How Nickelodeon Is Widely Known by Many People Around the World?

Nickelodeon is one of the most famous television networks in the world and originated in America. This network is just containing cartoons and aimed especially at children and preteens. Initially, it is only available in the United States, but now it is available in several countries such as Indonesia, India, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Western Europe and Latin America. 

In Indonesia, it is being famous through cartoons like ChalkZone, Danny Phantom, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Fairytale Parents, and Spongebob Squarepants. The kids in the 2000s surely know those cartoons.

Previously Nickelodeon was a name for a movie theatre in America and this was the first cinema in the United States. The opening of this theatre around 115 years ago, exactly on June 19, 1905, at which the time of film industry was developing in various countries made Nickelodeon quickly became widely known. 

The theatre was opened from 8 am until night with showing rude comedy, which was instead liked by various educational backgrounds, ages, and languages. Reporting from the History page, about 450 people attended the opening of the Nickelodeon which was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

The theatre party provided around 96 seats for visitors who wanted to watch a movie with the price of 5 cents or nickel. In 1907, Saturday Night Post also reported that Nickelodeon had the number of visitors was more than 2 million every day. Then, Nickelodeon made some branches in America and it made the number of visitors increased almost 7 million year by year. 

Nickelodeon produces and broadcasts many programs and became famous through the icons in the comedy program "You Can't Do That" on television. Then the icon is used in several existing programs. After that Nickelodeon has three programs, there are Nick Jr., Nick at Nite, and Nicktoons. Nick Jr. appeared in 1980 with programs just aimed at preteens at noon, for instance, Pinwheel,Bob the Builder,Blue's Clues, danDora the Explorer. Nick at Nite started in July 1985 and aired every night until dawn. 

This program most contain comedy, for example, The Cosby Show,Roseanne,Full House,A Different World, danThe Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Nick at Nite also produces Nick Comedy in Jerman. The last, Nicktoons, it showed on television on August 1, 1991, with cartoons such as The Ren & Stimpy Show. Then, in 1999 Nicktoons introduced Spongebob Squarepants, which was being popular cartoon until now because of the cartoon various cultures in America.

From the 2000s until now Nickelodeon become popular because of the cartoon in Nicktoon programs. For example, Spongebob Squarepants, this cartoon being iconic for several years. According to me, this cartoon is interesting, especially from the plot. The plot sometimes contains jokes that contain implied meaning. It means, for kids, they can understand the jokes, but not fully the message. When I was a kid and watching this cartoon, I didn't understand the message in the cartoon, but I understood the jokes plot. Might this moment feel the kids when watching it? I realized the message after watching it many times. For Indonesian kids, may this cartoon has a little story that can relate to some east cultures. 

Nickelodeon developed from a mini theatre to a big television network. It really needs big struggles to change it so, one of them, always making the programs interesting and consistent. For example, in the past, the founder still sold the ticket at a low price even though he had many visitors. He always showed the best performance to attract more visitors. He felt unsatisfied if he didn't have more visitors, so he built some branches in the United States. 

Until now, Nickelodeon still develops by improving the quality of the program every year. It also decides to cut the contract with some national television networks. That's the reason we never have many cartoon-like when we were kids on television. If we want to watch Nickelodeon cartoons, we have to access paid programs, like Netflix. 

 

References :  

Kompas 

Wikipedia 

Chan, Kim W. and Mauborgne R. 2016. Blue Ocean Strategy : Menciptakan Ruang Pasar Tanpa Pesaing dan Menjadikan Pesaing Tidak Lagi Relevan. Jakarta : Noura Books.