According to a new report, Nickelodeon is seeing a dramatic drop in viewership as the network continues to push LGBTQ related content on its programming.
Pirates and Princesses, an independent news blog, noted the children’s network has lost over two-thirds of its audience in the past four years.
“Since July of 2017, Nickelodeon’s viewership has dropped from 1.3 million average viewers per week to a June of 2021 average of only 372,000,” the website said. “In only four years, Nickelodeon has dropped more than two thirds of its audience.”
“That is catastrophically bad for the cable channel, but with cable on the way out, maybe it’s not so bad? The catch here is that it is, in fact, that bad and perhaps worse, simply because Nickelodeon seems to be the primary driving force behind new subscribers to Paramount+.”
Paramount+, a streaming service owned by ViacomCBS Streaming, has even brought back older Nickelodeon content in order to drive nostalgic fans to the service. Shows added to the streaming service include Rugrats and iCarly, among other shows.
However, Pirates and Princesses says “that Viacom has not learned any lessons and is retrofitting these old shows with the same principles that have resulted in Nickelodeon’s huge loss in ratings.”
For instance, Rugrats, which was brought back as a reboot to Paramount+ now features a retconned character who is now a lesbian.
“Even with a show about infants, much of the headlines have been about a retconned, now-lesbian character; whatever your thoughts on that issue, it’s hard to see how a children’s show about infants is best served in advertising when the news is all about sexuality,” the blog states.
As Christian Headlines previously reported, Nickelodeon, in collaboration with transgender actor Michael D. Cohen, recently cast its first trans-identified teen to guest star one of its shows.
In celebration of this year’s Pride Month, the network’s Blues Clues & You released an animated music video where drag queen Nina West sings alongside animals who identify as gay, transgender, and non-binary.
Earlier this year, Blues Clues also released an alphabet song featuring references to LGBTQ pride.
Photo credit: Unsplash/Glenn Carstens-Peters
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer. He is also the co-hosts of the For Your Soul podcast, which seeks to equip the church with biblical truth and sound doctrine. Visit his blog Blessed Are The Forgiven.
