Things are still looking up in Bikini Bottom as Paramount Global’s Nickelodeon said it has picked up Season 15 of SpongeBob SquarePants.

The animated series, Nick’s most popular global franchise, next year will mark 25 years and 345 episodes since its launch on July 17, 1999. 

Season 15 will have 26 episodes featuring SpongeBob and his pals including Patrick, Sandy, Mr. Krabs and Squidward, as well as his nemesis Plankton in undersea adventures. Storylines include SpongeBob thinking he has developed an allergy to Krabby Patties, Plankton learning self-defense from Sandy and Mr. Krabs stepping into the gym.

New episodes will debut on Nickelodeon. Seasons 1-12 are available on Paramount Plus.

SpongeBob SquarePants’ voice cast members include Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants), Bill Fagerbakke (Patrick Star), Rodger Bumpass (Squidward), Clancy Brown (Mr. Krabs), Carolyn Lawrence (Sandy Cheeks) and Mr. Lawrence (Plankton).

SpongeBob SquarePants is produced by Nickelodeon in Burbank. 

Marc Ceccarelli and Vincent Waller are executive producers of SpongeBob SquarePants, The Patrick Star Show and Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years. Production is overseen by Claudia Spinelli, senior VP, animation for big kids at Nickelodeon, and Kelley Gardner, VP, current series, animation, Nickelodeon.

San Diego Comic-Con: International on Thursday (July 21) convened in person for the first time since 2019, after going virtual due to the pandemic, with more than 100,000 people expected to attend the four-day event. The convention will showcase some of the most highly anticipated television and film content. 

Along with executive and talent-based panels, television and streaming services such as Disney Plus, HBO Max, AMC, Paramount Plus, Netflix and FX will feature trailers from some of TV's most successful shows.

Below is a sampling of TV show videos presented during Comic-Com and will be updated throughout the convention's four-day run (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

Disney Plus’s ‘National Treasure: Edge of History’ 

Disney Channel’s ‘Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur’

Netflix’s ‘He-Man and the Masters of the Universe’

Paramount Plus’s ‘Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head’

Nickelodeon’s ‘The Tidal Zone’

Disney Plus’s ‘Marvel’s I Am Groot’

AMC's 'Tales of the Walking Dead'

AMC's 'The Walking Dead'

AMC's 'Anne Rice Interview With A Vampire'

Disney Plus's 'She-Hulk' 

Paramount Plus's 'Picard'

Paramount Plus's 'Star Trek: Lower Decks'

Nickelodeon will continue with its expansion of the SpongeBob SquarePants franchise with the second season renewal of series spinoff The Patrick Star Show.

The 26-episode second season of the animated series will continue to follow a young Patrick Star, who hosts a variety show for the neighborhood from his bedroom, the network said. New episodes from season one of the series will continue to debut on Nickelodeon.

The Patrick Star Show features the voices of Bill Fagerbakke, Tom Wilson, Cree Summer, Jill Talley and Dana Snyder. 

The Patrick Show is one of two SpongeBob SquarePants spinoff series, following Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Year.

Also: Miranda Cosgrove, Rob Gronkowski to Host Nick's 'Kids' Choice Awards'

“This next season of The Patrick Star Show will embark upon even more imaginative, colorful and hilarious adventures, diving deeper into the Star family’s daily life and escapades,” said Claudia Spinelli, Nickelodeon Senior VP of Animation for Big Kids in a statement.  “For over 20 years, the beloved Patrick Star has provided humor to fans around the world, and we can’t wait to see what he does next.”

Marc Ceccarelli and Vincent Waller serve as executive producers of The Patrick Star Show. ■ 

Disney Channel and Nickelodeon are rolling out new programming spinoffs from popular kids and family-friendly franchises in the hopes of drawing in both loyal fans and new viewers.

Nickelodeon today (July 9) will debut the animated series The Patrick Star Show, based on the starfish character from its successful SpongeBob SquarePants franchise. The new series follows Patrick Star living at home with his family, where he hosts his own variety show from his bedroom. 

The Patrick Star Show is the second SpongeBob SquarePants spinoff series, following the March debut of Kamp Koral: SpongeBob Under Years on Paramount Plus. Nickelodeon EVP of programming Paul DeBenedittis said The Patrick Star Show and Kamp Koral continue to build on the popularity of SpongeBob SquarePants and helps draw fans of the franchise to the new spinoff shows.

