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Teen Nick is an American pay television channel that is owned by Nickelodeon Group, a unit of the Viacom Media Networks division of Viacom. Aimed primarily at teenagers aged 13 - 19, the channel features a mix of original programming, Nickelodeon-produced series, feature films, and acquired programs initially geared towards pre-teens and young teenagers.
Launched in 2002 to complement and promote the cable channel, TeenNick quickly became a popular attraction in its own right, developing a loyal, energetic audience and providing the foundation for a far-reaching online community.
Through this study, we aim to propose strategies that will boost the popularity of Teen Nick's Youtube channel through the following actions:
Teen Nick launched their Youtube channel in March 2016. As of July 11, 2018, it has 124 videos, 1,221,491 views, and 9,606 subscribers.
We quickly observed the lack of activity on Teen Nick's official Youtube channel especially in comparison to the network's other official channels Nickelodeon, Nick Animation and - most notably - NickSplat, which is a part of Teen Nick.
Table 1: Number of posts on Teen Nick's official social media platforms from March to June 2018
The last video posted on Teen Nick's channel was on November 21, 2017, almost seven months ago. The absence of posts is questionable, considering Teen Nick is active on other social media platforms Facebook and Twitter as seen in Table 1.
The lack of activity has directly impacted numerical statistics on Teen Nick's Youtube channel, with number of views and subscribers decreasing significantly overtime as seen in Table 2.
Table 2: Views and subscribers per week on TeenNick from August 2017 to July 2018
It is also worth bringing to attention the lack of connections Teen Nick has compared to its network's counterparts as seen in Table 3. Nickelodeon, Nick Animation, and NickSplat all have mutual connections, however, while Teen Nick is linked to Nickelodeon and NickSplat, it only receives connections from NickSplat.
Table 3: In-degree links to Teen Nick
What are kids watching on Youtube today?
According to a recent study conducted by Pew Research Center, 85 percent of teenagers in the USA (ages 13-17) say they use Youtube. Closely behind are Instagram (72 percent) and Snapchat (69 percent). Another study conducted by Defy Media found that 95% of teens surveyed between the ages of 13-20 used Youtube more than any other platform.
Based on these survey results, there is a huge untapped market as Teen Nick directly targets this age group, but it does not maximize the opportunity to attract said market. The following figure shows what content teens are most interested on Youtube.
Figure 1: Usage of social media platforms by 13-20 year-olds on Youtube (Defy Media)
With humor, recommendations, and how-to videos being the most popular content, Teen Nick can tailor their content to appeal to a wider audience. Based on current videos uploaded on the channel, it seems Teen Nick is on the right track, however, has not maximized potential to reach said target audience.
NickSplat (previously "The '90s Are All That" and later "The Splat)" is a programming block that airs nightly on TeenNick. The block shows reruns of classic mid-late 1980s, 1990s, and early-mid 2000s children's programming, mostly shows that aired on Nickelodeon during their original runs such as "Doug", "Hey Arnold!" and "Rugrats". The block currently airs everyday from 10 p.m to 2 a.m. with an encore from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. Launched in 2011, Nicksplat was sparked by rising demand via the internet and social media platforms from young adults who grew up with Nickelodeon in the 1990s.
Based on Google Trends, which shows how often a particular search-term is entered relative to the total search-volume across various regions of the world, interest in Teen Nick reached an all-time high in July 2011 when they first launched NickSplat, then called "The '90s Are All That". As seen in Table 2, Teen Nick has not been able to replicate this success in public interest since then.
Table 2: Interest in Teen Nick from January 2010 to January 2018.
When comparing the Youtube channels of Teen Nick and NickSplat, it is immediately evident that even though NickSplat is only a branch of Teen Nick, it greatly surpasses Teen Nick in number of subscribers, views, and overall activity.
Table 3: Number of views on Teen Nick and Nick Splat as of July 11, 2018
Table 3.1: Number of subscribers on Teen Nick and Nick Splat as of July 11, 2018
Table 3.2: Number of subscribers on Teen Nick and Nick Splat as of July 11, 2018
Table 4: Views and subscribers per week on NickSplat from August 2017 to July 2018
We therefore conclude that Teen Nick’s Youtube channel will greatly benefit from NickSplat’s following. We recommend that NickSplat be incorporated as a playlist within Teen Nick so that both millennials and Generation Z alike will benefit from Teen Nick’s content.
Improve variety of content on Teen Nick's Youtube channel:
Teen Nick currently does not have an extensive playlist of videos, with content limited to a few interviews, DIY videos, and other short clips.
In order to rebuild Teen Nick's channel and improve its variety new exclusive content should be posted in order to send the audience from TV to the Youtube channel. This strategy has proven to be very successful in Teen Nick Israel's channel. Where they post exclusive scenes from their shows, bloopers, interviews with the cast etc.
Better customize playlists and improve tagging keywords:
Within the new Teen Nick channel after the merge of Teen Nick with NickSplat, content will be restructured and reorganized. The way content will be presented is through playlists. Each video playlist will have a designated topic.
Seeing as the most popular videos on the actual Teen Nick channel are those featuring guest celebrities from their TV network there should be a playlist offering that specific content.
Figure 2: Most viewed videos on Teen Nick's Youtube channel
Example tagging on successful videos on that category: Tags on "Pretty Much most likely to" video: TeenNick, TNT10, Prettymuch, Nick Music, Music, most likely to, game, pretty much"
As NickSplat's content is much more successful than Teen Nick's a lot of the featured content after the merge will come from Splat. It will be featured in a specific playlist under the name of the NickSplat, as a way to group the videos of the old more successful channel.
Tagging example on the most viewed videos on NickSplat’s channel:
Tags on "How Does CatDog go to the Bathroom?"": "The Splat, Nickelodeon, 1990s, 90s, 90s Nickelodeon, 90s Nick, nostalgia, TV, childhood, comedy, 90s kids, catdog, bathroom, poop, mystery".
Tags on "Tommy's Boo Boo": The Splat, Nickelodeon, 1990s, 90s, 90s Nickelodeon, 90s Nick, nostalgia, TV, childhood, comedy, 90s kids, rugrats, tommy, chuckie, phil, lil, booboo, boo boo, cut, stu pickles, didi pickles"
Figure 3: Most viewed videos on NickSplat's Youtube channel
Teen Nick's channel also has an already created playlist featuring DIY videos, which is something that should be preserved seeing as those could attract a wider audience. The most popular video on the DIY category is "DIY BFF necklaces". Tags on that video are a sit follows: "TeenNick, TNT10, BFF, Best Friends Forever, Besties, Best Friends, Friends, Jewelery, Necklaces, DIY, Do It Yourself".
Finally a playlist in which exclusive scenes, bloopers etc, content especially created for youtube, will be uploaded, as it has proven to be really successful on Teen Nick's Israel's channel. Tags on that are "Nick, Tin Nick, Nickelodeon, teennick, nick, Nickelodeon, Gotcha, Blingix, Blagnix, Mess, Mess, Balaganics, Stretches, Stretching, Bunch, Kids, Yoni, Tal, Shalev, Noga, Graffiti, celebs, Noa Kirl, Katrix, Doron Biton, Tal Moseri, Eliad Nahum, Adi Beety, Maor Buzaglo, Noa, Kirl, New York"
Figure 4: Most viewed videos on Teen Nick Israel