Nickelodeon has long been one of the premier cable channels focused on children’s programming, responsible for giving viewers some heavy hitters in the entertainment world. Over the years, the Paramount-owned platform has created the likes of SpongeBob SquarePants, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Invader Zim, Rugrats, and too many other classics to count. During Nickelodeon’s history, there have been several platforms that weren’t able to last as long as its parent station, but one channel in particular is making a comeback. In an unexpected twist, Nickelodeon is aiming to bring back a past spin-off in a surprising new way.
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Noggin was originally established in 1999 by Nickelodeon to create a platform that focused on education, with teachers routinely using programming from the channel in their classrooms. Discontinued originally in 2009, Nogging would return in 2015 as a streaming service, only to be shuttered once again last year in 2024. Now, Noggin is getting a reboot with a focus on gaming, looking to create experiences for children from ages five to twelve. Luckily, the comeback is being forged by someone who helped strengthen the Noggin brand originally, as previous CEO Kristen Kane has been working in the background to bring back the platform. You can see a first look at the new Noggin below.
The New Noggin
Kane explains her plans for what the new Noggin will entail, hoping to take the spirit of the original platform and recreate it: “We want Noggin to come to a town near you. It’s mostly like a place where kids can be with other kids on their own—supervised, safe, just doing their thing.” The Noggin CEO also digs deeper into what the new platform will be, stating that she is hoping for the games of the app to teach children how to build new skills, “So it’s not like, poof, the cake is made. It’s going through [the process] step by step by step, and hopefully saying, ‘I could totally do this’.”
This opening salvo is, apparently, only the first step for Noggin’s comeback, as Kane is working to have the relaunch also acquire new licenses connected to users’ hobbies. Following this, Kane is hoping to get more ambitious by creating “live location-based experiences tied to the app,” potentially similar to apps like Pokemon Go. The ultimate goal, according to the CEO, is to have all these moving pieces work in tandem with one another to keep Noggin going for years to come.
As for Nickelodeon, we have yet to see the effects of how the recent merger of Paramount and Skydance will affect the cable network. Franchises like SpongeBob SquarePants and Avatar: The Last Airbender aren’t just releasing new episodes on television, but have new movies in the works as well.
Want to see what the future holds for Noggin? Follow along with ComicBook.com for all the latest Nickelodeon updates, and hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime or hit us up in the comments.
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