SpongeBob’s 25th Birthday Bubbles Up Big Watch-Time Increases

Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants has been on the air for 25 years, and Paramount has been pulling out all the stops on social video to celebrate, pushing significant growth in terms of both audience reach and watch-time, as data from Tubular Labs dives into.

• U.S. minutes watched for SpongeBob SquarePants’ official Facebook and YouTube pages grew to 462.2 million in July 2024; a 28% month-over-month climb. 
• The page was No. 17 among all media & entertainment creators by U.S. watch-time for the month, and was part of a larger year-long growth trend, too. SpongeBob’s watch-time has increased every month since March, and is up 172% year-over-year.

Part of the growth comes from a video strategy that encourages extended viewing. In July alone, the SpongeBob page uploaded seven different videos that lasted at least an hour, and three different marathon videos that lasted over 100 hours. The most-viewed video was a three-hour supercut of funny moments from the show, collecting 5.4 million views in the process.

While this is all tied to a larger event/anniversary, the content strategy shows how popular characters and IP can be easy (and significant) social video wins for media companies.