NickMom
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | New York City, New York |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Viacom Media Networks |
NickMom (stylized as nickmom) is a comedy-themed programming block intended for a female audience that airs nightly over the channel space of Nick Jr. from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. ET. The block launched on October 1, 2012.
Programming
Programs featured in the block include Parental Discretion with Stefanie Wilder-Taylor, MFF: Mom Friends Forever, NickMom Night Out, and What Was Carol Brady Thinking?, featuring comedic commentary from Carol Brady within episodes of The Brady Bunch in the style of Pop-Up Video (Florence Henderson herself has no involvement in What Was Carol Brady Thinking?, with commentary penned by writers not involved with the original series).
The block broadcasts traditional advertising, as opposed to the limited sponsorship format of Nick Jr.'s preschool programming.
On October 23, 2012, NickMom moved its start time five minutes earlier to 9:55 p.m. ET, in order to fit stories from NickMom.com into the block.
By June 2013 though, some programs had been replaced with syndicated shows already airing on Nick at Nite (or with their rights dormant on that channel) such as The New Adventures of Old Christine and Yes, Dear, with some of the original NickMom shows such as Carol Brady being cancelled due to low ratings. Rugrats aired for a limited time on the network.
NickMom schedule.
Times that are shown here are for viewers in the United States of America only and are subject to change without prior notice.
| Feed | Start Time | End Time |
|---|---|---|
| East Coast | 10pm Eastern Time 9pm Central Time 8pm Mountain Time 7pm Pacific Time 6pm Alaska Time 5pm Hawaii Time |
2am Eastern Time 1am Central Time 12am Mountain Time 11pm Pacific Time 10pm Alaska Time 9pm Hawaii Time |
Controversy
The block launched with heavy controversy. As Nick Jr. operates on only one feed that broadcasts on a default Eastern Time Zone schedule and doesn't operate a secondary feed for the Pacific Time Zone, NickMom programming starts at 7 p.m. Pacific Time, and in time zones further west outside the continental United States, 6 p.m. in the Alaska Time Zone, and 5 p.m. in the Hawaii-Aleutian Time Zone (4 p.m. from mid-March to early November, as Hawaii does not observe DST). Many parents have found the scheduling inappropriate, given the supposed sexual, coarse, and child-bashing humor, and uncensored light profanity. Parents also felt that the purpose and lure of the network with full-time preschool programming was nullified in the pursuit of increasing ratings with content not meant for children.[1]
The content of the block's website has also been criticized for the same reasons, along with earlier allegations that the staff of the network's website took content from other websites, including pictures of children, without any attribution or credit, and without permission.[2][3]
Criticism also came with the original launch itself, as the block's four hours necessitated the removal of some of Nick Jr.'s older archive programming from the post-children's bedtime slots they filled such as Toot and Puddle, The Upside Down Show, Oobi, and Jack's Big Music Show from the network's schedule, most of which has negligible or unprofitable potential for release on DVD outside of manufactured-on-demand release, which Viacom has done in the past with Nickelodeon programming, or only spare segments on network compilation discs. Eventually some of this programming has since returned in some form via Viacom's agreement to carry shows from their various networks with Amazon Prime's "Instant Video" service.
Subsequently, Nielsen ratings for the NickMom block's first week plunged 75% from that same period the year prior when Nick Jr. and Noggin programs aired in the timeslot, with some shows registering a "scratch" as being unrated due to a low sample size.[4] Parents encouraged advertisers to pull their sponsorships from the block, and members of some online parenting communities demanded that children's programming return to the channel during that timeslot. Fisher Price and the General Mills brands Cheerios and Green Giant later pulled their advertising from the block by October 26, due to consumer reactions on social media. General Mills returned to advertising during the NickMom block once some of the more controversial shows were canceled or replaced with Nick at Nite-sourced content.
A 2013 report from SNL Kagan and distributed by the Parents Television Council which was opposed to the block, reported Nick Jr. as a network had a large loss of half their viewers in primetime, and of advertisers during the time the most racy of NickMom content was available before the addition of Nick at Nite content, along with a surge in the ratings of competitor Disney Junior, which continues to air preschool-targeted programming in primetime. The report noted the ratings were among the lowest in primetime for cable networks. Although the report also lists that the network has a cash flow of -27%, it should be noted that Nick Jr. runs traditional advertising only during the NickMom block and sustained advertising for the rest of the broadcast day, and mainly is a loss leader as part of Nickelodeon's portion of the Viacom digital cable network suite; those networks usually make little money for the company and feature little to no advertising.[5]
Nickmom HD
Nickmom shares Nick Jr.'s high definition simulcast network.
References
- ^ Hoffman, Sybil (15 October 2012). "Sexual comedy show airs on toddler network". KTVK, Phoenix. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
- ^ Nelson, Melanie (17 September 2012). "Protecting Your Blog Content: The NickMom Blog Controversy". Blogging Basics 101. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
- ^ "Hands Off Our Content". Resourceful Mommy. 12 September 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
- ^ Jannarone, John (12 October 2012). "Mom Shows Hurt Nick Jr". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
- ^ http://w2.parentstv.org/blog/index.php/2013/10/10/indecent-nickmom-devastates-nick-jr-network/.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help)