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“SpongeBob is now a universe — we have the series which will continue, we launched Kamp Koral, and we’re launching The Patrick Star Show. We had a theatrical movie last year, so that world will continue to grow and evolve, which is pure joy for a SpongeBob fan,” DeBenedittis said.

Disney’s 2001 Monsters Inc. animated movie franchise extended its brand tentacles with the July 7 premiere of the Monsters at Work animated series on streaming service Disney Plus. The new project — the third from the Monsters Inc. franchise following a prequel movie, the 2013 Monsters University — follows the adventures within the Monsters Incorporated power plant after it switched to using children’s laughter as energy rather than screams, as well as a new monster who has to learn how to make children laugh rather than scream in fear, according to the service.

Read Also: Disney Plus Adds Bite to National Geographic's 'Sharkfest' Lineup 

While the Monsters Inc. franchise remains popular with viewers, Disney Branded Television president and chief content officer Gary Marsh said the Monsters at Work series allows the company to extend the film’s success into a new series where it can reach a new generation of fans.

“The film is beloved, but we were able to take that and find a fresh way in,” Marsh said. “Viewers are incredibly savvy and you might get more media attention with a popular IP (intellectual property), but if you don’t have a great story with great storytellers, they won't stick around.”

This is a quick snapshot of TV by the numbers for the week of March 29 through April 4, revealing the most-watched shows and networks using glass-level data from Vizio’s Inscape, and the top shows and networks by TV ad impressions with insights via iSpot.tv.

Most-Watched Shows and Networks

Via Inscape, Vizio’s TV data product with glass-level insights from a panel of more than 17 million active and opted-in smart TVs. Data is linear, live TV only and includes all episode types (new and reruns). Rankings are by percent share duration (i.e., time spent watching).

Unsurprisingly, March Madness games captured the most watch-time for the week, accounting for 2.95% of all live, linear minutes. Meanwhile, MLB baseball, which just kicked off its season, took fourth place with 0.88% of minutes watched, and SportsCenter zoomed up the ranking into No. 7 from No. 22 the previous week. Other shows that had notable week-over-week rankings increases included Law & Order (0.48%, up from No. 30 to No. 17) and SpongeBob SquarePants (0.44% of minutes watched, at No. 19 from No. 26 previously).

On the network ranking, CBS was in first place once again, but saw a week-over-week decrease in the percent of minutes watched, down to 7.51% from 8.27%. NBC moved into second place (7.01%), followed by ABC (6.70%), Fox News (4.02%) and Fox (3.74%). Multiple networks moved up the ranking from the previous week including CNN, ESPN, ION, Investigation Discovery and Food Network, while HGTV, TBS, USA, TNT and Univision dropped positions from the week before.

Also Read: Just How Much of a Slam Dunk Has March Madness Been on Live TV?

Top Shows and Networks by TV Ad Impressions

Via iSpot.tv, the always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company. Rankings are by TV ad impressions, for new episodes only. 

College basketball continued its domination, racking up 3.7 billion TV ad impressions during the week. American Idol broke into the top five with 659.7 million impressions, beating MLB games, which generated 589 million impressions. The Price Is Right and The Young and the Restless were the only other non-sports or news programs to make the top 10. NBA basketball, which was in fifth place for impressions the previous week, dropped to No. 10 (470.5 million impressions); PGA Tour golf also slipped down the ranking, from No. 2 to No. 14 (427.5 million impressions).

The top of the network ranking was stable week-over-week, led by CBS (8.1 billion TV ad impressions), ABC (5.4 billion) and NBC (4.7 billion). March Madness games accounted for over 34% of the impressions on CBS, while morning news shows were top drivers of impressions for both ABC and NBC (GMA and Today, respectively). MLB Network gained steam from the previous week, rising up to No. 12 with 559.8 million impressions. On the flip side, Golf dropped from No. 12 to No. 17, generating 377.8 million impressions during the period measured. Headline News was a ranking newcomer, with 58% of its 362.2 million impressions coming from The Death of George Floyd: Derek Chauvin on Trial.

Film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run and original series Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years premiere on Paramount Plus March 4. The SpongeBob Movie will also be available on VOD platforms for a limited time at a suggested price of $19.99.

Six episodes of Kamp Koral will be available March 4. The rest of the 13-episode season will arrive later. 

A rebrand of CBS All Access, ViacomCBS's streaming platform Paramount Plus premieres March 4.  

