Nick is back! The kids’ cabler’s new animated series Sanjay and Craig managed to bring in 3.6 million total viewers for its Saturday, May 24, premiere, driving double-digit gains with kids 2-11 and kids 6-11. The new toon ranked as the number-two kids’ program on all TV for the week—second only to top-ranked SpongeBob SquarePants.
Sanjay and Craig, which follows the misadventures of a 12-year-old boy and his best friend—a talking snake—earned a 6.0/2.0 Million kids 2-11 (up +22% over last year) and a 6.4/1.3 million kids 6-11 (up +31). SpongeBob SquarePants was number one with kids 2-11 (6.9/2.3 million, up +33%) and kids 6-11 (6.8/1.3 million, up +36%) for the week, as well as being the month’s overall top animated program among kids across all TV.
As it did in April, Nickelodeon finished first in May as basic cable’s number-one network in total day. For May, the net was first with kids 2-11 (2.6/866,000, +10%) and total viewers (1.6 MM, +6%) in total day. Additionally, Nickelodeon’s preschool block (M-F 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. ET/PT) topped with kids 2-5 (4.3/579,000, +10%). This performance also marks the network’s 18th straight week of year-over-year growth.
Sanjay and Craig, produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studios, follows the adventures of Sanjay, an excitable and irreverent 12-year-old boy (Maulik Pancholy, 30 Rock) and Craig, a smooth-talking snake and master of disguise (Chris Hardwick, Nerdist, The Talking Dead). Together, they embark on epic kid-inspired quests that are at times totally ridiculous, absolutely gross and weirdly sweet. Additional voice actors include Linda Cardellini (Freaks and Geeks) as Megan; Matt Jones (Breaking Bad) as Hector and Kunal Nayyar (The Big Bang Theory) as Vijay. The series joins Nickelodeon’s hit Saturday morning animation lineup, airing regularly at 10:30 a.m. ET/PT.
You can read about the making of the show here:
www.animationmagazine.net/tv/nick-soars-to-comedic-heights-with-sanjay-and-craig/.
