Nickelodeon Still Leads the Big Battle for Little Viewers

Roughly a month into the new television season, CBS’ attempt to introduce educational programming for children has offered the network a lesson from the school of hard knocks.

CBS has lost more than half its Saturday morning kids audience--and slipped deeper into the ratings cellar--since switching from animated shows to live-action fare designed to fulfill educational goals.

Meanwhile, longtime kids ratings leader Fox finds itself facing a stiffer challenge from Disney-owned ABC (which beat Fox last week for the first time in more than four years) and Warner Bros.’ WB Network, though all trail cable’s Nickelodeon.

Based on data from Nielsen Media Research through last weekend, about 1.5 million kids between the ages of 2 and 11 tune in Fox each Saturday morning, compared to 1.3 million watching ABC, 862,000 viewing the WB and 235,000 for CBS.

Nickelodeon has averaged close to 2 million kids during those hours, while NBC (appealing principally to teenagers with such live-action comedies as “Saved by the Bell”) attracts about 430,000 children.

*

The competitive landscape underscores a shift that has taken place in the children’s arena: Major networks NBC and CBS have been forced to seek programming niches, while kids have become accustomed to watching Nickelodeon, which has increased its viewership throughout the week, including Saturday mornings.

“We’ve got a great promotional machine in our 105 hours a week” of children’s fare, said Nickelodeon general manager Cyma Zarghami.

Fox and WB also enjoy an advantage by broadcasting children’s programs weekday mornings and afternoons, when stations affiliated with the elder networks televise adult-oriented talk shows or news. As a result, those networks have a daily vehicle to promote their Saturday-morning lineups, with Fox’s weekday results riding high thanks to “Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation.”

ABC suffers from the same handicap as CBS and NBC in reaching kids during the week but remains staunchly committed to TV animation because of corporate parent Disney. Beyond its unrivaled history in features, the studio can also use television to keep alive franchises like “101 Dalmatians” (part of the current lineup) and the recent movie “Hercules,” which will become a series next year.

Jonathan Barzilay, vice president and general manager of children’s programming at ABC, called the competition for kid viewers “an uphill battle for the traditional broadcasters because of the success of cable and the newer networks.”

ABC has nevertheless increased its children’s audience significantly this season, thanks largely to “Disney’s One Saturday Morning”--a two-hour block that consists of a new version of Nickelodeon’s “Doug” and the new “Pepper Ann” and “Recess” cartoons, augmented by vignettes hosted by the Genie from “Aladdin” (voiced by Robin Williams), “Schoolhouse Rock” and other elements.

“Our strategy was to create a weekly event that kids wouldn’t want to miss and would stick with,” Barzilay said. ABC also trades heavily on the Disney name, the only part of the network’s schedule to do so other than “The Wonderful World of Disney” on Sunday evenings.

WB has received a substantial ratings boost from the addition of “Batman” to its lineup and a just-premiered series based on the hit movie “Men in Black.” WB operates with a handicap because it tends to broadcast over weak stations outside the larger cities, doing better on such outlets as KTLA-TV Channel 5 in Los Angeles.

“In the major markets where we have the strong stations, obviously our programming is working,” said Jean MacCurdy, Warner Bros. TV animation president.

Competition for children viewers has grown more intense because of the vast revenue potential a hit franchise offers in terms of merchandising and licensing. MacCurdy also noted that the mandate to offer educational programs adds to the challenge of getting kids to watch. Stations are required by the Federal Communications Commission to offer three hours of kids’ educational or informational programming each week or risk losing their valuable broadcast licenses.

“For these shows to work, they’ve got to be compelling in some fashion” beyond being educational, she said. WB hopes to straddle that line with its newest children’s series, “Channel Umptee-3,” from veteran producer Norman Lear, which premieres next Saturday.

Despite its low ratings, CBS--having initially pledged to schedule educational programs to facilitate government approval of its acquisition by Westinghouse--said it will be patient with its lineup, which includes a show starring song-parody performer Weird Al Yankovic and a kids version of “Wheel of Fortune.”

“Nobody said it was going to be easy,” CBS spokesman Chris Ender said. “We’re trying something brand-new, and it may take some time for viewers to discover these shows.”