NEW YORK -- Nickelodeon rang in the holiday cheer this weekend with the original It’s a SpongeBob Christmas! special, which drew 4.8 million total viewers. Nickelodeon’s first-ever full-length stop-motion animated special won its time period across all TV and posted strong, double-digit gains over last year. 

It’s A SpongeBob Christmas! was inspired by the classic Rankin/Bass specials (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town) and the popular SpongeBob song released in 2009, “Don’t Be a Jerk (It’s Christmas),” co-written by Tom Kenny (voice of SpongeBob) and Andy Paley. The half-hour special features John Goodman as Santa Claus and follows Plankton as he turns everybody in Bikini Bottom from nice to naughty by feeding them his special jerktonium-laced fruitcake.

Nickelodeon closed the week as basic cable’s most-watched net in total day with kids 2-11 (2.8/936,000) and total viewers (1.8 million).

Source: Nickelodeon