Nickelodeon will let viewers program their own version of Kids' Choice Awards

NEW YORK (AP) _ Nickelodeon is giving its young viewers the chance to create their own version of the network's annual Kids' Choice Awards online. <br/><br/>The awards show, usually among the biggest

Wednesday, March 29th 2006, 2:12 pm

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ Nickelodeon is giving its young viewers the chance to create their own version of the network's annual Kids' Choice Awards online.

The awards show, usually among the biggest TV events of the year for the under-12 set, will be shown online Saturday at the same time it is telecast (8 p.m. EST). Jack Black is the host of this year's show, which, as one of its signatures, covers unsuspecting celebrities with a vat of green slime.

Online viewers will be able to choose from several camera views _ from backstage, onstage and in the audience _ in designing a viewing experience.

Think of the possibilities if adult awards shows with sagging ratings tried the same idea: If the Oscar winner for best costume design is giving a dull acceptance speech, why not click on the backstage camera to see if George Clooney is wandering around?

``It probably should be copied,'' Nickelodeon President Cyma Zarghami told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Online viewers also will be able to customize a post-show highlight reel and, during the show, vote on what's become a Kids' Choice Awards tradition _ the best burp. Stars are invited to give their best belch while on the orange carpet, and fans choose which one they like the most.

Sound juvenile? Well, 3.1 million of the show's 5.2 million viewers last year were ages 6 to 11, according to Nielsen Media Research.

One danger in arranging an online simulcast is that young fans will be lured away from the television _ and its commercials _ to watch on the computer instead.

But Zarghami said Nickelodeon doesn't expect the online initiative to cut into viewership. Nick's researchers have found a significant number of viewers will likely multi-task: they'll be on the computer the same time they're watching television, she said.

Besides, many of the same advertisers on the telecast will be advertising online, too.

``This is a way to tie it all together and let kids who want to be interactive with the show be interactive,'' she said.

The Kids' Choice Awards will be available in more than 200 million homes around the world, Nickelodeon said.