>The Ameobazation of Cartoon Network

Older Viewers Watch More Than Adult Swim

Remember when Cartoon Network's primetime lineup had The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Bugs and Daffy, and a few Cartoon Cartoons? If you do, Cartoon Network doesn't want your viewership.

I'm in my twenties, way out of the current demographics for Cartoon Network's target daytime and primetime audiences, so they don't want me to watch. Back when the network was younger and in the hands of the likes of Betty Cohen, there weren't no clear-cut demographics for the network since the lineup consisted of shows that attracted younger audiences, the internet generation, generation Xers, and baby boomers. In 2001, the attitude shifted because of corporate changes that led to the apparent dismissal of Cohen and a lot of those that helped build up Cartoon Network from next to nothing.

Instead of the "Cartoons is for everybody" attitude that had been a cornerstone of the network since day one, Cartoon Network shifted to a "Cartoons is for kids" attitude, which is why you saw a restructuring of the channel over the years with more mature programming airing at night and the total elimination of The Flintstones and the Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera, Popeye, and non-Tom and Jerry MGM shorts from the regular lineup. With those shows gone, the internet generation, gen-Xers and baby boomers left Cartoon Network in droves while younger audiences grew en masse.

The network originals and acquisitions reflected this change with more youth-skewing programming on the lineup. Adult Swim and Toonami are the reasons why the internet generation and gen Xers are slowly coming back to the network, but it hasn't been easy. Adult Swim's success has been written about all over the place. I'd like to talk about Toonami, a block that is the source of headaches for Cartoon Network.

Toonami, which had been the dominant block of action programming until the anime implosion of Adult Swim starting in February 2002, was attracting numerous older demographics. No surprise considering that, until February 2002, Toonami had been the home of numerous anime franchises. Since Toonami wasn't getting the ratings the management was looking for (namely, younger audiences that usually watch Nickelodeon), they tried everything they can to get younger audiences. They tried to get Kids' WB viewers to embrace the brand, but considering they didn't advertise for the Cartoon Network version, that experiment was a bust. They put in Hamtaro, a kid-friendly non-action series, as the lead show of Toonami. That, too, was a mistake. They bit the bullet and actually changed Toonami for the better in 2003.

By year's end, 3/4 of the lineup wasn't "Only Toonami" airing on the Saturday night action block known as, um, Saturday. In April 2004, Toonami was replaced on weekday afternoons with Miguzi, an action block purposely aimed towards younger audiences with bright colors while Toonami migrated to Saturdays as a block, dubbed in last year's upfronts, as a block aimed towards tweens and teens. A middleground network that's supposed to be aimed towards those audiences too old for Miguzi and yet a fraction of the audience too young for Adult Swim programming.

At least, it looked good on paper. The network still needed younger audiences for Toonami. The same younger audiences that the migration to Saturday nights was supposed to be getting away from. Even with Miguzi as a lead-in to primetime every day, they still wanted those younger audiences to stay around for Toonami. It did seem to work when half the lineup was for the tweens and half for teens, but nowadays, Toonami only has a handful of shows aimed towards older audiences, most notably Justice League Unlimited and Zatch Bell. Toonami will improve as 2005 continues and will become more teen oriented by year's end.

It's primetime Monday through Thursdays I'm more worried about.