Noggin, Paramount Global’s interactive learning subscription service for preschoolers, is set to be discontinued later this year, sources revealed to Deadline. The app, affiliated with Nick Jr., will cease its operations, and the majority of its team was laid off in the latest round of layoffs at Paramount Global on Tuesday, affecting about 800 employees in the U.S.
As Noggin stops accepting new subscribers, there will be a transition period for current subscribers. Noggin preceded the launch of Paramount Global’s flagship streaming service, Paramount+, which has included Noggin’s video content under the Nick Jr. preschool brand.
This development comes nearly a year after Paramount reportedly explored selling a majority stake in Noggin as the company shifted its priorities—and resources—to Paramount+ and Pluto TV.
Co-founded by Nickelodeon’s parent company, MTV Networks, and Sesame Workshop, Noggin was initially launched on February 2, 1999, as a cable television channel and a companion website focused on imagination, creativity, and education.
In 2015, now fully owned by Paramount Global, Noggin was relaunched as a subscription streaming service, offering preschoolers educational content developed by curriculum experts through popular Nick Jr. characters. The app provided both long and short-form Nick Jr. content, such as “Paw Patrol,” “Dora the Explorer,” “Blue’s Clues,” “Shimmer and Shine,” “Blaze and the Monster Machines,” and “The Wonder Pets!” along with third-party acquisitions.
The SVOD service for two- to seven-year-olds had 2.5 million global subscribers in 2019 and houses over 1,000 educational games, videos, and books in its library, according to Kidscreen, which first reported the news of Noggin’s shutdown.
Nickelodeon’s Kids & Family content has been consistently among the most watched and re-watched programming on Paramount+, which is said to remain committed to the genre as part of its strategy to acquire and retain subscribers.
This week’s layoffs are part of an ongoing cost-cutting effort at Paramount Global amid rampant speculation that the company is exploring a sale.
