Why does Nickelodeon mistreat most of their cartoons?

[Aaron K]

This is a question I've had for a long while now. At first, you might say it's the SpongeBob Standard, but then you realize no other company is this clingy to their biggest IP. They may milk them, but they still have other stuff. Like, Nintendo doesn't just make Mario games.

 

[Corwin Haught]

This belongs in the Nicktoons forum.

 

[90'sKid]

I'd argue Cartoon Network got just as clingy with TTG! as Nick did for SpongeBob.

As for why they got so clingy, I think a major factor was that SB was doing really big in the ratings, and around this time Rugrats (their previous favorite) was starting to decline. So they jumped ship to the Sponge. They didn't suddenly start to neglect their other shows at first, it took a couple years before you could see that they were funneling all their resources into SB at the neglect of their other shows.

By the 2010's Nick had gotten so used to SB raking in the ratings that they seemingly couldn't stomach the idea of another show NOT making bank right out the gate, and so got caught in a cycle of "if you can't keep up with SB, get out."

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[CNNickFan]

"Mistreat" this word is used in horrible context imo. Yes, when their shows lose steam, decline in ratings, and end production, they burn off episodes, whether it's a time when no one is watching, or on a sister network. Literally  every network (that produces originals) does this. TV Land dumped the last season of Younger to Paramount+ because they didn't care anymore. FX practically sends most of their shows to die on FXX when they don't perform well.

And that Nintendo comparison was not a good one. They aren't even focused on the same things, Nintendo has *tons* of successful IPs that started around the same time as Mario, and the demand for said franchises are clearly there.

TV is not the same as video games. A new game can get made at any give time, as opposed to when the episode order for your show has run out, that's pretty much it.

 

[Ace]

I might say Spongebob was a large part of why Nick couldn't get new cartoons to last having such a high bar for ratings but I also remembered they could get live action to last more than the typical 2-3 seasons and there were other exceptions like the TMNT series.

It is true that to an extent Spongebob raised the bar on what could succeed but themselves wanting everything to be the next Spongebob and greenlighting shows just because they were like Spongebob didn't work out well for them. They didn't appeal to their own audience because they didn't understand why Spongebob worked to begin with. They probably thought the only reason people liked it was only because it had goofy random humor and the occasional potty joke. Not the interesting world, characters or art style and that much of the humor was a lot more sophisticated than those the newer shows. Adults can enjoy Spongebob too.

Nick skewed way too young and put out the kind of stuff that was way too easy to grow out of. Stuff that within a year or two kids would realize they're way too old for.

 

[Vuxovich]

Long story short, this is due to an official policy of Nickelodeon. The policy says that the animated shows that don't match the SpongeBob ratings are neglected.

 

[Shiloh Otter]

Long story short, this is due to an official policy of Nickelodeon. The policy says that the animated shows that don't match the SpongeBob ratings are neglected.

That is almost certainly untrue. It is what many people believe, but it doesn't make it true.

 

[Goldstar!]

Long story short, this is due to an official policy of Nickelodeon. The policy says that the animated shows that don't match the SpongeBob ratings are neglected.

That's a practice, not an official policy. There's a difference.

 

[Markus Nelis]

I believe that the reruns for their cartoons outside of movies and SpongeBob don't pull great numbers. While I get they want good viewership, they should understand that cable keeps declining. They can't keep crying so their strategy has to change. Maybe look how well shows do on streaming to judge which treatment you should give the shows on linear television.

 

[kanc]

Rock Paper Scissors new episode ratings weren't performing well such as under 100,000 , but reruns are staying put in the schedule even though new episodes are on hiatus. So that's good for now.

 

[Markus Nelis]

Surprised how good reruns RPS gets. MMP didn't get as much.