Nickelodeon's precocious porous pal soaked up nearly 8 million total viewers with the premiere of the SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS' "WhoBob What Pants?" (Monday, Oct. 13, 8 p.m. [ET/PT]) television special. Ranking as the top entertainment show with total viewers (P2+) and the number-one program on broadcast and cable television for the night with all kids and tweens, the half-hour TV event earned the network triple-digit gains over last year's like time period among all demos.

Ratings highlights for SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS' "WhoBob WhatPants?" include:

--The half-hour SPONGEBOB special drew 7.7 million total viewers, a +225% increase over last year's like time period.

--"WhoBob WhatPants?" was the number-one entertainment show with total viewers (P2+) and the number-one telecast on all of broadcast and ad-supported cable television for the night (Oct. 13, 8 p.m.) with kid and tween demos.

--The special episode garnered triple-digit increases with all core kid and tween demos, averaging a 11.8/4.1 million kids 2-11 (up +189%); a 12.7/2.7 million kids 6-11 (up +152%), and a 10.8/2.3 million (up +168%) tweens 9-14.

--A new SPONGEBOB-themed Game of the Week, "WhoBob WhatPants?," on www.nick.com generated 2.6 million game plays, ranking as the number-one game on the site since launch and the number-two Game of the Week for the entire year (Source: Omniture SiteCatalyst)

--TurboNick, Nickelodeon's broadband video player, also featured a special playlist of dedicated SpongeBob content, including a "WhoBob WhatPants?" video that generated 2.2 million streams since its Oct. 12 launch on Nick.com. (Source: Omniture SiteCatalyst)

--Leading up to the "WhoBob WhatPants?" premiere, the SPONGEBOB message board ranked as number-one for the week of Oct. 6, with 46,000 unique visitors.