linear Nicktoons and TeenNick and replace them with branded channels exclusively for Pluto TV. The cable audience has been shrinking and considering the channels have largely become one-show automatons, perhaps dropping them linearly and reestablishing those brands on Pluto TV would be the way to go. 
• Shut down NickMusic. See Club MTV in Project MTV, which explains why that network would, more or less, take the reins of what NickMusic and TeenNick does linearly.
• Preserve as much of the older library as possible.  This is imperative as master recordings are becoming scarcer and deteriorating due to being on videotape. Creating digital masters of the older pre-digital library is necessary to preserve the shows of the past so future generations could appreciate them.
• Create new projects/adaptations based on pre-Nicktoons-era Nick programming for younger generations like Pinwheel, Livewire, The Third Eye, Don't Just Sit There, Eureeka's Castle, Salute Your Shorts, Hey Dude, Nick Arcade, Wild & Crazy Kids, GUTS, and others. This is part of "remembering the past" I was talking about earlier. Nickelodeon used to be more than SpongeBob, and I feel if the channel really wants to become relevant in the future, perhaps going back to basics would be a great way to do that. Variety is needed, and it's weird how there are very few shows that viewers feel they're a part of. Viewers used to be an active part of Nickelodeon, but today, they're passive. And it's not like kids don't like shows like that. Look at the biggest YouTube channels for proof of that. Plus, it'd be nice to shake up the lineup with live-action shows that aren't just teen-driven shows in school. Understand what the network was about, find that real connection to viewers, and don't insult their intelligence. In the words of a popular show that kind of has ties to Nick, kids are people too.

So, this is the part where I end this project. It's short, I know. I didn't go into other sectors of the company. 

As I mentioned earlier, I think BET is probably the only network division that's actually working, and, sadly, I think it is because Paramount treats it as a separate-but-equal unit of Paramount Skydance. BET has its own infrastructure, management, and organization that feels like a rational unit. For a while, it seemed like Paramount was going to spin it off because, well, it was the Black unit of Paramount. Under the current ownership of Skydance, I think BET might succeed in spite of them, not because of them. The one thing I'd want BET to do is really reignite the Soul Train brand that is under BET's purview beyond award shows and cruises, but that's really it. 

As for the other units and brands, I honestly think they're on borrowed time. TV Land, LOGO, POP, CMT, Paramount Network, even Comedy Central, the latter of which is basically The Daily Show and South Park, and Paramount+ has proven that those two brands could work on that platform more than they do linearly. I mentioned that the music side of CMT, at least what little remains, could easily fit into MTV Palladia, as I mentioned in Project MTV. 

And with that... I'm tapping out. 

I think the units I did reexamine and made bullet points on are the ones that need the help the most, and if I was in charge of a company like Paramount, this is what I'd begin. 

Unfortunately, I'm not in that kind of position and never would be, and I think the folks who have that power have no bloody idea what they're getting into or what they have access to. The fact they want even more units by pursuing Warner Bros Discovery without even doing anything with Paramount as a whole is just mindboggling insane to me.

I keep reading reactions to the impending deal with the suggestion that Netflix, not Skydance, would be a monopoly. How would Netflix be a monopoly if they bought Warner Bros and Paramount wouldn't be one if they bought Warner Bros Discovery? Honestly, Paramount would own two major Hollywood studios, two major streaming platforms (and two minor platforms), two major premium channels, two news units, two sports units, and majority of the major cable television brands. Meanwhile, Netflix would own one studio and two major streaming platforms, yet to many, THEY'RE a monopoly. 

It's exhausting, man. I'm tired.

I hope that one day, Paramount Skydance understands what they have and work to rebuild it into a better media company. The brands I talked about have potential. Sadly, I don't think that Skydance will ever let those units achieve that potential. Plus, they're more interested in becoming a bloated company and gaining favor with the fetid felonious leader and his administration.

Pity, really.