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{{trope}}
[[File:periphery_demo_4003.jpg|link=Subnormality
{{quote|''"[[Animation Age Ghetto|You're dead if you aim only for kids.]] [[Fridge Brilliance|Adults are only kids grown up, anyway.]]"''|'''[[Walt Disney
A notable bunch of audience members outside of the intended (i.e., marketed) demographic.
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== Anime ==
* [[Ore no Imouto ga Konna
* In one of the episodes of ''Vicky the Viking'', the protagonist's father secretly listened to a children's story about a girl since he found it very touching.
* Konata, the [[Otaku Surrogate]] from ''[[Lucky Star]]'', is another underaged female anime character fond of [[Eroge|Eroges]] aimed at an adult male demographic
== Film ==
* ''[[
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Dave Lister from the British sci-fi sitcom [[
* Jack Hodgins from Bones is revealed in the episode "The Bone in the Bounty" to be a fan of children's show and [[Bill Nye the Science Guy|Bill Nye]] [[
== [[Video Games]] ==
* [[Ace Attorney
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* A ''[[Checkerboard Nightmare]]'' arc had the eponymous character create a children's show with the sole purpose of creating a fiercely loyal demographic and the prospect of selling merchandise. However, the show's blantant [[Merchandise-Driven]] nature coupled with its 4 A.M. timeslot (the only one Chex could afford) makes it a hit with teenagers and young adults who [[Poe's Law|mistake it for satire]].
* In ''[[Homestuck]]'', Dirk, much like many people in real life, claims to watch ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
== [[Web Original]] ==
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[
* An episode of ''[[Arthur (
** Another episode showed Arthur developing an interest in the [[Disney Acid Sequence|trippy]] children's show ''Love Ducks'', and enduring the mockery of his classmates. However, they soon watched ''Love Ducks'', and ended up liking it as well.
* ''[[
** Doofenshmirtz really likes that [[Twilight (
* On ''[[
* Hey, [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
* In ''[[FoxTrot]]'', both Jason and Paige clashed over the [[Lord of the Rings]] movies. He went because it was [[Lord of the Rings]], she went because of ... [[Orlando Bloom]].
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== General ==
* This usually applies to every anime and manga that falls into the seinen demographic that isn't something like ''[[Berserk]]'' or ''[[
** Many seinen series are popular among female fans because of their greater focus on [[Character Development]] and similarity to shoujo in some series.
* A surprising amount of crossover audience occurs between [[Moe]] and [[Shojo]]'s demographics when they emulate each other. [[Shojo]] series often do well among older male audiences, and many shows from ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' to ''[[Futari wa Pretty Cure]]'', are designed with [[Shonen]] elements. Similarly, a [[Bleached Underpants|reasonably clean]] [[Moe]] show [[Seinen|aimed at men]], can do fairly well among fangirls looking for something different than the often romance-based selection of shoujo and who are attracted by the extremely cute designs. Case in point shows like [[Lucky Star]] and K-ON! despite being aimed at males have very large female fanbases who are as attracted to the [[Moe]] element as male fans.
* [[Moe]] fandom can also have a much larger subset of females outside of Japan. Part of this is because [[Fan Sub|fansubbed]] [[Shoujo]] series are much scarcer, and [[Fan Sub|fansubs]] remove the broadcast time constraints of shows. A show that manages to keep its [[Fan Service]] at a tolerable level while using female characters who avoid annoying [[Shoujo]] tropes is very likely to draw in female fans.
* [[Slice of Life]] in general have been meant for Otakus, but also nowadays act as a means for [[Yuri]] and [[Shoujo Ai]] to exist on broadcast TV while maintaining some popularity. Stuff like ''[[Saki (
* A lot of [[Yaoi]] anime videos on [[YouTube]] - be it the actual series, AMVs, music, etc. - are most popular with females age 13-17, females age 18-24, and... males age 45-54.
* Many shows [[Kodomomuke|aimed mainly for children]] have sizable teenage and adult female fanbase since many of those shows will activate motherly instincts among them. One of the reasons is that they often contain lots of [[Ridiculously Cute Critter|Ridiculously Cute Critters]].
* Several series fail to attract the originally targetted gender audience: ''[[Saiyuki|Gensomaden Saiyuki]]'' failed so hard to attract a male audience that subsequent anime and manga series were switched from [[Shonen]] to [[Josei]], mostly due to the overwhelming amount of gay vibes. Likewise, [[Shonen Jump]] series ''[[Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro]]'' was fansubbed and scanlated in America with a very very low percentage of male fans. Other Shounen Jump series like ''[[Hunter X Hunter]]'' and ''[[
* Fighting [[Shonen]] is aimed at teenage boys, but many series like ''[[Bleach]]'', ''[[Naruto]]'', ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'', ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', etc. have sizeable female fanbases who watch for the [[Ho Yay]], which is bound to be plentiful whenever you have a bunch of [[Bishonen|attractive]] [[Hot-Blooded]] young men who have [[Fire-Forged Friends|intense friendships]] and [[Foe Yay|obsessive rivalries]] with each other, make [[Heroic Sacrifice|Heroic Sacrifices]] for each other, [[Warrior Therapist|talk about their feelings]] while [[Defeat Means Friendship|beating the crap out of each other]], and so on.
** Though, to be fair, a lot of the girls enjoy it specifically for the fighting.
== Specific ==
* The [[Bishounen]] cast of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
** Also used quite obviously in ''[[Code Geass]]''
*** And taken to its logical conclusion with ''[[Star Driver]]'', whose protagonist [[Lampshade Hanging|actually carries the title]] "Ginga Bishonen" ("Galactic Pretty-Boy").
** Loran Cehack, the protagonist of ''Turn A'', [[Wholesome Crossdresser|crossdresses]] several times throughout, making a convincing enough girl.
