 In October 2002 , another Nickelodeon series titled The Fairly OddParents ranked as the No. 2 program for children between 2 and 11 years old . Its ratings at that time were almost equal to SpongeBob SquarePants ' then @-@ average of 2 @.@ 2 million viewers per episode . The Fairly OddParents even briefly surpassed SpongeBob SquarePants , causing the latter series to drop into second place — at this time The Fairly OddParents had a 6 @.@ 2 rating and nearly 2 @.@ 5 million child viewers , while SpongeBob SquarePants had a 6 @.@ 0 rating and 2 @.@ 4 million kids 2 – 11 . Nickelodeon " recognized " The Fairly OddParents for its climbing ratings and installed it into a new 8 P.M. time slot , previously occupied by SpongeBob SquarePants . In an interview , Cyma Zarghami , then @-@ general manager and executive vice president of Nickelodeon , said , " Are we banking on the fact that Fairly OddParents will be the next SpongeBob ? ... We are hoping . But SpongeBob is so unique , it 's hard to say if it will ever be repeated " . 
