Noggin (TV channel)

Noggin is an entertainment brand launched on February 2, 1999, as a joint venture between Nickelodeon and Sesame Workshop. The brand originated as a cable television channel and interactive website, both centered around the concepts of imagination, creativity, and education.

When launched as a TV network, Noggin was primarily aimed at pre-teens and teenagers. Programming was divided into three distinct blocks: one for pre-teens and teens, an early morning block for younger children, and a nighttime block for "adult retro" programs. The channel heavily drew from Sesame Workshop's back catalogue. In its first three years, it produced several original shows: the live-action educational show A Walk in Your Shoes, the short-form puppetry series Oobi, the game show Sponk!, and the variety series Phred on Your Head Show.

In April 2002, the Noggin channel extended its preschool and teen blocks to last 12 hours a day; the former aired from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern Time, while the latter (branded as "The N") ran from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.Following the change, imported series from the Nick Jr. block began to overtake Noggin's daytime lineup, as most of the Sesame Workshop branding that had defined the network's early years was dropped. Despite this, Nickelodeon and Sesame Workshop continued a coproduction partnership for Noggin. In 2007, Noggin's partnership with Sesame Workshop ended and most of its original series that the Workshop co-produced were cancelled. The Oobi shorts were taken off the air, while Play with Me Sesame moved to PBS Kids Sprout.

Noggin started out as an experimental brand, and its on-air commercials stressed imagination and thinking through themed short films that were often surreal and abstract. Before the brand was overtaken by Nick Jr., Noggin's marketing team sought out "sick and twisted" independent animators to make their on-air presence look unique. After Noggin introduced its daytime block for preschoolers, it was rebranded with a more consistent brand identity, with the more experimental material being confined to The N.