** In ''Universal Century'' Garma, Quattro and Kamille are just as [[Bishounen]] as ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
* ''[[Rose of Versailles]]'' has a substantial fanbase of men and older people who enjoy it for the drama of the 18th century and the charismatic Lady Oscar, though the original manga was aimed at teenage girls.
* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', which was aimed at a young female demographic but had a large male fandom.
* ''[[
* While ''[[Boku
* In another strange example, the "main target" of ''[[Pretty Cure]]'' is said to be females ages 4-12... and males ages 16-35. It's telling that the director of the original series, ''[[Futari wa Pretty Cure]]'', has ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' on his resume. There's also blatant [[Yuri]] subtext between the two main characters that would [[Parental Bonus|go over the heads]] of younger viewers.
** This is especially noticeable in the 2010 ''[[Heartcatch Pretty Cure]]''. Every episode has magical girl kung-fu fighting that rivals some [[Shounen]] fighting anime aired at the same time.
** There are, some Periphery Demographic outside those demographics. According to Youtube, the viewership of the intros of the series has significant portion of men aged 35-55, way above what it was originally meant to. According to Deviantart, large amount of fanart drawers for the series are adult women.
* [[CLAMP]]'s ''[[X 1999]]'' is a shoujo series, yet its themes of humanitarianism, environmentalism and dualism, as well as its heavy doses of action, violence, death and other dark themes makes it very often mistaken for shonen or even seinen, and is popular among boys as well as girls.
* ''[[
* An anime series of ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' on [http://www.youtube.com Youtube] has developed quite a significant teenaged and young adult fanbase -- the demographic that has outgrown finding [[Happily Ever After]] satisfying but grown into finding the prince [[Right Through His Pants|climbing out of the princess' bed fully-dressed]] hilarious.
* ''[[Cutey Honey|Cutey/ie Honey]]'' was a dyed-in-the-wool [[Seinen]] superhero sci-fi series. The more tame TV series actually attracted younger female viewers, who by this time had equated her with their more familar [[Magical Girl]], who themselves might have been inspired by her. Go Nagai admitted this side fandom surprised him, given the amount of racy humor is in the original work.
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* ''[[Bleach]]'' has quite a large female fanbase, probably because almost the entire cast is [[The Beautiful Elite|good-looking]] (both male and female) and the [[Estrogen Brigade Bait|male characters]] suffer a gratuitous amount of [[Clothing Damage]]. And also the [[Ho Yay]].
* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' is a weird example in that (possibly because of [[Studio Gainax|production team]] and copious amounts of [[Fan Service]] and [[Freud Was Right|suspiciously sexual things]]) a large number of people don't even ''realize'' that it was [[Shonen|targeted to a younger audience]] with an early Sunday timeslot. There's also the fact that the American broadcast ''wasn't'' as it aired at 11 PM Pacific time on Mondays and the dub had a moderate amount of profanity.
* ''[[
* One of the biggest foundations of ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' is the [[Ho Yay]] among the [[Moe Anthropomorphism|Moe Anthropomorphisms]] of several ''countries'', which the more history-based fans often find... weird.
** Hetalia is officially a Seinen manga. Yet 99% of the fans are [[Yaoi Fangirl|yaoi fangirls]]. So with Hetalia, the periphery demographic is the main demographic.
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* ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'' owes much of its success to female fans, despite being an often-violent action series published in an anthology aimed squarely at boys. The show's title character, a soft-spoken, gentle [[Bishonen]] with a hidden, more violent dark side, most likely helped. The well-written romance between him and the female lead most likely helped too, especially since it was one of the few [[Shonen]] manga relationships that had real development and a definite resolution, while most shonen couples get bogged down in an eternal game of [[Will They or Won't They?|"will they or won't they?"]].
** When the ''Kenshin'' movie premiered in Japan, something like 2/3rds of ticket-buyers were female -- which was roughly the exact opposite of the gender split for a Shonen Jump film at the time.
* While ''[[
* A fair number of guys like ''[[Fruits Basket]]''. While they don't really care about the [[Cast Full of Pretty Boys|bishonen bunch]], the story is well-structured enough for them to care, and its humor is pretty much universal. It doesn't hurt that the female characters are [[That Came Out Wrong|well developed]], and cute to boot.
* Since it's been [[Periphery Hatedom|out of style with little kids since about 2004]], ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'''s current fandom is compromised almost entirely of teenage girls.
** In the anime. The Card Game however are chock full of boys and men [[Serious Business|bickering on effects, spell speeds and priority]].
*** It's a good bet that most of the current ''YGO'' fanbase consists of fans of the [[Abridged Series]].
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** Well, you can't make a show about a teenage boy who spends most of the first season running around in his underwear without atracting at least ''some'' female fans.
** Rebocon, a concert dedicated for this series if you watch the video you will only hear girl's screaming.
* If you just look at the title of ''[[Kaichou wa Maid
* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' can be loosely described as a [[Harem Comedy]]-[[Genre Shift|turned]]-[[Fighting Series|fighting manga]], with [[Taste the Rainbow|loads]] of [[Fan Service]] and [[Moe]]. The fanbase in Japan is 60% female, with a not-insignificant chunk being preteen girls. [[It Makes Sense in Context|This makes more sense]] [[Better Than It Sounds|if you know the series]].
** Starting from about the same time as the [[Genre Shift]], Ken Akamatsu, the creator, began adding little hints of [[Ho Yay]] to the series. Whether this was a result of the Periphery Demographic or the cause of it is extremely debatable.
