While Nickelodeon said it was sifting through 25 pilots for TV, most of the talk during its upfront discussion centered on its increased ad and content emphasis on digital media, with particular attention given to three new interactive series. The MTVN property picked a propitious time to bring up its new web series, as Nickelodeon also announced that its sites pulled in their strongest performance ever this past February, the virtual world/social net hybrid Nicktropolis reached a network milestone by surpassing 1 million registered users since its January launch. Specifically, the site garnered approximately 2.4 million visits and more than 70 million pageviews, along with a total of 8.9 million game plays. Within Nicktropolis, the average time spent per-week, per-visitor in February was 36 minutes and 12 seconds.
As for digital programming, the showcase was iCarly, a show within a show that brings the TV and web closer for its younger viewers. During the course of the series, the title character will give viewers a specific assignment that relates to the context of a particular show.  Kids will be directed to a site to post their own original content, which may be either scripted into a future iCarly episode or become part of Carly’s webcast. The show and site will launch in the fall.
Speaking to reporters for its upfront conference call, Cyma Zarghami, president of Nickelodeon MTV Network Kids and Family Group, said:"This year we feel like the digital generation of kids has really emerged and we’re spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to seamlessly connect that to what we’re doing in with all of our content on all of our platforms.”
Asked about the amount of advertising dollars the network expects will go towards supporting its digital initiatives, Jim Perry, EVP of 360 Degree Brand Sales for the Kids and Family Group, said he expects online advertising to attract between 5 and 10 percent of the total ad spend pie: “You know, we’re certainly stretching for 10 percent but we will see how this marketplace evolves. It will certainly grow from a year ago.”
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-- Nickelodeon Jumps On “Virtual City” Bandwagon: Nicktropolis For Tweens