'Kids Choice Awards', 'Penguins' Deliver Ratings Records For Nickelodeon

The 2009 Kids Choice Awards and the series premiere of The Penguins of Madagascar drew record ratings to Nickelodeon Saturday night.

The KCAs drew 7.7 million total viewers P2+, including an 11/3.8 among K2-11 and a 13.7/2.9 T9-14, all record highs.

Dwayne Johnson hosted the special, which also featured appearances by Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers.

The records spilled over to the web, with 91 million votes cast for the show and the best days ever in unique visitors, site visits and pageviews

Following the KCAs, Nick premiered its new CGI series The Penguins of Madagascar at 9:30 p.m. Penguins was the most-watched series premiere in network history, drawing 6.1 million viewers P2+, topping the previous record holder All Grown Up (2003) by 800,000 viewers and retaining 77% of its KCA lead-in.
The telecast was also the network’s most-watched and highest-rated animated premiere in the 6-11 demo, and most- watched premiere among tweens.

The Penguins of Madagascar is a spinoff of the popular Dreamworks animated feature film Madagascar. Nick will be airing new episodes weeknights at 8 p.m. through April 10.