* ''[[Princess Tutu]]'' is about as girly as a [[Shojo]] can get, but has nonetheless developed an adult male following that heralds it as an metafictional epic whose awesomeness can only be compared to ninjas engaged in a rock battle -- Hence it's [[Fan Nickname]]: Guitar Ninjas.
* ''[[Victorian Romance Emma]]'' is, rather surprisingly, a [[Seinen]] series, but it enjoys attention from all the other demographics. A great deal of the interest in the show is in the fact that it's a show about a maid, but it's not a [[Meido]] show.
* ''[[
** This even crosses into [[Multiple Demographic Appeal]], as evident with the OVA release. The ending was performed by KOTOKO, who is known for performing opening and ending of [[Eroge]] aimed at men.
* ''[[
* ''[[Panty
** [[Adorkable|Brief]] may have something to with this, too; and maybe [[Badass Preacher|Garterbelt]].
** Or maybe it's seeing someone do [[Wish Fulfillment|what they wish they could do]]. And Panty's [[World of Cardboard Speech|"I'm just a bitch" speech]] ''was'' inspiring.
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* Speaking of the madness of female fans, ''[[Inazuma Eleven]]'' falls victim for this trope ''hard''. How hard? Consider this: in [[Pixiv]] (kinda like [[Deviant ART]], but Japanese), a separate tag was made just to separate the more risque, [[Boys Love|fujoshi-oriented]] ''[[Inazuma Eleven]]'' pictures from the ones that the [[Shounen|target audience]] can look at. Statistically speaking, the risque pictures comprise ''more than 20%'' of all ''[[Inazuma Eleven]]'' illustrations submitted to Pixiv.
* Still on Pixiv, ''[[Nintama Rantarou]]'', of all anime, also has its own separate tag for exactly the same reason. You'd never guess that from the content of the anime, which is day to day adventure of [[Nakama|a band of]] goofy [[Ninja]] kids. Maybe it's the women who watched it in their childhood.
* [[Pani Poni Dash!]] was quite popular for children, despite aiming for the more cultural audience to get the pop culture reference. It ''does'' help how crazy and all over the place the anime is, though, which would guarantee tons of laughs.
* [[Kanamemo]] has it's share of female fans appreciating the yuri context for the sake of cuteness.
* ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]'', despite being a [[Cast Full of Pretty Boys|bishonen-ridden]] reverse-harem series, is well-written and hilarious enough to attract a sizeable male audience as well. Another appealing aspect is that the female protagonist is a cute but sensible girl who's refreshingly more realistic than most shoujo heroines and how much focus and development is given on the host club members.
* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' is a weird example. Like the ''Nanoha'' example above, it took the cutesy character designs (by [[Hidamari Sketch]]'s own [[Ume Aoki]]) and marketed it to the usual Periphery Demographic (adult men) of the [[Magical Girl]] genre. Then [[Wham! Episode|episode 3]] rolled around and fans realized that the creaters were doing [[Genre Deconstruction|something else altogether]]. However, this has not stopped the series from having both male ''and'' female fans. Mostly adults, though. This... [[Nightmare Fuel|really]] isn't a show for [[What Do You Mean It's Not for Little Girls?|your little sister]].
* A notable portion of the ''[[Kimi
* ''[[
** Similar to the Power Rangers example in Live Action TV, ''Pokémon Best Wishes'' is utilizing similar ideas and concepts to the Kanto saga to attract teenage and 20-something fans to the anime. Couple that with far less filler than the sagas that preceded it, high-quality animation, and [[Mamoru Miyano]] voicing one of the three main heroes; and you have one of the most accessible sagas in the show's history.
* ''Bakugan'' is a typical [[Merchandise-Driven]] Mons anime, generally aimed at 6-11-year-old boys. The character designs of the humans, both [[Mr. Fanservice|male]] and [[Ms. Fanservice|female]] attract teenagers and 20-somethings who could care less about the story. There are also all manner of adults who buy the figures and cards and have long discussions about the mechanics of the game.
* Even [[Berserk]] has a much larger female audience than you would logically expect from its well earned fame as one of the goriest, most disturbing anime around. This is because its female characters are non-stereotypical (not to mention that it is perhaps one of the few works of fiction that treats {{spoiler|rape}} and its psychological repercusions with realism and, what do you know, respect. And that, as fans will quickly tell you, the main story is based on more universal and epic matters than "tits and gore" infamy be dammed.
* ''[[
{{quote| ''It may be Valentine's Day, but don't send the characters chocolate or anything. If you're sending it anyway, please send it to [[Sunrise|the studio]], not the TV station.''}}
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** Readers wanting an escape from the [[Romantic Plot Tumor|Romantic Plot Tumors]] and [[Kill'Em All]] mentalities of the 616 and Ultimate continuities are also a factor here.
** In the same vain, there's [[Tiny Titans]] on the DC side of the fence.
* [[Chick Tracts]] [[Playing
* Despite [[Batman]]'s chiefly male readership (and target demo), Nightwing is well known as a draw to the series for women, and sales figures for [[Nightwing|his stand-alone title]] reflect this. While some suspect it's because he's [[Estrogen Brigade Bait|cute]], others have suggested the appeal might have something to do with his role as Batman's [[The Chick|supportive partner]] and his [[Applicability|struggle to determine his identity outside of that role]].
** Jason Todd also has a large female fanbase. Pretty much because he is a [[Darker And Edger]] [[Pretty Boy]] with daddy issues ([[Jerkass Woobie|and many others]]) and was voiced by [[Jensen Ackles]] in his [[Batman: Under the Red Hood|animated movie.]] Really all the Robins have a large female fanbase.
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== Specific ==
* ''[[G.I. Joe:
* A special on ''[[The Terminator]]'' pointed out that the original movie was attracting a female audience simply because of the love story.
