CBS Sports and Nickelodeon will expand the work they do to link younger viewers to the National Football League, working to build on a kids-focused Wild Card game broadcast that gained traction earlier this year.
As part of the activity, Nickelodeon will telecast another NFL Wild Card game on Jan. 16, alongside CBS Sports’ usual coverage that day. On Sept. 15, Nickelodeon will launch “NFL Slimetime,” a new weekly half-hour series that will debut at 7 p.m.
“Our coverage of the NFL Wild Card game was literally a game-changer in so many ways, and the sensational response absolutely proved there’s huge demand for sports content with the kind of kids and family point of view that only Nickelodeon can deliver,” Brian Robbins, president and CEO of Nickelodeon, said in a statement. “In this next stage of our tremendous partnership with the NFL and CBS Sports, we’re going to raise the bar again and help innovate sports programming to bring the whole family together for one-of-a-kind viewing experiences.” The first telecast was Nickelodeon’s most-watched program among total viewers in nearly four years.
An average of 2.06 million viewers tuned in to see touchdowns celebrated by virtual cannons shooting green slime and Gabrielle Nevaeh Green, one of the members of Nick’s “All That” sketch-comedy show, rattling off stats that included players’ favorite ice cream flavors. CBS Sports and Nickelodeon executives spent nine months ironing out the details of how a young audience might watch a game.
The new “Slimetime” series will be hosted by former NFL star Nate Burleson and Dylan Gilmer, star of the Nick sitcom “Tyler Perry’s Young Dylan,” with teen sports correspondent Dylan Schefter and the animated character Lincoln Loud. The series will unspool across 23 episodes, with “Nick-ified” highlights and game footage; youth football spotlights; special guest appearances by Nick stars; interviews with NFL players; and entertaining segments highlighting players and teams on and off the field. The series will be available to stream on Paramount Plus a day after its TV debut, and stay on through Feb. 16, the week of the next Super Bowl. “NFL Slimetime” is executive produced by Ashley Kaplan, Luke Wahl, Paul J. Medford and Jana Blumenthal. CBS Sports’ Shawn Robbins serves as executive producer and showrunner. Production for Nickelodeon is overseen by Ashley Kaplan, senior vice president of digital studios.