nick.tv
The 90s kids are rejoiceing! Nickelodeon now has a designated streaming channel. You can find shows like All That, Catdog, and more on NickSplat. The streaming channel is available through VRV, which is a streaming service that you can use on your VR headset.
There are also a few special offers available for subscribers.
VRV is a streaming subscription service that allows users to access channels. Some of the channels VRV provides is NickSplat, Boomerang, Crunchyroll, Cartoon Hangover, Hidive, Mondo, Rooster Teeth, and VRV Select. There are multiple ways to subscribe. You can choose which channels you would like individually for around $4.99 per month or bundle them all for $9.99 per month. There are also a few special offers available for subscribers.
VRV, the parent streaming host for NickSplat?s, was created in 2016 as a place for anime, animation, sci-fi, comic, and tech fans to connect. Over the years, VRV has continued to expand its lineup of channels with some notable exclusives like Shudder and Nerdist. However, Shudder and Nerdist have both since left VRV along with Geek and Sundry and Funimation.
Website Design
I can't find what I'm looking for.
The website design on the parent streaming service is horrendous. It's greyscaled with a few pops of color and each channel has its own corresponding color. NickSplat, of course, is assigned orange. The main menu is a mess - I can't find what I'm looking for.
The NickSplat logo sits on a dropdown menu that allows viewers to select the channel. The VRV logo is front and center, and on the right are symbols that correspond to the watchlist, search, and profile. Unfortunately, you don't really know what the symbols mean unless you click on them. At first glance, I thought the watchlist was a symbol for viewing the full library.
One row of icons sits below the main menu with a featured program taking up most of the screen. The text describing the program is the focal point, but I wish the image was the focal point and the description popped up when you hovered over the image or left off the text until clicking on show. The row of icons underneath that has a limited number of NickSplat television shows.
There does not seem to be any established rhythm or flow to the feed on the main page. The groupings of the shows on the main page are not alphabetical, and there is only one real category - Popular and Updated. Sifting through the shows from the home page may look chaotic, but when you click on view all it does sort alphabetically.
Content
Most of the content on NickSplat's channel is for subscribers only, but there are a few shows and episodes viewers can watch for free. VRV, NickSplat's hosting stream service, is only available in the USA at this time.
Nickelodeon's website and VRV themselves claim that there is a large library of shows available to watch on their website. Unfortunately, I found that this was not the case. Scrolling through the home page might look promising, but when looking at the full library, the numbers just weren't there.
The thought of having hundreds of Nickelodeon shows to choose from puts me in a good mood, while NickSplat's library of only eight titles makes me feel disappointed. Supposedly, their website lets you see what new shows are coming to Nickelodeon, but I couldn't find anything that looked promising. In the end, their library is sparse and not as comprehensive as I hoped for.
Desktop & Mobile Accessibility
This website's desktop version is not an enjoyable experience. On one hand, the website design is funky and bland, while on the other hand, the videos do not lag and audio quality is decent. However, in the grand scheme of things, this website falls somewhere in the middle. The navigation on desktop is confusing.
VRV's mobile browser takes you to a webpage asking you to download the app and create an account. When I clicked on the NickSplat channel, it prompted me to try a 30-day free trial. Instead, I downloaded the app.
The VRV mobile app is called NickSplat and has a bright yellow, black, and white logo and colors. My initial reaction to the app is positive. I created an account and there was a neat feature that allowed you to shake your phone to get a random username. Some of the suggestions were very clever and the art for the icons was awesome.
The home page for the app is well put together but NickSplat's channel is still a mess. The organization of the bottom menu is cleaner and more helpful. However, the NickSplat feed is still very unorganized and all over the place.
Positives
There are few positive aspects of NickSplat. The parent streaming service VRV is something I am not used to seeing. The design is not very user-friendly. The NickSplay channel itself is not a good experience.
One of the few pros of the price is that it is $4.99 per month for just the NickSplat channel. For under five dollars, that sounds good- but there's a catch. The library is very tiny. There is an option to bundle all of the channels for $9.99, which isn't a bad deal if you like the content from the other channels.
Finally, the coolest thing is that some of our favorite old shows are available right now. Shows like Rocket Power, Catdog, All That, Rocko's Modern Life, and a few more are available right now. Not only are there a lot of episodes available, but some of them are free to people who don't have subscriptions. That's definitely a plus.
Negatives
There are many issues with NickSplat. It has been more of an annoying experience than a positive one. One major problem is that the root of most of the issues is hard to resolve.
I don't think that VRV is the best streaming service because their website design is not user-friendly and their grey-scale theme is not appealing.
The website's navigation is confusing. If you don't know what you're looking for, it will take a few minutes to figure it out. The website's flow isn't good; there is no pattern for the categories or featured shows blocked out.
The lack of organization on the NickSplat?s channel is really frustrating. It looks like little thought or effort was put into it, and there's no rhyme or reason to the main feed. You can only see shows if you visit the "view all shows" tab, which is alphabetically. Once you get there, though, it's fairly organized.
Another issue is that the amount you paid for the number of titles you receive. There are only 8 titles on NickSplat, currently. Nickelodeon and VRV claim there is a massive library of nostalgic goodness. However, that is an underestimate. In my mine, a large library is upwards of 100 unique titles, preferably more.
I was really disappointed when I visited Nickelodeon's website. The colors were very dull and lacked vibrancy. Plus, there wasn't any Splat artwork on the page at all. It felt like all of the energy had been drained from the channel.
Improvements Needed
There are many ways to improve the NickSplat stream. Some easy changes include adding more titles to the stream, rotating shows regularly, and adding more graphics to make the channel feel more like Nickelodeon.
If Nickelodeon were to make use of all the titles that are available to them, they could create a great streaming service.
Summary
As NickSplat stands now, it is a nightmare. The pricing for the subscription to the channel may be small, but it is not worth it.
The library of titles available to subscribed members at Nickelodeon and VRV is quite small, with only a few episodes of shows available at a time. This lack of variety makes it difficult to get through an entire channel lineup, and I would not recommend subscribing if you only want to watch a few specific programs. Unless improvements are made, I would recommend avoiding this streaming service altogether.
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