* ''[[Star Wars]]'' is a story about [[The Hero]] fighting [[The Empire]] {{smallcaps|[[Recycled in Space|IN SPACE]]}}, and clearly aimed at the Sci Fi crowd. It ended up appealing to, in one way or another, ''absolutely everyone''.
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== General ==
* Old classics in the public domain like ''[[Alice in Wonderland]]'', ''Through the Looking Glass'', and [[L. Frank Baum]]'s long ''[[Land of Oz
* Many books that are popular with precocious teenagers were originally written for adults ([[Kurt Vonnegut]]'s books come to mind). Likewise, some of the more intellectual fare in the YA genre have a fair number of adult readers.
* Some kids books were used to teach literacy to adults in the past.
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* Lemony Snicket's ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'' is considered by many to be far too dark and depressing for children. It's essentially a dark comedy about different ways the author can torment children and the unusual ways supporting characters can be killed.
* ''[[Harry Potter]]''. The original series was intended for children and adolescents, but the series quickly caught on with adults as well. Different covers were created specifically to market the books toward adults. However, the author JK Rowling designed the series specifically to avoid alienating fans who had grown up by the time the it was completed. Each book grows progressively more mature, "growing up" with the reader.
* The ''[[Twilight (
** It also has a ''huge'' [[Fan Yay|gay fanbase]]. Many on the internet speculate that if Jacob and Edward had been the couple of the series instead, it would've been far more interesting.
* Everyone who reads ''[[Diary of a Wimpy Kid]]'' is a Periphery Demographic according to either the author (who planned it as a ''[[The Wonder Years]]''-type nostalgia trip for adults) or the publisher (whose idea it was to market it as a kids' book).
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** What's even weirder is the large amount of tweens who started reading the book despite the romance. In fact, many tweens started reading it BECAUSE of the fact that it was edgy and gritty, compared to most of the romantic fluff marketed towards them.
* [[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]] has a very large fanbase of older fans of high school and college age who picked up the series and stuck with it not only for it's clever humor and being literally based on the idea of the [[Mythology Gag]], but also because of it's surprisingly deep character development and realistic responses to certain situations. It's a rare mixture of regular young teen action/adventure novels mixed with older demographic drama.
* ''[[
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* Daytime television has traditionally been aimed at children and housewives, who were the largest demographics expected to be home during the day. However, college kids, slackers, and other groups have catapulted certain shows into mainstream appreciation.
* [[Merchandise-Driven]] ''[[Tokusatsu]]'' is aimed squarely at kids. However, they cast a lot of [[Bishonen|pretty-boy actors]] to [[Parent Service|appeal]] to the ''mothers'' of the aforementioned kids, who often watch the show at home with their children. And if not the mothers, then it works well with the older sisters of these kids. And if the fathers stay around long enough to watch it at times, the actresses fill that niche nicely, along with the gravure to go with it. Not to mention the people overseas who grew up with ''[[Power Rangers]]''.
* Most shows [[Girl Show Ghetto|aimed for tween girls]] can sometimes be this towards boys. Shows like ''[[Lizzie
** Many shows aimed for kids or tweens also have large college-aged audiences. ''[[
* The idea of the Sci-Fi Channel (or SyFy now) having a mostly young male demographic is increasingly fallacious, which the execs seem to have some difficulty recognizing; when confronted with the fact that many of their viewers are women, David Howe [http://scifiwire.com/2009/03/sci-fi-president-dave-how.php acknowledged that] "almost half of our audience is women, thanks to shows such as ''Ghost Hunters'' that attract more women than men", completely ignoring the fact that many of their scripted shows (''[[
* [[German TV Stations|Kika, a German kid channel]], has a mascot called Bernd das Brot (Bernd the Bread). The pessimistic bread became a cult favorite with young adults and teens in Germany. Kika started airing a looped program with Bernd instead of static after 9 P.M, attracting many insomniac young viewers.
* Teen shows with prominent gay or lesbian characters, like ''[[Pretty Little Liars]]'' or ''[[Greek]]'', often find themselves with significant ''adult'' followings in [[Fan Yay|the LGBT community]].
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* ''[[Teletubbies]]'' is a show aimed at extremely young children, but it became famous for attracting the attention of college/uni students and druggies, all of whom were often watching television in the middle of the day. The show's baffling and surreal nature, combined with its bright colors and hypnotically repetitive nature, made the show enjoyable with the right amount of irony or [[Watch It Stoned|chemistry]].
* ''In the Night Garden'' is arguably even more cutesy, surreal and coy than Teletubbies, and makes perfect hangover viewing, or if you are so inclined, watching it stoned or tranquillised is amazing.
* Shows aimed at older children. ''[[Raven]]'' is surprisingly popular among adults, and ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' is watched by many adult fans of parent show ''[[Doctor Who]]''. When you consider that the show has ''[[
** Speaking of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' that show itself probably belongs here; it was originally intended as a show that would teach history to kids, but when it started going more overtly science fiction (in its second serial no less) it started to bring in a lot more adult fans who would watch with their children, not to mention the kids who grew up and yet stayed with the show into adulthood thanks to its [[Long Runner]] status. It's a matter of (at times quite heated and interminable) debate, however, whether the show is a 'family' show (i.e. intended for both kids and adults from the start), a kid's show that happens to claim a strong Periphery Demographic among adults, a kid's show which eventually became a family show or something else entirely.
* Although ''[[
* Similarly, ''[[Bill Nye the Science Guy]]'' still has a significant following among young men, which may have been a factor in creating a similar series more directly targeted at them.
** In Seattle (where the show was filmed), a large part of the audience were older adults who really missed [[Almost Live]], where the Science Guy and the other cast members got their start.
* The children's TV show ''[[
** Though [[Ear Worm|some of the songs are catchy]] as well. "You Are a Pirate" is the only reason some people have even heard of this show.
