• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, January 9, 2012

An analyst’s report Monday took a pretty big machete to projected ad growth at Viacom with the recent significant ratings drops at Nickelodeon. No one is quite sure why the kids’ network is struggling so much in the viewership tallies.

Has the programming gone stale? Has Nielsen miscounted the tune-in, a matter that has been investigated, though no conclusions made public? Are kids really turning to digital devices for video in such droves?

For now, as theories are bandied about, Barclays Capital’s Anthony DiClimente has cut his forecast for ad growth at Viacom’s media networks for the recently completed October-December period, dropping the projection from 5.4% way down to 1%.

The networks group includes MTV and Comedy Central, but Nick accounts for such a large chunk of ad dollars that a cratering there can have a huge impact company-wide.

DiClimente doesn’t have much short-term optimism about improvement. For the current quarter, with Nick ratings still limping, he’s chopped his projection from a would-be 7.6% increase to 4%.

And, that’s with MTV just launching a new season of “Jersey Shore” and a GOP Presidential nomination race that should continue to buoy Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central.

DiClimente, however, suggests that aging shows may be the cause of Nick’s problems, so he says that “refreshed” programming should return Nick ratings to historic levels in the back half of 2012.

Obviously, that would be good news for Nick, but not just because of any rejuvenated ad sales next holiday season. It might also dispel unnerving notions that as kids grow fluent in digital platforms at increasingly younger ages, they are turning away from TV in dramatic numbers.

Those consumer advocates and academicians who worry about the potential impact of TV on young children might paradoxically be heartened as well. Better programming might increase traditional TV viewing, of course, but at least a TV set stays in one place with the growing ubiquity of video content.

Now, there’s a new product coming that has to raise their blood pressure -- and maybe have them wondering whether Fisher-Price, the eminent purveyor of toys and other play-things for generations, has gone a little too far and off-mission.

The company, part of Mattel, is launching a portable, handheld DVR as part of a line of products targeted at preschoolers. Remarkable is it isn’t just aimed at helping parents record shows for their offspring, but allowing kids to do so easily as well with "kid-friendly controls."

This summer, the “Kid-Tough Portable DVR” screen will join Fisher-Price’s line of pre-school electronics, which include far less-engrossing products such as headphones and walkie talkies. The “Kid-Tough” stuff also includes digital and video cameras, but those at least include an element of creativity.

Not so with a sort of mobile-DVR product not dissimilar from what DirecTV is trying to get adults excited about. Fisher-Price says parents can connect it to a set-top-box in a matter of minutes, and then able to start recording. They can program the devices to capture programming up to 24 hours before air.

This isn’t to say the Nick and Disney Channel programming available on-the-go doesn’t offer a worthwhile opportunity for some educational viewing at, say, the supermarket. The chance not to miss “Sesame Street” may even be a parental selling point.

Education might have been nice spin from Fisher-Price. Instead, the company went with sort of the quiet-the-kids approach.

“Families heading on a cross-country road trip can expand the memory and stock up on the latest TV episodes before they leave the driveway by purchasing an additional memory card for the micro SD card slot,” the company said. “This will help minimize the ‘are we there yet?’ hollers from the back seat!"

DVD players in cars have already cut down on watch-the-license-plate games. Now, kids apparently need the latest episodes of their favorite shows to make them happy.

Wonder how quickly they’ll learn to fast-forward through any ads?