SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS RANKS AS BASIC CABLE'S NUMBER-ONE ENTERTAINMENT TELECAST WITH TOTAL VIEWERS FOR WEEK, TAKES TOP SPOT WITH KIDS ON ALL TV

Nickelodeon Close the Week as Number-One Cable Net with Kids and Total Viewers

NEW YORK - Nov. 16, 2010 - Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants "Mystery with a Twistery" (Thursday, Nov. 11, 8 p.m. [ET/PT]) half hour-special ranks as basic cable's top entertainment telecast for the week with total viewers, drawing 6.1 million viewers P2+. The special also ranks as the week's number-one telecast with kids 2-11 on broadcast and basic cable.

The "Mystery with a Twistery" premiere ranked as the top program for Thursday (Nov. 11) night with all kid and tween demos, posting double- and triple-digit gains for Nick and averaging a 9.5/3.4 million K2-11 (+111%), 10.8/2.3 million K6-11 (+125%), and 8.4/1.8 million T9-14 (+95%). The special also averaged 1.4/1.6 million A18-49, drawing more adult viewers than TBS' Conan for the night.

In "Mystery with a Twistery," SpongeBob embarks on railway mystery caper. In an effort to stop Plankton from stealing the Krabby Patty recipe once and for all, Mr. Krabs sends the formula to a far away vault for safe keeping. However, when Mr. Krabs forgets the recipe himself, he entrusts the key to the vault to SpongeBob and sends him on a journey across the ocean to retrieve it. When the key goes missing aboard the Oceanic Express train, SpongeBob must identify the culprit and reclaim the key before the Krabby Patty recipe is lost forever.

Nickelodeon also closed the week as the number-one total day cable net with K2-11 (3.4/1.2 million), K6-11 (3.0/640,000) and total viewers (2.3 million), driven by solid performances by animated fan favorites SpongeBob SquarePants and Planet Sheen - which rank as the week's top two animated series with kids 2-11 and kids 6-11, respectively.

Nickelodeon, now in its 31st year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products online, recreation, books and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in more than 100 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for 16 consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B).