* ''[[
* ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'' - It has a [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]] page and a former [[Fetish Fuel]] page. You can't deny there's a periphery demographic following this show.
* While not to the same extent as the above two, ''[[Victorious]]'' and ''[[
* Many parents and adults tend to view ''[[Yo Gabba Gabba]]'' as a [[Guilty Pleasure]], although some of its appeal is from the show's baffling ability to somehow convince popular indie rock bands like Low, Mates of State, [[Hot Hot Heat]], The Shins and Of Montreal to appear as musical guests.
** It helps that the show was produced by a member of the ''Aquabats''.
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** It's also popular with both the lower-class demographic it depicts and more well-to-do people who find the portrayal of their lifestyle hilarious.
* Word on the street has it that the live-action ''[[Dresden Files]]'' TV series was cancelled because, while it had an active fan following, said fan following was mostly older women who didn't mesh with the rest of The Sci-Fi Channel's young male demographic.
* As for Sci-fi examples, ''[[
** Considering the copious amount of almost soap-operish melodrama (at least in the opening episodes), it seems that SyFy have decided to try for [[Multiple Demographic Appeal]] with the show.
** TPTB claim that the cancellation of SGA and the launch of SGU weren't direct causation. They have not convinced many fans that this is true.
* ''[[Queer
** Its [[Distaff Counterpart]], ''[[The L Word]]'', also caught the attention of many straight men because, well ... [[Girl-On-Girl Is Hot|let's face it]].
* The [[Vision On]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcCHRW8G9yY gallery theme tune], so iconic it penetrated a national consciousness, can only be intended for the periphery demographic, as the intended audience was {{spoiler|deaf children.}}
* ''[[Sesame Street]]'' intentionally invoked this trope, in order to create a show that kids and parents would watch and enjoy together. This kids show grew its following gradually; when the original kid viewers grew up to be adults, they would subsequently watch the show with their own children.
** Same goes for, in a slightly different context, with ''[[Mister Rogers' Neighborhood]]''. Compared to Sesame Street, Mister Rogers had more [[Affectionate Parody|Affectionate Parodies]], although [[Saturday Night Live|some]] [[Family Guy|were controversial]].
* ''[[Choujinki Metalder]]'', the sixth ''[[Metal Heroes]]'' show, attracted a primarily older fanbase instead of its intended young audience due to its dark and complex storyline compare to previous ''Metal Hero'' shows. As a result, it was canceled at the end of its third course, with only 39 episodes instead of the usual 50.
* ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' is primarily a family show, but with liberal application of [[Ho Yay]], [[Ship Tease]] and [[Estrogen Brigade Bait]], the fandom is largely made up of [[Most Fanfic Writers Are Girls|women who like to write slash fiction]].
* ''[[Top Gear]]'' is a [[Gearhead Show|Petrolhead Show]], but there are plenty of people who watch it without knowing much about cars, simply cause it is that hilarious, and it doesn't hurt that the film crew is great at making everything look good.
* Both the producers and the star, [[Jeremy Brett]], were surprised to learn that their 1984-1994 ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]'' TV series adaptation was very popular with kids, who seemed to see the lead character as a [[Superhero]]. As such, Brett got permission from the granddaughter of Arthur Conan Doyle to have Holmes beat his cocaine addiction and bury his needle.
* ''[[The Golden Girls]]'' and ''[[Sex and
** It's a little hard to find ''The Golden Girls''' original demographic. Even during its debut it was very popular with younger demographics (and still is). When asked why, I think [[Betty White]] said it best, "Because it's funny!"
** It probably also has something to do with how the whole thing was [http://legendsrevealed.com/entertainment/2011/01/14/tv-legends-revealed-35/ spun out of a joke about NBC's fall line-up at the time that seemed to go over well.]
* In addition to ''[[The Golden Girls]]'', several other sitcoms airing from the mid 1980's to the mid 1990's fit this trope. ''[[The Cosby Show]]'', ''[[The Fresh Prince of Bel
* War miniseries like ''[[Band of Brothers (TV series)|Band of Brothers]]'' and ''[[The Pacific]]'', in theory and according to mainstream media, are generally geared at middle-aged-to-older men ([[Saturday Night Live|Seth Meyers]], making fun of [[Sleazy Politician|Eric Massa]], accused of groping a staffer at his fiftieth birthday party: "That's not what happens on 50th birthdays. On ''my'' dad's 50th birthday, we got him a gift certificate to Morton's and a ''Band of Brothers'' DVD"), including those who possibly served. However, they tend to have ''very'' strong fanbases of young women in their teens and twenties, partially because of [[Good Looking Privates|the wealth of young men in uniform]] and [[Slash|the many shipping possibilities]]. However, many seem to have genuine interest in [[Real Life|the history]] as well
* ''Kabouter Plop'', a [[Widget Series|Belgian children's TV show about singing and dancing gnomes]], has somewhat of a following among young adults in the English-speaking world due to its [[Ear Worm|catchy songs]] and the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4ivw0mA6mg bizarre] [[Mondegreen|Mondegreens]] [http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/underpants that exist for] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-qGPvk_-Rk said songs].
* The British teen drama ''[[Skins]]'' has multigenerational appeal thanks to its excellent writing and acting. In fact, adult fans probably outnumber teen fans outside of Britain.
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** Cher is also inordinately popular with gay men, as is Barbara Streisand.
** [[Lady Gaga]] may be considered ''the Gay Icon'' of [[The Oughties]] and New Tens.
* Many fans in the western side of the world inexplicably fail to realize that [[Hello! Project]] fandom is meant to include both ninth-grade girls ''and college-age '''guys'''''.
