Business

Viacom sees red: Ratings bloodbath from DirecTV fight

There’s a new crisis in Bikini Bottom.

Ratings for Viacom-owned Nickelodeon and other cable channels are sinking fast in a blackout that has kept DirecTV’s 20 million customers from watching episodes of “SpongeBob Squarepants,” “Dora the Explorer” and other popular shows.

Viacom’s networks, including MTV, BET and Comedy Central, have lost an estimated 2 million viewers in just the first week of the fee dispute with the nation’s largest satellite-TV provider.

Kiddie cash cow Nickelodeon was already reeling from a troubling 20-percent ratings decline — possibly due to competition from Netflix — before the fight broke out with DirecTV.

Now, it looks like the denizens of Bikini Bottom are collateral damage. Nick’s total viewers in primetime dropped 38.5 percent to 1.2 million in just the first week of the blackout, according to Nielsen .

“To me the headline difference at Nickelodeon is going to look huge,” said analyst Todd Juenger of Bernstein Research.

Beyond Nickelodeon, other Viacom channels took a major hit. BET fell 23 percent in total viewers, Spike fell 28.9 percent and VH1 Classic was down 54.1 percent. Comedy Central fell just 1.1 percent, while MTV managed a 4.2 percent uptick.

“We anticipated an impact in the ratings,” a Viacom spokesman said. “This is not what we want.”

The cable spat is not only upsetting customers — it’s roiling advertisers. Viacom could be on the hook for millions of dollars in so-called make-goods to compensate advertisers if the dispute isn’t resolved soon. Marketers are already making calls about how Viacom will meet its ratings guarantees, sources told The Post.

“This just points out the popularity of Viacom with DirecTV viewers, how much of a hit are they taking,” said Brad Adgate, research chief for ad-buying shop Horizon Media. “You can’t sustain this loss going forward.”

DirecTV is also losing out as customers go elsewhere in search of SpongeBob. “Some customers have left us but the numbers are very low,” a DirecTV spokesman said. “For the first time ever, a huge number are voicing support for us. They know we’re trying to keep costs low.”

In place of Viacom channels, DirecTV is running a split screen of all rival kids offerings so viewers can choose what else to watch.

DirecTV will also bear a cost of staffing call centers and losing subscribers. “It is a lose-lose-lose for Viacom, for DirecTV and for viewers,” Horizon’s Adgate said.

While the two parties are in talks, they have made little progress since Viacom channels went dark, according to sources.

Viacom is asking for what it calls market rates and a new five-year deal with DirecTV to carry its 26 networks, including HD versions. Its previous seven-year deal expired on July 11.

DirecTV contends Viacom wants to charge $1 billion over that period, a 30 percent increase.