The movie sees SpongeBob’s beloved pet snail Gary go missing, and clues lead SpongeBob and his pal Patrick to the powerful King Poseidon, who has Gary held captive in the Lost City of Atlantic City. 

Sponge on the Run is a United Plankton Pictures production. Directed and written by Tim Hill from a story by Hill and Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger, the film features the voice talent of Tom Kenny, Awkwafina, Matt Berry, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass, Bill Fagerbakke, Carolyn Lawrence, Mr. Lawrence and Reggie Watts.

Kamp Koral follows 10-year-old SpongeBob SquarePants and his pals during summer sleepaway camp where they spend their time building underwater campfires, catching wild jellyfish and swimming in Lake Yuckymuck at Kamp Koral.

The voice cast includes Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Rodger Bumpass, Clancy Brown, Carolyn Lawrence and Mr. Lawrence.

The series is produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio. 

Nickelodeon has greenlit Kamp Koral, a spinoff series from its popular SpongeBob Squarepants animated franchise, the network said Tuesday.

The 13-episode, CG-animated series chronicles SpongeBob SquarePants as a 10-year old during his summer sleepaway camp, said network officials. In the series, SpongeBob and his pals spend the summer building underwater campfires, catching wild jellyfish, and swimming in Lake Yuckymuck at Kamp Koral. The series marks the first spinoff for the animated series, which debuted in 1999.

SpogeBobSquarePants producers Marc Ceccarelli and Vincent Waller will serve as co-executive producers on the series, said the network.

“SpongeBob has an incredible universe to expand upon and the greenlight for Kamp Koral is a testament to the strength and longevity of these characters known and loved by generations of fans around the world,” said Ramsey Naito, executive vice president of animation production and development for Nickelodeon in a statement. 

RELATED: Nickelodeon Renews 'SpongeBob SquarePants'

Nickelodeon will resurrect its 1990s pre-school series Blues Clues, part of the more than 800 episodes of new and returning series slated in the upcoming year, the networks announced prior to its Tuesday evening upfront presentation.

The additional episodes – up 20% from last year – is part of the network’s overall strategy of giving it target kids audience an opportunity to experience its content on a variety of platforms and through new technologies such as virtual reality and location-based experiences. 

Among the new shows to hit Nickelodeon in 2018 and 2019 is a remake of Blues Clues, featuring the original animated puppy Blue and an as yet revealed new live-action host, according to the network. The series ran on Nick Jr. from 1996 to 2006 

Also making a comeback to Nickelodeon is a spinoff of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. The animated Rise Of The Mutant Ninja Turtles series will feature the voice of WWE superstar John Cena as villain Baron Draxum, according to the network.

Other new series include Los Casagrandes, a spinoff from the network’s animated series The Loud House featuring show characters Ronnie Anne and his brother Bobby Santiago; and Pony, an animated buddy comedy that follows the life of an average girl whose talking pony comes to live with her and her family.

On the live-action front, new shows include Keep It Spotless, a competition series from the WWE’s John Cena; Knight Squad, a comedy set at a magical school for knights in training; and Musical Dares, a short-form series that features a new twist on the classic concept of musical chairs. 

Signature Nickelodeon series returning with new episodes include Spongebob Squarepants, The Loud House, Henry Danger, The Thundermans and Nicky, Ricky, Dicky and Dawn.

Nickelodeon also announced a new partnership with IMAX to bring its multi-player, virtual reality offering SlimeZone to select IMAX VR Centres globally this month.

Nickelodeon Group President Cyma Zarghami said the network’s rollout of new content and new technological advances represent the network’s efforts to “reinvent” itself for a new generation of audiences accessing content on new generation platforms. While the network is not abandoning its linear TV roots, she said the network has to reach kids where they are with content they want.

“Great IP will take viewers to every platform,” she said. “That’s not to say we’re leaning one way or the other; it is to say that unlike five or 10 years ago when something works, it works everywhere. The reach you get with linear, even with a diminishing universe is still a significant audience.”

Nickelodeon has renewed its popular animated series SpongeBob SquarePants for a 12th season, the network announced Tuesday.

The 26-episode 12th season will debut in 2019, the series’ 20th anniversary year and the planned year for the release of a third SpongeBob SquarePants theatrical film, according to Nickelodeon.

SpongeBob SquarePants, the most-watched animated program with kids for more than 15 consecutive years, will debut season 11 later this summer, according to the network.