* [[Emilie Autumn]], despite probably, along with Otep, being the closest thing to riot grrrl today, has a rather large male fanbase.(according to a survey, as much as 60% of her fans were male). She has acknowledged this, calling them her "Asylum Boys".
* For most of the 1980s and 1990s, [[Johnny Cash]] was thought by most country music executives to be washed up and incapable of attracting younger fans. Then he hooked up with [[Hip Hop]] producer [[Rick Rubin]] for a series of recordings featuring covers of artists like [[Nine Inch Nails]] in classic Johnny Cash style. These were a huge success with young [[Alternative Rock]] fans, revitalizing Cash's career.
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== Specific ==
* ''[[Transformers]]'' is the absolute king of this. About 10% - 20% of toys are sold to adult collectors. Hasbro and Takara are only too pleased to appeal to these people, with [[Homage]]-tastic toys, [[Transformers Generation
** This relationship is inverted with the [[Transformers (
* It is certainly true that ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
** Some Bronies buy custom toys from other Bronies. The work put into these can be staggeringly amazing.
** Though it is worth noting that some official merchandise actually spits in the face of this trope, with Hasbro actually changing elements of the show in order to sell their products better with [[Target Audience|young girls]]. One such change was altering Princess Celestia's color from [http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120401202551/mlp/images/thumb/1/13/Celestia_large.jpg/452px-Celestia_large.jpg white] to [http://rebeccahains.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/screen-shot-2012-01-16-at-9-56-42-am.png pink], much to the chagrin of many [[Periphery Demographic|Bronies]].
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* ''[[Pop N Music|Pop'n Music]]'' was initially a game intended to be played for couples on dates. It ended up being as hardcore of a [[Rhythm Game]] as its sister series ''[[Beatmania]] IIDX'' and ''[[Dance Dance Revolution]]'', with most of its current fanbase playing it by themselves instead of with another person, all while retaining the cute and colorful graphics that may [[Surprise Difficulty|lead the uninitiated to believe that it's an easy game for kids]].
* A great many ''[[Kirby]]'' fans are people who grew up playing said games. This qualifies because the series in general is and was designed to be for beginners. These people might have moved on in terms of skill but many of them gleefully return for each new installment, no matter how short or easy it is.
** ''[[
* Many ''[[Pokémon]]'' fans continue to remain faithful to the games; the series is also one of the best [[RPG|RPGs]] out there that allow you to compete with other people, and so there's a significant crowd of hardcores and [[Stop Having Fun Guy|Stop Having Fun Guys]].
** Because of this, according to [[Word of God]] the [[Pokémon Black and White
** Perhaps exemplified by the Periphery Demographic ''within'' a Periphery Demographic: older fans of the three [[Hey You Pikachu|cute]] [[Pokémon Channel|Pikachu]] [[Poke Park Wii|games]]. These games are more or less pure [[Tastes Like Diabetes]] adventures meant for ''very'' young kids. Really fun if they're your thing, though.
** The character design of the human characters and the Pokémon themselves tend to draw in plenty of people.
* ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'', although primarily marketed towards kids (at least for most of its life), has been a big hit with all ages and has become the best-selling game series of all time, with [[The Hero|Mario]] arguably becoming the most recognized game character in the world. Similar to ''[[Pokémon]]'' above, it started going for [[Multiple Demographic Appeal]] at one point, and was marketed towards casual "non-gamer" audiences as well when it made its move to the [[Wii]].
* Is there a museum of Science and Industry or other applied sciences museum near where you live? Does it have any kind of an "interactivity" focus? Was it around in the late 70s? If you search, they probably have a ''Lunar Lander'' arcade machine somewhere in there set to free play.<ref> For those not in the know, ''Lander'' was a more or less accurate 2D simulation of what landing a Lunar Lander is like, inertia and all, making the '''museum''' the periphery demographic here.</ref>
* ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' has its intended fanbase of teenage boys and college aged men, and its unintended fanbase of women of ages 16-25 who are in it for the men in skintight sneaking suits, and the [[Yaoi Fangirl|heavy amounts of]] [[Ho Yay]]. Some of them like the explosions and giant robots as well, of course.
* ''[[The Idolmaster (
* ''[[
* The ''[[Tokimeki Memorial]]'' [[Dating Sim]] series, though very much aimed at a male audience, acquired a significant female fanbase. In fact, this led [[Konami]] to create the [[Gender Flip|gender-flipped]] "Girl's Side" branch of the series.
* In South Korea, ''[[Starcraft]]'' has a very large fanbase in terms of female audiences who like to watch pro-gaming a lot. Majority of the contestants are young men after all.
* It may be rarer for a ''[[
** For exactly the same reasons, the fanbase has a large margin of females as well, despite the [[Improbably-Female Cast]].
** The Periphery Demographics are, in fact, the reason for most of the popularity the series has accumulated. The games themselves are fairly standard [[Bullet Hell]] [[Shoot'Em Up|Shoot Em Ups]], however fanartists became obssessed with ZUN's (often conceptually brilliant, always technically flawed) character designs and sought to improve upon them, the doujin communities saw incredible potential in an elaborate setting with piles of [[Fanfic Fuel]], [[Fan Fic Magnet|Fanfic Magnets]] and [[OC Stand In|OC Stand Ins]], and the musical arrangers fell in love with the music, to the point where they managed to turn [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLGW4-pgGXc this] into '''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-eensMhO_k this]'''.
** Best part of it all is ZUN outright supporting this whole thing by effectively saying "Don't spoil the endings, don't use my sound effects in your fan games. Otherwise, ''do whatever you want because I don't mind it as it's cool and there will be no copyright issues EVER.''"
