Nick Jr. (known on-air as the Nick Jr. Channel) is an American
pay
Pay may refer to:
*A wage or salary earned for work
*The process of payment
Places
* Pay-e Borj, a village in Lorestan Province of Iran
* Pay-e Kal-e Garab, a village in Ilam Province of Iran
* Pay-e Rah, a village in Khuzestan Province of Iran ...
television channel spun off from
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. Its ...
's long-running
programming block of the same name. It is run by
Paramount Global
Paramount Global (Trade name, doing business as Paramount) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate owned and operated by National Amusements (79.4%) and headquar ...
through its
networks division's Kids and Family Group. The channel launched on September 28, 2009, and primarily targets preschoolers. Its lineup features a mix of originally-produced programming, along with series from the Nickelodeon weekday block; because of the two entities, Nick Jr. is known on-air as "the Nick Jr. Channel" (as of March 2018) to avoid confusion, especially at times of day where both services are carrying preschool programming.
The channel replaced
Noggin
Noggin may refer to:
General
* Noggin or gill (volume), a unit of volume
* Noggin (cup), a small cup
* Noggin, slang for head
* Noggin (protein), a signalling molecule involved in embryonic development
* Noggin or dwang, a carpentry term
Entert ...
, which was relaunched as a
streaming service
Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...
in 2015 and acts as a separate sister brand.
Noggin's programming is distinct from the Nick Jr. channel's: it mainly carried pre-teen-oriented programs at its launch, and its 2015 streaming service features a variety of exclusive series. From May 2021 to March 2022, the Nick Jr. channel aired an hour-long block of programming from the Noggin app every Friday.
The block, titled "Noggin Presents,"
featured shows such as ''
Noggin Knows
The following is a list of programs featured on Noggin. The brand launched in 1999 as a joint venture between MTV Networks (owners of Nickelodeon) and Sesame Workshop. At first, the Noggin channel featured three sectors of programming: a main blo ...
'' and ''
Kinderwood''.
The Nick Jr. channel and the Nick Jr. block are both currently running. The latter airs weekdays on Nickelodeon from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET (those hours vary during the summer months, other school break periods and on major national holidays), having traditional commercial breaks for certain programs. As of September 2018, Nick Jr. is available to approximately 70.310 million pay television households in the United States.
History
Nick Jr. block (1988–present)
Since its inception in 1977, Nickelodeon's channel space had aired preschool-oriented programs, including ''
Pinwheel'', which was their first original series. These were usually played on weekday mornings when older children were in school and younger children were not. This block ran from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm. On January 4, 1988, Nickelodeon debuted a name for its preschool block: ''Nick Junior''. Between September 1988 and mid-1989, the name was shortened to ''Nick Jr.'' on-air.
At launch, the block mostly showed imported series purchased from other companies. ''
Eureeka's Castle
''Eureeka's Castle'' is an American children's television series created by Debby Beece and Judy Katschke. It originally aired on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block from September 4, 1989 to November 10, 1991. The program featured various puppet char ...
'' was the first original series that Nickelodeon made for the block. Brown Johnson, the former vice president of Nick Jr., stated in a 2000 interview that after ''Eureeka'' ended production, Nick Jr. became "a neglected daypart" compared to the main Nickelodeon.
"Without the investment of energy or money, the block floundered until 1994 when the network poured $30 million into a full-scale relaunch," said Johnson.
On September 5, 1994, the Nick Jr. block began its relaunch and introduced Face, its first host and no longer ran commercial breaks as intermissions during shows. ''
Gullah Gullah Island'' and ''
Allegra's Window
''Allegra's Window'' is an American children's television series that aired on Nickelodeon through its Nick Jr. block from October 24, 1994, to December 8, 1996, with reruns being shown until February 5, 1999; it was later shown on Noggin from F ...
'', the second and third original series made for Nick Jr., premiered. They resulted in 50% rating gains for the block. From then onward, Nickelodeon continued to create its own productions for Nick Jr. and foreign-made imports were phased out. ''
Blue's Clues
''Blue's Clues'' is an American live-action/animated children's television series, created by Angela C. Santomero, Todd Kessler, and Traci Paige Johnson, that premiered on Nickelodeon as part of its Nick Jr. block on September 8, 1996, and ...
