Opposite Gender Protagonists/Analysis

Audience Immersion
It may be a bit hard to believe, but girls do, in fact, exist on Earth, and they seek entertainment. Any media which appeals only to boys or girls won't cover everyone in the world, and will lose out on half of their potential demographic. On television, Ratings are everything. If you don't want your shows to get cancelled, you must keep your ratings up. If you want to keep your ratings up, you need to appeal to as wide of a demographic as possible.

How do you appeal to that demographic? One of the easiest ways is to make your protagonist a member of that demographic. Appealing to people who with No Social Skills? Make your protagonist someone with No Social Skills! Appealing to people who likes science and to think critically? Make your protagonist a Geek into technology! Appealing to teenagers? Make your protagonist a Kid Hero!

Similarly, if you want to appeal to girls, make your protagonist a girl. If you want to appeal to boys, make your character a boy.

If you want to appeal to both, use Opposite Gender Protagonists. By ensuring that both genders have some character to relate with, both genders are more likely to stay and be invested. Thus, both protagonists should be equal and work together, instead of against each other. Doing so means that, to both genders, the work is more satisifying to watch and they'll stay invested for longer. It is unsatisifying to see one character constantly dominated by the other, or become The Scrappy and contribute nothing to the team. Having the two characters take center stage means they are a larger target for audience members to associate themselves with.

As a bonus, sometimes the male demographic can be attracted to the female character, or vice versa, further increasing audience engagement.