Nickelodeon also announced the renewal of several pre-school series including PAW Patrol (fifth season);Shimmer and Shine (fourth season) and Rusty Rivets and Nella the Princess Knight (bothsecond season renewals). 

It used to be that kids would wake up early on Saturday mornings and gather in front of the TV to get their fix of age-appropriate animated shows, live-action series and specials on most of the major broadcast networks.

These days, kids age 2 to 11 — especially “tweens” age 6 to 11 — can watch their favorite cartoons and series any time of day, over and over again, without ever getting out of bed — and they don’t even need a TV set in their room.

The first generation to grow up in a truly multiplatform video universe has a bevy of content to watch on their iPads, mobile phones and television sets originating from traditional linear cable networks such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Disney Channel and even HBO, with its recent acquisition of Sesame Street. Plus, there are kids’ offerings from streaming subscription video-on-demand services like Amazon Prime, Netflix and Hulu.

CROSS-PLATFORM CHALLENGES

The new ways of watching create opportunities for content providers — and challenges for distributors looking to maintain and grow audiences of very young viewers.

Programmers are using original and acquired kids’ fare designed to stimulate and entertain their young minds, while hoping to build brand loyalty with parents and, ultimately, with their kids as they get older and make their own TV-purchasing decisions.

“The magic of children’s television is that it really lowers churn,” Sandy Wax, a veteran children’s TV programmer and former president of NBCUniversal-owned preschool network Sprout, said. “People tune into an HBO or a Netflix for the big tentpole events, but you also need an everyday reason to subscribe. If you’re smart, then you’re maintaining a really solid kids’ library.”

The data shows that kids watch a lot of TV on a lot of platforms. Children aged 2 to 11 spend 41% of their daily viewing watching a TV-connected device such as a tablet, on par with their teen siblings as well as adults 18-34, according to Nielsen total-day audience numbers for the first quarter.

But kids still watch most of their TV on the big screen: 59% of daily viewing still comes from traditional television.

With viewing occuring on multiple platforms, there are a lot of ways to reach young viewers with targeted content.

“There’s a lot more places to get the content, and there are new people making content,” Cyma Zarghami, president of Nickelodeon and Viacom Media Networks Kids and Family Group, said. “It is competitive and people are consuming more content in more places, but what’s happening right now is that the dust is settling on viewership, and the penetration of homes with SVOD platforms in them has leveled off, and the good stuff is rising to the top.”

Ratings for the top kids’ networks — Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Disney Channel — have slipped in recent years as young viewers access more content digitally. But executives from those networks say they aren’t losing viewers — rather, they’re reaching them online.

ONLINE BRAND APPEAL

An established presence on traditional TV creates brand appeal on digital platforms, and that gives the more-entrenched players an edge over newer distributors, Nickelodeon’s Zarghami said. In the second quarter, Nick posted a 5% year-to-year increase among kids 2 to 11 and a 6% increase among 6-to-11-year olds, on the strength of shows such as Henry Danger and the venerable SpongeBob SquarePants.

“We have linear television, we have our apps and our websites, and we own and make our own content, which puts us in a unique position,” Zarghami said. “The linear feed is still a giant marketing platform that’s not going anywhere anytime soon.”

Added Paul DeBenedittis, senior vice president of strategy for Disney Channels Worldwide: “For decades, we have been producing relatable content for kids and families that all connects back to our trusted brand. We use our multiple platforms as tools to drive our content, which fuels our reach to kids and families.”

Disney Channel — which was cable's most-watched network among 6 to 11 year-olds during the second quarter and a top-10 cable network among total viewers during the quarter despite a 21% year-to-year falloff  — continues to reach its core 6-to-11-year-old viewers with original movies like Descendants and popular scripted series such as K.C. Undercover, which live on the linear network as well as its “Watch Disney Channel” TV-everywhere service.

Trying to reach viewers wherever they are, the network often premieres new episodes of shows and new original movies online prior to their linear debuts.

“We have utilized a pre-linear strategy in the past and will continue with select premieres,” DeBenedittis said. “Most recently, we have moved to make our content available across all platforms on the same day, so that kids and families can enjoy however or wherever they want at the same time.”

Kids watch a lot of video on digital devices, and that has spurred OTT services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon to aggressively acquire and create original content to serve those subscribers. Executives with the streaming services say kids-targeted programming often leads to co-viewing with parents — the consumers who ultimately pay the subscription bills.