'' and ''
Dora the Explorer'' became ratings draws for both the block and Nickelodeon as a whole.
Before gaining its own spin-off network, the Nick Jr. block extended to several other networks:
Nick Jr. on CBS
''Nick on CBS'' (also known as ''Nickelodeon on CBS'') was an American Saturday morning children's programming block featuring programming from Nickelodeon that ran on CBS from September 16, 2000, to September 9, 2006. It initially aired progr ...
from 2000 to 2006, and
Nick Jr. on Noggin from 2003 to 2009. The
Nick Jr. on CBS
''Nick on CBS'' (also known as ''Nickelodeon on CBS'') was an American Saturday morning children's programming block featuring programming from Nickelodeon that ran on CBS from September 16, 2000, to September 9, 2006. It initially aired progr ...
block ended on September 9, 2006, when CBS replaced its Nick Jr. programming with ''
KOL Secret Slumber Party
Cookie Jar TV was an American Children's television series, children's Block programming, programming block that aired on CBS, originally premiering on September 16, 2006, as the KOL Secret Slumber Party; the block was later rebranded as KEWLopo ...
''. Nick Jr. series continued to appear on Noggin until its closure in 2009, when the Nick Jr. channel replaced it.
Nick Jr. channel (2009–present)
On February 23, 2009, Nickelodeon announced that Noggin would be replaced by a channel named after the Nick Jr. block. The intention was to bring the channel in line with the Nickelodeon brand identity. In July of that year, Nickelodeon unveiled new standardized logos for its five channels, intending to create a unified look that could better be conveyed across the services.
When the Nick Jr. channel debuted on September 28, 2009, at 6:00 a.m. ET, a new logo was debuted and designed by New York-based creative director/designer Eric Zim. Although the use of an orange "adult" and blue "child" figure was discontinued in the new
wordmark logo, the tradition of the "Nick" text being orange (representing the adult) and the "Jr." text remaining in blue (as the child) was retained.
Until 2012, the Nick Jr. channel retained Noggin's on-air branding style and played several of its programs, most notably the mascots
Moose and Zee. It also continued not to accept traditional advertising or
marginalize closing credits for promotion of other shows on the channel.
On March 1, 2012, the Nick Jr. channel received a new rebrand produced by Gretel Inc.
Jessica DiCicco
Jessica Sonya DiCicco (; born June 10, 1980) is an American actress. She is known for voicing in animated television series and video games. Her first voice role was the announcer for Nickelodeon's educational channel Noggin. DiCicco has since vo ...
became the network's announcer, and the Moose and Zee mascots were completely dropped after nine years, removing one of the last vestiges of Noggin; as a result, some of the interstitial learning activities that originally featured Moose's narration (like the ''Puzzle Time'' segments) were recycled and replaced by her narration. The channel's slogan changed from "It's Like Preschool On TV" to "The Smart Place To Play" (which was also used as the branding for the Nick Jr. block), while several shows — ''
The Upside Down Show'', ''
Oswald Oswald may refer to:
People
*Oswald (given name), including a list of people with the name
* Oswald (surname), including a list of people with the name
Fictional characters
*Oswald the Reeve, who tells a tale in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Canterbu ...
'', ''
Jack's Big Music Show'', ''
Franklin
Franklin may refer to:
People
* Franklin (given name)
* Franklin (surname)
* Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class
Places Australia
* Franklin, Tasmania, a township
* Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...
'', ''
Toot & Puddle'' and ''
Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends
''Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends'', sometimes shortened to ''Sunny Patch'', is a CGI-animated children's television series produced by Nelvana in association with AbsoluteDigital Pictures and Callaway Arts & Entertainment as a follow-up to ' ...
'' — were pulled from the lineup; most of them would return later that year, while the former could still be seen on the channel's website at the time.
At this point, programming began to be hosted by characters from Nick Jr. shows. The Nick Jr. channel also began incorporating programming promotions and short features on that date; seven months later, on October 1, 2012, it started airing limited traditional advertising (for companies such as
ABCMouse,
Kmart,
Chuck E. Cheese's
Chuck E. Cheese (formerly known as Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre, Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza and simply Chuck E. Cheese's) is an American family entertainment center and pizza restaurant chain founded in 1977 by Atari's co-founder Nolan Bu ...
