Paramount Has Laid Off All Of Noggin’s Staff And Will Shut Down The Preschool Streaming Platform

When Paramount CEO Bob Bakish announced earlier this week that the company would be laying off 800 workers, unconfirmed reports began surfacing on social media that Paramount’s preschool learning brand, Noggin, would be especially hard-hit by the cuts.

Now Kidscreen is reporting that all of Noggin’s staff has been laid off, the platform has stopped accepting new subscribers, and it will be shut down later this year. The article says that Noggin had 2.5 million global subscribers in 2019 and hosted more than 1,000 educational games, videos, and books in its library. Some of those titles were and will remain available on Paramount+, some will migrate to the platform, and others will be vaulted.

The report goes on to say that kids and family content, including animated properties, remain a major part of the company’s streaming strategy going forward, and that many of the Noggin titles available on Paramount+ drive subscriptions, consumption, and repeat viewing. The article cites a Paramount spokesperson who says that Nickelodeon’s kids and family content is among the most watched and re-watched programming on the parent platform.

News that Noggin is being shuttered comes 10 months after it was reported that Paramount was looking to offload a majority stake in the company to prioritize its Paramount+ and Pluto TV streaming services. At the time, it was said that Paramount still saw a possibility for future revenues in Noggin and that the company wanted to turn it into a more interactive platform with the help of an investment partner. It appears that no suitor was found, or the company has given up on those ambitions.

Launched in 1999 as a joint venture between Nickelodeon and Sesame Street parent Sesame Workshop, Noggin was initially a linear tv channel and website. Over the years, the Noggin brand was revamped several times and went unused from 2009 through 2015, after the channel was replaced by Nick. Jr. In 2015, Noggin was revived as a subscription streaming service, and in 2017, the company introduced interactive games and play-along videos.

Noggin has been the home of many of Paramount’s top kids and family titles such as PAW Patrol, Dora the Explorer, Blue’s Clues, Max & Ruby, and Peppa Pig.