Can 4kids really compete with Disney, Nick, and CN?

[Betsey]

So we're looking at 2 years tops then for 4kids.

I don't think they'll be around through late 2010.

[sunbeam98]

Yeah, there may be a point where it's useless for 4Kids to have a Saturday morning block but right now it's doing fine...in fact it's improving instead of continuing its downward spiral like it has for the past several years. And I'm not sure where people are getting the idea that it's completely full of reruns. There's still new GoGoRiki, RollBots, Dinosaur King, Kamen Rider and a brand new season of Chaotic. And most of the reruns are new to the network.

Of course, there's the issue that the best ratings are coming from reruns, but the entire block has improved as a whole because of it.

[swanny903 !]

I've said it before, I don't think 4Kids will ever go out of business.

What I do think will happen (and we're seeing the beginning of this) is that they will abandon television media and become a purely merchandising company. Rather than market their own products, they'll market for others. That seems to be their strength anyway.

[S??bastien]

The CW4Kids is not the only broadcast place that's primarily a non-E/I block as Cookie Jar Toons on This TV airs non-E/I kids shows Sunday - Friday.

[Black Santa]

I've noticed that as well. Even though the block does contain quite a few reruns, many of them are new to the channel and they seems to get the best ratings on the block. It's usually Yu-Gi-Oh!, Sonic X and TMNT. I don't know if the fact that reruns perform better than new episodes is too much of a problem. It just looks more surprising to me than anything else.

Besides, as you mentioned before, ratings aren't that important to 4Kids in the long run. It's all about promoting their properties and merchandise connected to the series.

As for the initial question, 4Kids has never been in competition with the three head channels. It would be seriously hard for them to do that since they only have a Saturday morning block while the other channels are twenty-four hours long. Even if they somehow got a weekday block, I don't think that they would be able to compete with Disney, Nick or Cartoon Network. All three of those channels are established channels for children's entertainment. I wouldn't say that 4Kids is a household name like those channels.

In terms of how long 4Kids will remain in the Saturday morning block business, I think that it all depends on how things turn out for them in the future. They're doing a lot of work with Yu-Gi-Oh! and Chaotic and trying to get more merchandise deals. If that stuff like that can work out and they still see their block as a worthy investment, then I could see them at least having another couple of years. Like I said, I don't think that their fate is clearly written in stone yet either.

[wileen c]

Yeah, I really started thinking this too when the NFL TCG license was announced. That one sent home the signal of their change of direction.

Their last couple of licensing acquistions have been non-television ones, like Karito Kids, that girl-oriented one, and now the NFL online card game. And Rollbots they acquired the merchandise licensing to but they don't produce it. They'll probably bow out of television quietly, with Chaotic and Yu-Gi-Oh being their last two stragglers. They could maybe produce Chaotic and 5D's for a year or so more for airing on CN but that would be it.

The CW4Kids' contract runs until 2013 but I could see them trying to cut it off a few years earlier like they did with Fox - they've all but stopped producing shows and dubs, so that airspace becomes a little on the pointless side, especially when they're airing old series with merchandise they aren't pushing (specifically Sonic X).

In a few years from now 4Kids will just be a small licensing company for toys and games, maybe swallowed up by competition or maybe not, that's all.

[jkurz2008]

Beating? Yes. CW has had the higher ratings for four straight weeks and five of the last seven.

Easily? Hardly. In those seven weeks, the average rating has been a 0.86 for CW and a 0.80 for ABC. Only once in those seven weeks was the difference in overall block rating been more than one-tenth of a point.

And, in four of the seven weeks, both networks had either the same rating or share number.

But, like the World Series, it's not how you win, but just THAT you win.

Again, this is all a result of hitting on a successful lineup. They're still losing the 11-12 hour as Hannah/Z&C are still routinely beating new eps of Chaotic and KRDK. But, CW is making hay in the 8-10 segment of the block.

[adestef]

I think the problem is Alfred Kahn is such a stubborn man that he's run the company into the ground before he allowed the company to quietly bow out of the kids television business.

There is really no reason for 4kids to exist on Saturday mornings anymore. Its almost as if what they're doing now is pointless.