Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group Announces Plans for New Premium Subscription Services, Multiplayer Games, First Teen Girl Gaming Site,
Casual MMOGs/Virtual Worlds, More Self-Published Titles,
and Broader Integrated Advertising Opportunities
Investment Plans Part of MTV Networks' Overall Commitment
to Become Leaders in the Casual Gaming Arena
NEW YORK and SEATTLE, July 18 -- MTV Networks' Nickelodeon
Kids and Family Group today announced its commitment to invest $100 million
over the next two years in development, distribution and creation of casual
gaming titles, sites and platforms. The announcement was made by Cyma
Zarghami, President, Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group and was highlighted at
the Casual Connect gaming conference in Seattle, WA, in a keynote address
delivered by Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group's Executive Vice President of
Digital Media, Steve Youngwood.
This announcement from the Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group is part of
MTV Networks' overall commitment to leading in the gaming space, including
casual games, games media, console-based and handheld games.
"Across all of MTVN's online sites, gaming is an important original genre
and we are committed to delivering fresh content to our audiences in all of
our demos," said Ms. Zarghami. "Particularly in the kids' space, with more
than 86% of kids 8 to 14 gaming online, we see great momentum for online
casual gaming. This investment will not only benefit our audiences, but also
our marketing and distribution partners."
According to a recent Comscore World Metrix study on websites offering
online or downloadable games, 25% of web users are frequenting gaming sites
and the number of unique visitors to online gaming sites has reached close to
217 million, up +17% versus last year. The average online gamer visits a
gaming site nine times in one month.
The Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group investment will roll out over the
course of the next two years, primarily in 2008-09, through several
initiatives including:
- myNOGGIN: A subscription service where preschoolers can play
educational games and parents can track their progress will launch this fall
with Charter Communications, Cox Communications and Insight Communications.
It will also become available directly to consumers online in the fall through
a subscription model. myNOGGIN will be advertising free, and will build upon
existing hit Nickelodeon Kids and Family brands for preschoolers and their
parents, Nick Jr. and NOGGIN.
- Nick.com/Nicktropolis Multiplayer Games/Tournaments: www.nick.com will
expand upon its existing gaming franchise, New Game of the Week, giving it a
multiplayer focus. The first new effort in this space is 3D Slimeball on
Nick.com. In addition, multiplayer, cooperative gaming will become part of
Nicktropolis (www.nicktropolis.com), complementing the safe chat, virtual
economy, and item trading capabilities on the site.
- Nick Gaming Club: Nickelodeon's first ever subscription offering, Nick
Gaming Club will be a safe gaming environment featuring multiplayer games, 3D
avatars and community features. It will include games based on Nickelodeon
properties as well as others. The Nick Gaming Club will launch in first
quarter 2008.
- The-NGames.com: Launching in early 2008, The-NGames.com will become the
first major casual gaming site to focus solely on teen girls. The-N.com,
which previously focused on social games for teen girls with games like
Slasher, Avatar Mall and others, will partner with AddictingGames to produce
this new site.
- AddictingGames and AddictingWorlds: AddictingGames' offerings will be
expanded to include casual MMOGs with the introduction of AddictingWorlds, a
way to introduce a variety of virtual worlds to the AddictingGames' audience.
www.addictinggames.com already features a few virtual worlds on its site,
having recently entered into a partnership with Habbo and with an existing
partnership with sister site Neopets. In addition, increased emphasis will be
placed on user-submitted games on the site including more prominent upload
capabilities and game-making engines.
- Shockwave: Shockwave will become the games destination for families.
Increased focus this fall on www.shockwave.com will be on the creation of
innovative applications which are both fun for the user and an opportunity for
prominent integrated advertising. The first new application to launch is
Jigsaw Video. In addition, Shockwave will be more closely linked with
family-targeted brands within Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group, like Nick-at-
Nite television, to give advertisers the ability to promote their messaging
across multiple platforms. Shockwave will also increase its publishing of
downloadable games with Carrie the Caregiver Episode 2: Preschool, scheduled
to come out later this year.
- NeoStudios: Neopets (www.neopets.com) will be transformed into
Neostudios, which will focus on developing new virtual world gaming
experiences online, while continuing to grow and evolve the existing ones.
The first of these will launch at the end of 2008 with a goal to launch a new
one every other year.
Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group has an expansive footprint in gaming
through a diverse portfolio of online casual gaming, console-based and
handheld games. The company's portfolio of online casual gaming properties,
which generate almost 1 billion game plays per month from audiences ranging
from kids to adults, include Neopets, Nick.com, Nickjr.com, Shockwave, Nick
Arcade, AddictingGames and many more.
MTV Networks continues to build a multi-dimensional games media network
with acquired properties Xfire and GameTrailers.com, and content on branded
sites including MTV.com and SpikeTV.com. The company also has a strong
foothold in console-based and handheld gaming with MTV Games and Harmonix,
which provides music fans with a deeper interactive experience through its
popular music and rhythm titles.
About Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon, in its 28th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for
kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in
everything it does. The company includes television programming and production
in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online,
recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television
network is seen in almost 94 million households and has been the number-one-
rated basic cable network for 13 consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all
related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA,
VIA.B).
About MTV Networks and Viacom
MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is one of the world's
leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. MTV
Networks, with 137 channels worldwide, owns and operates the following
television programming services - MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION, MTV2, VH1, mtvU,
NICKELODEON, NICK at NITE, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV LAND, SPIKE TV, CMT, NOGGIN/THE
N, VH1 CLASSIC, LOGO, MTVN INTERNATIONAL and THE DIGITAL SUITE FROM MTV
NETWORKS, a package of 13 digital services, all of these networks trademarks
of MTV Networks. MTV Networks connects with its audiences through its robust
consumer products businesses and its more than 200 interactive properties
worldwide, including online, broadband, wireless and interactive television
services and also has licensing agreements, joint ventures, and syndication
deals whereby all of its programming services can be seen worldwide.
Viacom is a leading global entertainment content company, with prominent
and respected brands. Engaging its audiences through television, motion
pictures and digital platforms, Viacom seeks to reach its audiences however
they consume content. Viacom's leading brands include the multiplatform
properties of MTV Networks, including MTV: Music Television, VH1, CMT: Country
Music Television, Logo, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, COMEDY CENTRAL, Spike TV,
TV Land, and more than 130 networks around the world, as well as digital
assets such as MTV.com, comedycentral.com, VSPOT, TurboNick, Neopets, Xfire
and iFilm; BET Networks; Paramount Pictures; DreamWorks; and Famous Music.
More information about Viacom and its businesses is available at
www.viacom.com.
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