Disney Plus, the streaming service by the popular entertainment industry Disney, has skyrocketed in popularity during the pandemic. As of January 2, Disney Plus grew to have 94.9 million subscribers, which is more than three times the number of subscribers the streaming service had one year earlier. Netflix, another subscription video service, is still the king when it comes to streaming videos, however, it is starting to face swift competition from Disney Plus and other platforms. In response, Netflix decided to join forces with Nickelodeon as a way to take on Disney Plus.

Netflix’s deal with Nickelodeon means that they are able to produce new movies and television shows based on characters from the network. Nickelodeon is home to a wide variety of characters, including Spongebob, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and even Dora the Explorer. In the past, Netflix worked with Nickelodeon to have popular hits like “Spongebob Squarepants” featured on their platform. This was halted in 2013 when Amazon Prime acquired the right to stream the shows. As of now, Nickelodeon still has plans to host their shows on their own and is not willing to sell reruns of their current popular series. However, Netflix’s deal with Nickelodeon means that they can continue providing a diverse range of content for all viewers to enjoy.

One reason why Netflix decided to initiate a partnership is to appeal to family-oriented audiences. Disney’s streaming platform has a target audience primarily centered around families and children, as shown by its roster of films including “Mulan” and “Avengers Endgame.” Netflix also has plenty of family-friendly shows, but they perhaps felt that they were lacking by not featuring more recognizable characters. Furthermore, Disney purchased all the rights to a large number of Star Wars and Marvel movies, which were initially featured on Netflix. Therefore, striking a deal with Nickelodeon was a step in Netflix’s favor during the continuous “cold war” between Netflix and Disney Plus. Another objective of Netflix is to produce brand new content, rather than acquiring the content of other platforms. This is primarily why Netflix decided to purchase the rights to Nickelodeon characters, and why they have plans to feature them in new Netflix releases. For example, Squidward from “Spongebob Squarepants” will be featured in his own show. There are also going to be other movies centered around Rugrats and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Overall, the Nickelodeon partnership has certainly been a beneficial move for Netflix. Fans will finally be able to see Nickelodeon shows on Netflix, and Disney Plus will lose some of its ground over its domination of family-friendly shows.