The Thundermans Undercover: Unlocking Data-Driven Reach for a New Generation of Fans

How Nickelodeon partnered with SuperAwesome to deliver the first youth audience-driven campaign, using Awesome Intelligence to drive relevance at scale, setting a new standard for contextual marketing.

📍 Location: Germany

Logos_AweInt x Nickelodeon

“We’re always eager to embrace the latest innovations in the kids’ space. When SuperAwesome introduced their new audience data and recommendation platform, it was an obvious choice. We are very pleased with these initial results and anticipate developing more audience-based strategies, powered by Awesome Intelligence’s data-driven insights, to successfully engage children and families with many more of Nickelodeon’s IPs”

Sonja Krvavac, Senior Manager Marketing Kids & Family GSA, Paramount

The Challenge

The challenge was threefold.

Firstly, identification. Drive tune-in for new fans while reaching the existing fanbase, which is notoriously difficult with data privacy regulations in the kids’ and teens’ space.

Secondly, creative excellence. Nickelodeon wanted to build familiarity with the characters and an emotional connection through impactful creatives.

And finally, measurement: Optimise towards high VCRs.

SuperAwesome and Nickelodeon set out to deliver better performance by utilising an audience-based approach vs a generalised age/gender approach (the control group) across these three metrics:

  • Engagement rate (ER)

  • Video completion rate (VCR)

  • Click-through rate (CTR)

The Solution

Nickelodeon utilised a strategic audience-based approach, powered by Awesome Intelligence, to drive awareness and effectiveness. Safe data sourced across platforms was used to select the right audience and apply it to meet kids and teens wherever they spend their time. SuperAwesome’s cross-platform presence meant Nickelodeon had access to scaled inventory and could operate across the entire youth digital ecosystem.

We focused on two particular audience segments that over-indexed specifically for The Thundermans, helping this campaign engage its audience on their preferred platforms and consume their favourite content.

Pop-Culturists with trim

Pop-Culturists:

  • Driven by their personal and social identities but also in touch with their cultural background, this segment values friendship, kindness, and respect—their diverse set of passions centres around Entertainment and Media, where they can explore different interests. Fandoms mostly derive from movies and TV shows.
  • 41% of Pop-Culturists have a core passion for Entertainment & Media. Overindexing on their passion for entertainment made them a perfect fit for The Thundermans: Undercover campaign.
  • Fun is the core value of the Pop-Culturists, aligning with the light-heartedness & humour at the heart of the show.
Classics with trim

Classics:

  • A robust sense of fairness, social and emotional identity, and cultural identity is strong. Self-aware, they also value their digital identity. They have various interests, including gaming and sports as key activities. Strong nurturers, they love animals and nature play. Fandoms coalesce around Movies/TV/Streaming.
  • Given that digital plays a central role in the identity of 49% of Caring Classics, this group was well-aligned with the campaign’s digitally led, omnichannel strategy.
  • Among research participants in our Fandom & Passion Study, which was modelled for these audiences, both segments spontaneously mentioned ‘The Thundermans’ as a fandom.
Rounded APR static

Thanks to Nickelodeon’s recognition of the power of interactive formats – with 88% of kids wanting to watch the feature title after interacting with one of SuperAwesome’s AwesomeAds mobile filmstrips – we activated a multi-format campaign across AwesomeAds Marketplace. As well as highlighting character features to build familiarity and emotional connection, this format also leaned into kids’ desire for control, discoverability and interaction, offering self-guided engagement with The Thundermans: Undercover launch.

Through tailored delivery across platforms, creatives explicitly built for young audiences, and a zero-compromise approach to compliance, SuperAwesome helped Nickelodeon create a campaign that didn’t just reach their desired audience – it resonated with them.

The Results

Nickelodeon’s data-driven, audience-first strategy delivered exceptional results vs age/demo targeting.

Definitions APR: Animated Pre-Roll, VCR: Video Completion Rate, CTR: Click-Through Rate, ER: Engagement Rate

Why It Worked

Nickelodeon didn’t just aim for reach with this campaign; they aimed for reach within a relevant audience. They ensured every impression counted by pairing audience insight with tailored creative and platform-native delivery. With SuperAwesome’s kid-first design and compliance baked in from the start, the campaign met kids where they are, setting a new standard for contextual marketing.

Want to dig deeper? Get in touch with the team!

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