The recent reversal of the Animation Age Ghetto

I wanted to talk about this topic for a REALLY long time. Because other than some major hits like Miraculous and Bluey, it seems like the companies realized kids arent profitable anymore and go for adults instead. Adult Swim is stealing more and more hours from Cartoon Network, Me TV revived Saturday Morning Cartoons but they are aimed at adults now. Toonami's revival booted out Boruto because its ratings skewed too young. There is basically no company that actually markets anime to kids in the west. Its either bloody and violent shonen or something with adult appeal to make up for this.

I actually like it this way. But I do think its sad it took companies losing money for them to learn Cartoons arent just for kids, and not something that actually caused them to grew affection and respect for the medium.

Don’t really pay much attention to television anymore but as a subscriber to Netflix and Prime Video, I get what you mean. People have finally realized animation is for everyone and they are pushing it to its limits. As much as I like some of these shows and support creating animation with the lack of a status quo, I can’t share it because some people can’t handle adult material.

I Hate Everything’s videos on anime highlight how even an average person can pick out redundant tropes, especially in shonen. Anime has a larger selection in its genres but international networks want see how crude they can be (without offending someone) while appealing to an older demographic. What we’re left with is stereotypical bloody action.

Edited by ChicoTheParakeet on Oct 30th 2023 at 6:41:45 AM

According to what I've heard from industry observers and professionals, a big part of this is that the coveted 6-11 demographic isn't watching TV like kids used to. Children today are predominantly into video/mobile games and web-based media, like videos by YouTubers or Twitch streams, and the big children's networks don't really know how to compete with them. I follow an account on Twitter that posts a lot about Cartoon Network/Adult Swim news, and recent viewership numbers they've given are eye-opening:

This tweet says that Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network only had averages of 137,000, 92,000, and 86,000 viewers this September, respectively. For comparison, Disney Channel had an average of over a million viewers in 2017.

The second tweet also notes that Adult Swim has had an average of 223,000 viewers this year, which is almost a hundred thousand more watchers than the most-viewed children's network. A lot of people theorize this is why Unicorn: Warriors Eternal and My Adventures with Superman went from being developed as CN shows to airing on AS, believing Warner made this change in pursuit of better ratings. I've only seen the first episode of Unicorn so far, but this theory makes a lot of sense; the most "adult" thing I can remember was a church wedding with a priest ^note explicit depictions of religion generally being a no-no on mainstream kids' TV.

A later Unicorn episode does have a notable penis joke, but it's all offscreen and could've potentially squeaked by as a Parental Bonus were it to have aired during the daytime block.

Superman doesn't have anything particularly "adult" about it though.

Edited by lbssb on Oct 30th 2023 at 4:10:11 AM

Yup. Kids of today prefer Youtube and streaming to traditional TV channels, especially with most homes dropping cable.

Funny enough the cartoons that are the most profitable right now and you always see the merchandise for are shows for preschoolers, e.g Paw Patrol, Peppa Pig, Cocomelon. TV shows aimed at the 6-11 year olds barely get any merchandise and if they do, it's something based on an established franchise (Pokemon, Marvel, DC)

Compare that to the 90s where shows like Rugrats, Powerpuff Girls, etc. just casually got lots of merchandise. Even very obscure cartoons that nobody remembers anymore had a pasta tie-in (Shnookums and Meat, Space Goofs)

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/classic/metv-announces-toons-network-a-free-network-dedicated-to-classic-animation-241017.html

The new Me TV Toons channel was born out of the mega success Toon In With Me had with baby boomer demographic, outdoing many successful shows such as Friends and Seinfeld.