 During its peak years in early 2000 , SpongeBob SquarePants received enormous ratings and number of viewers . By 2012 , it was reported that the series ' ratings were declining . The average number of viewers aged 2 to 11 watching SpongeBob at any given time dropped 29 % in the first quarter from a year earlier , according to Nielsen . Wall Street Journal business writer John <unk> suggested that the age of the series and oversaturation of the show might be contributing to the decline of the series ' ratings , and might also be directly responsible for the decline in Nickelodeon 's overall ratings . Media analyst Todd Juenger , directly attributes the decline in Nickelodeon 's ratings to the availability of streaming video content on services like Netflix , a provider of on @-@ demand Internet streaming media . Philippe Dauman , the president and CEO of Viacom , contradicted the notion saying he did not think " the limited amount of Nick library content on Netflix [ ... ] has had a significant impact " . A Nickelodeon spokesman says SpongeBob is performing consistently well and remains as the number one rated animated series in all of children 's television . He added " there is nothing that we have seen that points to SpongeBob as a problem . " Dauman blamed the drop on " some ratings systemic issues " at Nielsen , citing extensive set @-@ top @-@ box data that " does in no way reflect " the Nielsen data . 
