SpongeBob Beats Arthur to Become the Longest Running Animated Kids Show

 SpongeBob SquarePants has been in the midst of celebrating its 25th anniversary this past year, but now it has officially beaten Arthur to become the longest running animated series for kids of all time. Fans have been getting to see animated hits of all kinds go on to very long runs of episodes, and that has been especially the case with many adult sitcoms like The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad and more which had recently celebrated their own 35th, 25th, and 20th anniversaries especially. But this same success has been seen with children’s animation as well with many crossing over some huge milestones too.

SpongeBob SquarePants has been one such case as it not only officially kicked off its 25th anniversary celebration last year, but the fact that it continues to be in production means it is going to hit even more impressive milestones in the near future too. SpongeBob SquarePants has now officially become the longest running animated children’s show of all time. Beating a record previously held by the PBS Kids classic, Arthur.

SpongeBob Becomes Longest Running Animated Kids Show

Arthur first aired with PBS Kids in October 1996, and ran for 25 seasons across 26 years with the final episode airing back in 2022. The series finale offered a much more conclusive ending than fans of the long running animated adaptation ever expected as Arthur and his friends had aged into adulthood through a special time skip that revealed their future careers. Arthur, for example, actually became an artist that ultimately illustrated all of his adventures as a kid and turned that into the “Arthur” series itself. So it was a real full circle moment when it all came to an end.

But with the series ending its production, and SpongeBob SquarePants having no plans to end any time soon, Arthur no longer holds that record. The Nickelodeon animated series currently only has about 15 seasons under its belt of regular episodes, but it’s become an entire universe that has spread across multiple shows, feature films, and more in the years since its debut. As of February 22, 2025, ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ has officially become the longest-running animated children’s television series, surpassing ‘Arthur’, which previously held the record. SpongeBob SquarePants now being the longest running animated children’s show is a huge honor, and is likely not going to lose this record in the future. It’s still just as popular as it ever was.

What’s Next for SpongeBob?

As SpongeBob SquarePants continues with new episodes of its own show, but the series is continuing with all sorts of other new entries such as a brand new movie coming to Netflix next month. Plankton: The Movie will be exclusively streaming with Netflix beginning on March 7th, and is written (and stars) Mr. Lawrence. The film also stars longtime members of the SpongeBob SquarePants cast such as Jill Talley, Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Carolyn Lawrence, Clancy Brown, and Rodger Bumpass. There is also a brand new movie coming to theaters soon.

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie: Search for SquarePants is currently slated to release in theaters beginning on December 19th. Very little has been revealed about this film as of the time of this publication, but it has teased that it will have a large focus on the Flying Dutchman’s Ghost. Mark Hamill will be the voice of the Flying Dutchman in the upcoming film, who will be replacing Brian-Doyle Murray (who had voiced the character in his appearances in the TV series). But as we get closer to its release, we’ll likely see more of what to expect soon enough.