Fleeting Demographic: Difference between revisions
m
→Live-Action TV: pretty sure this is referring to the channel, so I made it so the link no longer redirects
m (Mass update links) |
m (→Live-Action TV: pretty sure this is referring to the channel, so I made it so the link no longer redirects) |
||
| (4 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
{{quote|''"I remember going to arenas in the 80s, where the audience 60% female and they were all trying to kill us for beating up [[Ricky Morton]]. Those people spent the same amount of money as the guys did but now the audience is 80% men and whatever women those men can drag to the matches with em because it's their night out. So we have completely shut off... where else do find a [[Professional Wrestling|business]] featuring a bunch of good looking guys wearing very little clothes and no women want to see the show? Riddle me that Lucy!"''|''Jim Cornette''}}
A show intended for a certain audience with a clearly defined demographic. Essentially, this means the audience may begin to watch the show at a certain age, but at some point will abandon it later, [[Department of Redundancy Department|presumably in the future]]. This applies to many shows for children. The 'original' target audience simply [[Growing Up Sucks|outgrows]] the show.
Line 7:
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Takara & [[Sunrise (company)|Sunrise]]'s ''[[Brave Series]]'' of [[Super Robot]] shows is an interesting case, as they originally set out to produce something that would attract a new generation of kids each year, but wound up developing a dedicated fanbase anyway. Though the sixth series, ''[[The Brave of Gold Goldran]]'', the most "kiddie" of the bunch had the highest TV ratings, it was unpopular with longtime fans and was apparently a merchandising disappointment as well. After that, the final two shows went for [[Multiple Demographic Appeal]], first with ''[[Brave Command Dagwon]]'', where the robots were piloted by a team of teen heartthrobs in an attempt to cash in on the earlier ''[[Ronin Warriors|Samurai Troopers]]'' series' [[Periphery Demographic]] success with teenage girls (a scheme Sunrise would again pull, this time with much greater success with ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing]]''). Then came ''[[GaoGaiGar|Gao Gai Gar]]'', a giant love letter to the last two decades of giant robot anime which found much more success with the otaku crowd than it ever did with schoolchildren.
** [[Brave Command Dagwon|Dagwon]] actually had a slightly different problem - it was made to cash in on [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Evangelion]], and the overall feel of the stories was frequently closer to [[Ultraman]] than anything else. If anything, the target audience ''had'' to grow up a bit to appreciate it.
* Much of the longevity of the ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' anime can be attributed to the fact that the target demographic cycles in about five years so the fact that the same general plot is used every generation only serves to annoy some [[Periphery Demographic|older fans]] (mostly outside Japan).
* While it openly targets the 16-35 year old males that like the cute girls and [[Merchandise-Driven|have disposable income]] and slightly older girls who have continued watching the series, [[Pretty Cure]] is aimed at 4 to 9 year old girls and regularly reboots itself for their sake.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
Line 22:
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* ''[[Barney and Friends]]'', ''[[Teletubbies]]'' and most other "preschool"-oriented shows. While earlier examples like ''[[Sesame Street]]'' had enough [[Parental Bonus]] to benefit from the [[Nostalgia Filter]], the success of ''Barney'' led to a trend in the '90s of making these shows as plotless and repetitive as possible, out of the belief that that made them more suitable for the target audience. Now that those original toddler "fans" are teens and young adults, they want as little to do with these shows as their parents and older siblings did.
** Lately, some of these preschool shows have started to have small but still existant [[Periphery Demographic
* One of the reasons [[MTV (channel)|MTV]] has maintained its popularity over time is that it elected not to follow its original audience, the teenagers of the eighties and early nineties, into adulthood, instead opting to always focus its marketing on the current generation of teenagers. (Whether its ''[[Network Decay|quality]]'' has also been maintained is a matter best left for debate elsewhere.)
** ''[[The Simpsons]]'' lampshaded this by having a quick reference to [[Logan's Run]] that involved microchip-implated VJs that alerted the execs to send in a new show host whenever the original person became a [[Christmas Cake]].
* The Disney Channel has a policy about cancelling a show after 65 episodes. The only show to date that has avoided that cancellation is ''[[Kim Possible]]'', due to huge fan outcry (and, allegedly, the contract with the German network that ran the show). The idea is that 65 is the number you need for syndication, and kids will probably watch repeats anyway, so why make more? Also, since kids' tastes change so fast, they expect that no child would stick with a show for more than three seasons regardless.
** It's worth noting that the probable reason for ''[[Kim Possible]]'' being such a popular show is its [[Multiple Demographic Appeal]].
** The endless tween sitcoms on [[Disney Channel]] ([[That's So Raven|the oldest of them]] only had a span of slightly more than four years) are going this way as well. Of course, that's about how long people can convincingly play "tweenage" without going into [[Dawson Casting]].
* ''[[Power Rangers]]'': Although the show does have its older fans, the general demographic is young boys who will grow out of the show after a few years, which is probably why the show started doing the new storyline every year thing instead of the continuing storyline it used to do. Since this is exactly what happens in the Japanese couterpart, ''[[Super Sentai]]'', no one seems to mind.
* In the UK, twee/teen dramas ''[[Grange Hill]]'' and ''[[Byker Grove]]'' both had this. Both shows ran for long enough that their original target demographic became utterly periphery, but never completely left the show behind. Unfortunately, the BBC execs decided to shift the target demographic down towards ''even younger'' children, resulting in a complete loss of interest from ''all'' demographics, and the eventual cancellations of both shows.
== [[Magazines]] ==
Line 47:
== [[Video Games]] ==
* Happens with most [[Edutainment Game
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Creativity Leash]]
[[Category:
| |||