,
Nabi,
Clorox
The Clorox Company (formerly Clorox Chemical Company) is an American global manufacturer and marketer of consumer and professional products. As of 2020 the Oakland, California based company had approximately 8,800 employees worldwide. Net sales ...
,
Walmart,
Lysol
Lysol (; spelled Lizol in India) is a brand of American cleaning and disinfecting products distributed by Reckitt, which markets the similar Dettol or Sagrotan in other markets. The line includes liquid solutions for hard and soft surfaces, ai ...
and
Playskool) in the form of underwriter sponsorships airing in-between shows, whereas its
parent network airs longer traditional advertising.
On May 21, 2018, the channel refreshed their imaging with new interstitial pieces and updated curriculum notices, and began to promote themselves as the "Nick Jr. Channel" audibly and visually to avoid confusion with the Nickelodeon block.
NickMom block (2012–2015)
From October 1, 2012, to September 28, 2015, a four-hour block of parent-targeted shows called
NickMom aired from 10:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.
ET. The NickMom name started out with a humor website in 2011 and the four-hour time slot aired comedies like ''
Instant Mom
''Instant Mom'' is an American sitcom produced for the NickMom block on the Nick Jr. channel. It was developed by Howard Michael Gould and stars Tia Mowry as a stepmother of three children alongside her husband.
The series first aired on Sept ...
'' and ''NickMom Night Out''.
On September 9, 2015, the social media channels of
NickMom announced that the four-hour weeknight block on the Nick Jr. channel, along with the NickMom website, would end operations by the end of September 28, 2015, due to Viacom's 2015 cutbacks involving acquired programming and also due to NickMom's low ratings with the time vacated by NickMom returned to traditional Nick Jr. programming like ''
Dora the Explorer'', ''
Blue's Clues
''Blue's Clues'' is an American live-action/animated children's television series, created by Angela C. Santomero, Todd Kessler, and Traci Paige Johnson, that premiered on Nickelodeon as part of its Nick Jr. block on September 8, 1996, and ...
'', ''
Team Umizoomi
''Team Umizoomi'' is an American live-action and computer-animated musical children's television series with an emphasis on mathematical concepts, such as counting, sequences, shapes, patterns, measurements, and equalities. Neither imperial no ...
'', and ''
Bubble Guppies
''Bubble Guppies'' is a CGI-animated children's television series produced for Nickelodeon and created by Jonny Belt and Robert Scull. The series is a combination of the sketch comedy, edutainment, and musical genres, and revolves around the un ...
''. In the early morning of September 28, 2015, NickMom ended its 3-year run at 2:00 a.m. ET, with an airing of the film ''
Guarding Tess
''Guarding Tess'' is a 1994 American comedy-drama film starring Shirley MacLaine and Nicolas Cage, directed by Hugh Wilson. MacLaine plays a fictional former First Lady protected by an entourage of Secret Service agents led by one she continuall ...
''. No sign off message was shown; after the film ''Guarding Tess'', it faded straight into an episode of ''
Yo Gabba Gabba!
''Yo Gabba Gabba!'' is a Children's television series, children's Musical film, musical television series created by Christian Jacobs and Scott Schultz (producer), Scott Schultz. The series is about five costumed toys come-to-life and their fri ...
'' at its end. NickMom's former website address is now used as a
redirect to Nickelodeon's site for parental resources.
Following NickMom's closure, the Nick Jr. channel increased the amount of traditional advertising it aired, but also began scheduling programs in an inversion of the "off-the-clock" format where the network shortened some of its commercial breaks, allowing the network to air more programming. The "off-the-clock" format was previously adopted by various Viacom networks, such as
TV Land,
Nick at Nite
Nick at Nite (stylized as nick@nite) is an American nighttime basic cable television channel that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon. It typically broadcasts Mondays to Thursday nights from 9 p.m. - 6:30 a.m. ET/ PT, Friday nights fr ...
and
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...
(though in a reversed form, the scheduling format for those channels was designed to ''add'' extra advertising loads).
''Noggin Presents'' block (2021–2022)
On May 28, 2021, the Nick Jr. channel introduced an hour-long block of programming from the Noggin app every Friday.
The block was titled "Noggin Presents."