“When you look at Amazon as a business, a lot of our customers are families, so kids’ content is important to us for that reason,” Tara Sorensen, head of kids’ programming at Amazon Studios, told Multichannel News. “Philosophically, everything we do, from our preschool to our 6-to-11 content, has elements that we have embedded to create co-viewing opportunities for us.”

With half of its subscriber base regularly watching kid-targeted offerings, Netflix also has stepped up its game with regard to offering quality children’s programming.

At this past January’s Television Critics Association press tour, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said the OTT provider plans to spend a large portion of its 2016 budget on kids and family programming. This past June, the network announced the launch of five original animated shows for kids, along with the renewal of its freshman original animated series Kong: King of the Apes.

Those shows eventually will join others already on the air, including the tween-targeted Degrassi: Next Class, an extension of the long-running, Canadian-produced Degrassi franchise that has aired in the U.S. on PBS and Nickelodeon; a reboot of the 1980s series Inspector Gadget; and toddler-targeted Project Mc².

Hulu recently shored up its Hulu Kids offering by securing subscription-VOD streaming rights to popular series from Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD, including K.C. Undercover, Gravity Falls and Austin & Ally. Overall, the streaming service will offer more than 500 episodes and more than 20 original movies from Disney-ABC Television Group’s suite of networks.

The deal complements Hulu’s existing agreement to stream current seasons of Nickelodeon-themed content as well as shows from Cartoon Network.

With so much competition in the category, Hulu vice president of acquisitions Lisa Holme said the network’s strategy of acquiring existing shows with built-in followings helps attract kids and families to Hulu Kids. More than one-third of Hulu's subscribers access Hulu Kids on a daily basis.

“The goal is to make sure there are a few noisy and attention-grabbing shows people know that we have, like Curious George,” acquired in a March agreement with NBCUniversal Television, Holme said.

With the goal of acquiring and maintaining subscribers, Amazon’s Sorensen said streaming services have more flexibility than traditional linear channels to explore in-depth stories and subject matter targeted to kids of all age groups without having to worry about adhering to time period constraints, which allows viewers to engage in as much content as they want whenever they desire.

From its preschool-targeted shows like the Emmy-winning Tumble Leaf and new animated series The Stinky and Dirty Show, to live-action series aimed at tweens, such as Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street and the upcoming soccer-themed The Kicks, Sorensen said Amazon is on pace this year to introduce a new kids’-themed series every four to six weeks.

“We can present them as individual shows and really tell richer stories with serialized arcs that we believe will have greater impact with our customers,” Sorensen said.

Linear TV networks like Cartoon Network are also looking to bring kids and their millennial parents together with new series that promote co-viewing. The network earlier this month renewed its remake of its own 1990s animated series The Powerpuff Girls for a second season after it performed well both on the linear and digital fronts, according to the network.

In addition, Cartoon has used shows such as The Powerpuff Girls, Adventure Time and The Regular Show to build its online and on-demand presence. Online video plays on Cartoon Network’s app were up 196% in the second quarter, compared with second-quarter 2015.

Also, on-demand orders of Cartoon Network shows in Q2 increased 14% from the same quarter last year to a whopping 110 million VOD orders.

"There’s no question the kids marketplace is crowded, but to remain a leader in the space, our focus is on building on our strengths to differentiate our network and our content from the rest of the pack," said Christina Miler, president and general mangaer for Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and Boomerang. "Between the reach and scale of our linear network and the massive engagement Cartoon Network has in the digital space, we have a consumption advantage and tremendous platform through which to build awareness for and interest in our content."

With all the distribution players vying for quality kids-targeted content, the category has become a virtual playground for content producers, according to former South Park animator Ryan Quincy.

WIDE-OPEN FIELD

“It’s like the Wild West, the landscape is so open,” said Quincy, who’s developing an animated series for Disney XD, Future-Worm!, which will debut Aug. 1.

“It’s a great time to be a creator, especially in animation right now, with all of the different avenues and platforms where you can see shows and develop content,” he said. “You can access this content anywhere at anytime so you have to be that much more on top of your game.”

For kids and families, the increase in kids’ fare provides more viewing options than ever before on television.

“Gone is the model of the chokehold of two or three big companies and a public broadcaster controlling the few programs going into American households,” Wax said. “The winners are kids and families because there’s going to be a lot more choice in this type of environment.”

Added Nickelodeon’s Zarghami: “We’ll definitely need more content because viewers have more choice … We have more series that are working than we’ve ever had in the past, but we’ll have to continue to find more [hit] shows to continue to give our viewers what they want to see.”