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Get ready for the slime because the NFL playoffs are returning to Nickelodeon.
CBS Sports President David Berson announced Wednesday that the children’s network will broadcast a wild-card playoff game in January.
This is the fourth playoff simulcast on Nickelodeon since the 2020 season. The first broadcast featured the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints competing in the NFC Wild Card Game in January 2021.
The response to the game was so strong that CBS brought it back the following year for the game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys.
Nickelodeon has included Christmas Day games in its schedule for the past two seasons. Since CBS had the broadcast rights to the Super Bowl last season, the duel between the 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs was broadcast simultaneously on Nick.
The 49ers game against the Chiefs was announced as Super Bowl LVIII: Live from Bikini Bottom. and featured augmented reality effects with SpongeBob SquarePants Sign.
Other highlights from previous Nickelodeon broadcasts include a touchdown replay with Ninja Turtle avatars instead of players and slime cannons when a team finds the end zone.
Alternate broadcasts have become a big part of the NFL experience, with the Manningcast on ESPN growing in popularity every year since its debut in the 2021 season.
The Bears-Saints game in January 2021 was Nickelodeon’s most-watched broadcast in four years. The alternate Super Bowl broadcast between the 49ers and Chiefs in February averaged 1.2 million viewers, more than six times the network’s 2023 primetime average (190,000 viewers).