* ''[[Bully (
* ''[[Minecraft]]''. Although official forum traffic tends to strongly imply that Minecraft's primary demographic is male and probably 13-17 years old, there is visible evidence on [[YouTube]] and other places, of the game having both a female and adult playerbase as well.
* [[We Cheer]]: It may be a casual game that you would expect [["Stop Having Fun!" Guys|hardcore gamers]] to hate, but it turns out to be popular among males. Because, you know, [[All Guys Want Cheerleaders]].
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** Or that it's more targeted at boys than girls for the most part but (like most shonen-based titles out there) its online fandom is mostly made up of [[Yaoi Fangirl|Yaoi Fangirls]]?
*** Or Disney fans.
* ''[[My Girlfriend
* Similar to the above, the ''[[Sono Hanabira
== Western Animation ==
* [[Cartoon Network]] is all about the Periphery Demographic. Recognizing this was what led them to create [[Adult Swim]] in 2001. Most Cartoon Network originals have scored a healthy Periphery Demographic, but just to name a few:
** ''[[
** ''[[Chowder]]'', nearly to the point of ''Billy and Mandy''.
** ''[[The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack]]'', to the point of Thurop joking about a [[Spin-Off]] simply titled "K'nuckles" for the specific purpose of including more "adult" jokes.
** For older original Cartoon Network shows (or Cartoon Cartoons as they used to be called), ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'' intentionally invoked this trope in that, while being marketed to kids as a typical girl-superhero show, it was actually a parody of its genre intended for adult viewers, chock-full of [[Nightmare Fuel]] and [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]].
** ''[[The
** [[Adult Swim]] itself is an example of this, in that a larger number of its viewers are under 18. If you tell any kid they're not supposed to watch something, [[Forbidden Fruit|they're going to watch it]].
** ''[[
** ''[[
{{quote| "They'll rock your 11 to 15-year old pants off! Yes, that's our demographic. GET OVER IT!"}}
** ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy
** The infinitesimal but vocal ''[[Time Squad]]'' fandom is now composed almost entirely of slash fans, though this is about as surprising as ''[[Thomas the Tank Engine]]'' attracting railroad enthusiasts.
** ''[[Teen Titans (
*** Meanwhile, Raven, besides struggling with a horrible tragic past and destiny, and who deep down inside just want to be loved for who she is, was changed into a snarky, gothy, reclusive nerd, and shown as a busty teen girl who gets more than a few scenes (and whole ''episodes'') dedicated to pointing out how curvy she is. Basically [[Fetish Fuel Station Attendant|a package full of fanboy-bait]].
*** ''[[Teen Titans (
** ''[[Young Justice (
*** Less than surprising since [[Greg Weisman]] claimed he and the writers set out to make a show that appealed to the target demographic of young boys while still being mature and deep enough for teens and college kids to enjoy regardless of age or gender.
*** And of course the Emmy-winning art style has lead to the attractive male leads being quite popular among [[Yaoi Fangirl|Yaoi Fangirls]]. Robin and Kid Flash in particular seem to be a very popular pairing.
** ''[[
*** This also has to do with the series being made in Canada, which means that they can get past a lot more adult things in what is still marketed as a kids' show, at least compared to Cartoon Network. However, at some points it's hard to view it as one either way; see [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]], [[Ho Yay]], and [[Precision F-Strike]] for more.
** ''[[
** ''[[Batman:
*** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFb2NExVIWU And also stuff like this.]
*** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAFP0IoMfsA Or this.]
** ''[[Codename
** ''[[Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
** ''[[
* Rival network [[Nickelodeon]] also has this with its Nicktoons:
** Teenage and college age viewers make up a surprisingly big percentage of ''[[
** Less surprisingly, ''[[
** The same can be said about [[Sequel Series]] ''[[
** ''[[
** ''[[Iron Man: Armored Adventures]]'' has a surprisingly large female fanbase, which is usually unheard of for superhero shows, as well as a decent number of anime fans. This can probably be explained due to the series' heavy anime-influence which is popular with both unintended demographics.
** Guess what age group (and what culture/subculture) made up half of the fanbase (and probably still does) of ''[[
** ''[[
*** The show also enjoys a strong following amongst college/adult male cartoon fans who seem drawn to the female characters' often buxom designs. And they don't call them [[Hartman Hips]] for nothing!
** ''[[
** ''[[
** Though not as big as the ones listed, ''[[My Life
** ''[[Doug]]'' was rather popular with adults during its run on both Nick and ABC, mainly from parents who wanted their kids to watch it.
** ''[[Ka Blam!
** ''[[
* The [[DCAU|DC Animated Universe]] has some of the most intelligent, mature writing in Western Animation. So it's no surprise ''[[Batman: The Animated Series
* The intended audience of ''[[
* Near the end of ''[[Bugs Bunny]] and Tweety'''s run on [[ABC]], the show was still receiving a respectable total number of viewers, mainly outside the 2-11 audience. It was only cancelled because their contract ran up, and ABC by then switched to [[One Saturday Morning|an all-Disney lineup]].
* Lots of people love ''[[
** This is evidenced by its strong showing on fan-themed sites such as [[Fanfiction.net]] where, as of October 2010, it registered over 7,000 posted stories, one of the largest listings in the Cartoon category. (A good proportion of them being [[Les Yay]] [[Slash Fic|slash fics]]. And the writers are well aware of the popularity of these pairings.)
*** As well as by Disney's 2007 "Everything Kim Possible" marathon aired over several days virtually non-stop, well outside its intended "tween/teen girl" demographic hours.
* This was largely the downfall of many WB Saturday morning cartoons, including ''[[
* Disney's ''[[
* ''[[Thomas the Tank Engine]]'' has a very large amount of adult and young adult fans, many of whom grew up with the shows and appreciate the realism and storylines of the earlier episodes. There are quite a few people that happily collect the train models too.