Series featured in the timeslot included the Noggin originals ''
Kinderwood''
and ''
Noggin Knows
The following is a list of programs featured on Noggin. The brand launched in 1999 as a joint venture between MTV Networks (owners of Nickelodeon) and Sesame Workshop. At first, the Noggin channel featured three sectors of programming: a main blo ...
'', as well as the acquired shows ''
Hey Duggee
''Hey Duggee'' is a British animated educational preschool television series aimed at two to five year olds. Created by Grant Orchard, it is produced by Studio AKA, in association with BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide). The show is narrated ...
'' and ''
JoJo & Gran Gran
''JoJo & Gran Gran'' is a British children's animated television series based on the semi-autobiographical picture book ''Jo-Jo and Gran-Gran, All in a Week'' by Laura Henry-Allain MBE. It is the first animated series to centre on a Black Britis ...
''. Noggin interstitials played during commercial breaks, and a purple
screen bug reading "On Noggin" was shown toward the beginning of each show.
Programming
The Nick Jr. channel schedule mainly features reruns from Nickelodeon's library of preschool programming, along with a few original series exclusive to the channel. As of 2022, the channel's lineup includes ''
The Adventures of Paddington'', ''
Baby Shark's Big Show!
''Baby Shark's Big Show!'' () is an animated children's television series based on the "Baby Shark" brand from the South Korean company Pinkfong. SmartStudy, Pinkfong's parent company, co-produces the show with Nickelodeon Animation Studio from t ...
'', ''
Blaze and the Monster Machines
''Blaze and the Monster Machines'' is a computer-animated interactive children's television series with a focus on teaching science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) that premiered on Nickelodeon on October 13, 2014. The series rev ...
'', ''
Blue's Clues & You!
''Blue's Clues & You!'' is a live-action/computer-animated interactive educational children's television series developed by Traci Paige Johnson and Angela C. Santomero for Nickelodeon. It is a revival of the 1996–2006 ''Blue's Clues'' tele ...
'', ''
Bubble Guppies
''Bubble Guppies'' is a CGI-animated children's television series produced for Nickelodeon and created by Jonny Belt and Robert Scull. The series is a combination of the sketch comedy, edutainment, and musical genres, and revolves around the un ...
'', ''
Face's Music Party'', ''
Hey Duggee
''Hey Duggee'' is a British animated educational preschool television series aimed at two to five year olds. Created by Grant Orchard, it is produced by Studio AKA, in association with BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide). The show is narrated ...
'', ''Kiri & Lou'', ''
PAW Patrol
''PAW Patrol'' is a Canadian computer-animated children's television series, children's television series created by Keith Chapman. It is produced by Spin Master, Spin Master Entertainment, with animation provided by Guru Studio. In Canada, the ...
'', ''
Peppa Pig'', ''
Ryan's Mystery Playdate
''Ryan's Mystery Playdate'' is an American live-action children's television series created and produced by the company PocketWatch, Inc. The series is based on the Ryan's World YouTube channel, which signed an advertising deal with PocketWatch ...
'', ''
Santiago of the Seas
''Santiago of the Seas'' is an American computer-animated children's television series created by Niki Lopez, Leslie Valdes, and Valerie Walsh Valdes that premiered on Nickelodeon on October 9, 2020. The series features the voices of Kevin Chacon ...
'', and ''
Team Umizoomi
''Team Umizoomi'' is an American live-action and computer-animated musical children's television series with an emphasis on mathematical concepts, such as counting, sequences, shapes, patterns, measurements, and equalities. Neither imperial no ...
''.
Related services
International
On May 16, 2011,
MTV Networks launched two new channels,
Nick Jr.
Nick Jr. (known on-air as the Nick Jr. Channel) is an American pay television channel spun off from Nickelodeon's long-running programming block of the same name. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Gro ...
and
MTVNHD
MTV Live (formerly MTVNHD and MTV Live HD) is an international 24-hour high-definition live music pay television network that is operated by Paramount International Networks' subsidiary Paramount Networks EMEAA. The channel is currently ava ...
, in Asia. These 24-hour channels began to be available on
StarHub TV in
Singapore on May 18, 2011, and on
Telekom Malaysia Berhad
Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) is a Malaysian telecommunications company founded in 1984. Beginning as the national telecommunications company for fixed line, radio and television broadcasting services, it has evolved to become the country's larg ...
