Slime, Blimps, and the Future of Kids' Entertainment

By Lindsay Britt, VP, Kids & Family, Paramount Advertising

Green slime and orange blimps. Name a more iconic duo.

This year’s 37th Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards showcased a true kaleidoscope of relevance across pop culture trends, changes in technology, shifts in the media landscape and how to empower and reach new generations of kids (and their families) in the most authentic ways. 

As we know, the media landscape is forever changing. With the decline of linear TV, the rise of streaming, gaming and social platforms, creators being catapulted to celebrity-like status and a pandemic that brought families closer together, how do you adapt an iconic franchise like the Kids’ Choice Awards to reach viewers and provide effective solutions for partners?

Well, friends, we had the "Best Day Ever" with new programs that met our viewers where they are. (thanks, SpongeBob, for the setup!)

For the first time in Kids' Choice Awards history, partner marketing programs were anchored beyond the small screen (not to mention the linear broadcast was the highest co-viewed show ever among kids watching with an adult 18-49). Through influence, experiential, digital, gaming, and social extensions, all partnerships were 100% customizable depending on our partner's goals and the audiences they wanted to reach.

We launched the first-ever “Creator Weekend” where brands partnered with their favorite creators to produce exclusive behind-the-scenes content, all while representing the brand seamlessly and authentically.

With more than 350 influencers attending the all-access weekend of Slime-worthy events, this was an effortless way to catapult awareness with the “New” celebrities of Gen Alpha. We saw massive fan engagement with talent like Kira Kosarin who garnered 758K engagements, and “Favorite Break Out Artist” Winner Reneé Rapp who earned 736.6M engagements off her social post.

To complement the Creator Weekend, brands bought into our on-the-ground events like the Santa Monica Pier Party and KCAs post-party – access that was previously reserved for sponsors only. This provided grassroots touchpoints for both influencers and consumers to engage directly with the product for further organic amplification opportunities. This year, our on-the-ground events catered to more than 4,000 attendees.

With kids spending a significant amount of time gaming (30% for K6-11 each day), Kids’ Choice Awards extended into the Metaverse through an exclusive Quest tied to our SpongeBob Simulator game on Roblox (55M+ visits to date since its launch in January).

And with SpongeBob and Patrick hosting Kids’ Choice Awards to celebrate their 25th-anniversary birthday celebration, what better way to cross-promote and engage our gaming fans than offering a limited UGC with in-game power, and SpongeBob 25th Super Buddy? 

This year’s show was also the most social show to date, with more than 360.4M views and 16.1M engagements across Influence talent and our owned-and-operated Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok handles.

With this year’s Kids’ Choice Awards behind us, we have our eyes set on the rest of summer and into the fall. Coming up this fall, our NFL Slimetime series in partnership with the NFL continues with additional specials and a host of bespoke opportunities for brand alignment.