* ''[[Arthur (
** It's a show for preteens and kids, on networks solely for kids and it gets an episode that parodies various [[Comedy Central]](!) shows. Especially notable is the ''[[
* This (and the fact it was not [[Merchandise-Driven]]) was what killed ''[[
* Many a ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers
* ''[[
** Same with ''[[
** ''[[
* ''[[
* ''Little Howard's Big Question'' is an example of this, possibly due to "Big Howard" Howard Read being a rather excellent "grown up" stand-up comedian.
* ''[[Jane and
* ''[[The Magic Roundabout]]'' - Due to its short length and its position before the Six o'Clock News, there was a huge adult following, whom got into it just because they were waiting for the News to come on. So much so that when [[The BBC]] moved it away from the News there was an outcry from the adult audience.
* ''[[
** [[South Park
* ''[[Jimmy Two
* Aren't you a little bit old to watch ''[[
** This can be explained by the show's surprisingly clever writing, [[Better Than a Bare Bulb|lampshadic nature]], almost constant [[Parental Bonus]] and [[Shout-Out|references]] to things ''definitely'' not for kids, [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|a whole lot of crap going past the radar]], and the fact that pretty much every episode [[Trope Overdosed|died of trope overdose.]]
** Plus, just like with every (or almost every) Disney cartoon, there are many female characters that the male viewers find hot, like Vanessa, Candace, and Stacey for example.
* This is the entire motto AND modus operandi of [[The Hub]]. Knowing they couldn't beat the other major kids' networks with just kids watching, it's a veritable fountain of fun Periphery Demographic. Their crown jewel in this regard is ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
* ''[[
* ''[[
** That [[Greg Weisman]], the creator of ''[[
* This trope goes all the way back to the late 1950s. Early [[Hanna-Barbera]] shows such as ''Huckleberry Hound'' and ''[[Quick Draw McGraw]]'' were very popular amongst grown-ups when they first premiered.
* ''[[Rocky and Bullwinkle]]'' had a large adult following during its original broadcast as well.
* ''[[
* Many teenagers watch shows like ''[[The Simpsons (
** Not just teenagers either. ''[[The Simpsons (
* ''[[
* ''[[The Magic School Bus]]'' has gained a large amount of older fans, many of whom grew up with it.
** It's also popular among adults who work in or teach science, who are relieved to see a science-education show that actually gets things right most of the time.
* ''[[Adventures
* ''[[Jem]]'' and ''[[
** And of course ''Jem'' has an extremely large [[Camp Gay]] following for obvious reasons.
* ''[[
* Similarly, ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'' was aimed at young and pre-teen boys, but is quite popular with teens and adults, given its great character reinterprataions and development, awesome script and voice acting, wonderful tributes to classic Spidey stories and lore, and the surprisingly large amount of [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]. It even holds a good following after its [[Too Good to Last|premature cancelation]].
** Really, most animated shows based off superhero comics end up getting a lot of older viewers, as often they follow the comics in having good characters and story arcs. The first ''[[X-Men (
* ''[[Dinosaur Train]]'' is an educational show aimed at preschoolers, but because the science is so well presented ([[Somewhere a Palaeontologist Is Crying|unlike most dinosaur documentaries]]), it appeals to many older dinosaur enthusiasts.
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** While we are on the subject of cars; the Dodge Viper. Essentially a two-seater with a truck engine, Dodge thought it would be bought by the regular sports-car crowd, millionaires and such, while in reality most buyers were upper working-class who had saved up for it and given it to themselves as a reward.
* The coin-operated rides outside of supermakets. Hope the place has no security guards (or that the guards are of the jobsworth type - those machines are normally not under their surveillance).
* [[That Guy With
** That and the [[Yaoi Fangirl|slash fandom]].
** Linkara is an interesting example in that many of his fans don't read comics, and many people who ''do'' read comics don't like him.
* [[Neopets]] Is a very odd case; although the site originated for college kids, the eponymous [[Ridiculously Cute Critter|Ridiculously Cute Critters]] attracted a Periphery Demographic of kids, and the site became [[Lighter and Softer]] as a result. This wasn't a bad thing, as TNT still got a lot of [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|crap past the radar]], but after Viacom started [[Executive Meddling|meddling]], the site became more focused to the kids and started neglecting the older fans, who had become a periphery demographic, and loyalists who started playing as kids but remained on the site through their teens. However, TNT started interacting with the new periphery demographic of older fans by setting up a [http://www.facebook.com/Neopets facebook page], and [[So Cool Its Awesome|The Faeries' Ruin]] did a great job of [[Win Back the Crowd|winning back older fans]]. Not only that, but said older fans are the ones who play the most on the site. They're the writers for the Neopian Times, plot participants, and are basically the ones who don't get bored and leave after a few months. TNT's trying to reach a happy medium between appeasing the "preteen girl" fans who only want cute things, the "tween boy" fanbase who just like the games, and the older fans who love writing for the Neopian Times and Poetry Gallery, drawing for the Art Gallery and Beauty Contest, and participate in plots.
* Road sign creation software, like [http://www.keytraffic.com KeySIGN] and [http://www.buchanancomputing.com SignPLOT] have become popular with automobile geeks, roadgeeks and [[We Will Not Use Photoshop in
* The author of ''[[
* Henry Jenkins, in his book ''Textual Poachers'' says this may be the primary driving force behind [[Fanfic]]. The [[Girl Show Ghetto]] means that females aren't going to have their brothers or husbands watching shows that are aimed for them, or they find the [[Lifetime Movie of the Week|female-aimed shows lacking in quality]] and they end up watching shows aimed at men and using fanfic to refocus the narrative.
* Male homosexual pornography is popular among heterosexual women.
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