's
Unifi TV
Unifi TV (stylized as unifi tv, formerly known as HyppTV prior to January 2018) is an IPTV service operated by Telekom Malaysia (TM). It was launched in 2010 as part of TM's bundled Triple-play service offering of VoIP Telephone, Internet an ...
in
Malaysia on June 1, 2011. The channel launched aggressively to the rest of Southeast Asia later.
An African version of Nick Jr. was launched on September 30, 2014, along with
Nicktoons
Nicktoons is a collective name used by Nickelodeon for their original animated series. All Nicktoons are produced partly at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and list Nickelodeon's parent company (Viacom, now known as Paramount Global) in their ...
. In Poland, Nick Jr. is available on Platforma Canal+ since March 2013. In Romania, Nick Jr. is available on UPC Romania since October 24, 2014. In Canada, Nick Jr. was launched as a programming block on the
local version of Nickelodeon.
Versions of Nick Jr. also exist in
the United Kingdom and Ireland,
Germany,
The Netherlands & Flanders,
India,
France,
Italy,
Latin America, and
Australia. On November 3, 2017, Nick Jr. launched in Portugal.
[Clover, Julian (November 2, 2017]
"Nick Jr debuts in Portugal"
Broadband TV News.
Nick Jr. is also available in Japan in the form of a programming block on the Japanese version of
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. Its ...
.
International versions of the TV channel include:
*
Nick Jr. (UK and Ireland)
Nick Jr. is a British pay television channel owned and operated by a joint venture between Sky Group and Paramount Networks UK & Australia. The channel is aimed at pre-school children.
History
Nick Jr. was first broadcast in the UK and Ir ...
– Introduced in 1993
** Nick Jr. Too/Nick Jr. 2
*
Nick Jr. (Germany) – Introduced in 1995
*
Nick Jr. (Latin America)
Nick Jr. is a cable television channel in Latin America owned by Paramount Global subsidiary Paramount Networks Americas. The channel is aimed at a preschool audience.
Currently, the Nick Jr. channel features the same programming as the Nick J ...
– Introduced in 1997
*
Nick Jr. (Australia and New Zealand)
Nick Jr. is a 24-hour children's channel in Australia designed for pre-schoolers. Nick Jr. was a morning programming block on Nickelodeon until 2004, when Foxtel launched it as a full 24-hour kids channel. The channel is run by Foxtel Network ...
– Introduced in 1998
*
Nick Jr. (Turkey) – Introduced in 1998
*
Nick Jr. (Israel) – Introduced in 2003
*
Nick Jr. (The Netherlands) – Introduced in 2003
*
Nickelodeon Junior (France) – Introduced in 2005
*
Nick Jr. (Middle East and North Africa) – Introduced in 2008
*
Nick Jr. (Italy) – Introduced in 2009
*
Nick Jr. (Canada) – Introduced in 2009 (as a programming block)
*
Nick Jr. (Scandinavia) – Introduced in 2010
*
Nick Jr. (Greece) – Introduced in 2010
*
Nick Jr. (Southeast Asia) – Introduced in 2010
*
Nick Jr. (Russia and CIS) – Introduced in 2011
*
Nick Jr. (India) – Introduced in 2012
*
Nick Jr. (Sub-Saharan Africa) – Introduced in 2014
*
Nick Jr. (Portugal) – Introduced in 2017
See also
*
Nick Jr. (TV programming block)
Nick Jr. is an American morning programming block that airs on Nickelodeon (specifically for weekday mornings, and often shortened on holidays and weekends). It was launched on January 4, 1988. Nick Jr. features a lineup of shows aimed at childre ...
References
External links
* (United States)
* (United Kingdom)
* (Canada)
* (Australia)
International websites
* (Latin America) (in Spanish)
* (Brazil) (in Portuguese)
* (Spain) (in Spanish)
* (France) (in French)
* (Germany) (in German)
* (Italy) (in Italian)
* (Poland) (in Polish)
* (Netherlands) (in Dutch)
{{Educational Nickelodeon
Preschool education television networks
Television networks in the United States
Television channels and stations established in 2009
Nickelodeon
English-language television stations in the United States
Children's television networks in the United States
2009 establishments in the United States