Clearing Up Some Fallacies Regarding CN and AS

[iamoverrated]

You do realize Adult Swim and Cartoon Network are two separate companies with in their parent company, Turner? The President of Adult Swim doesn't answer to anyone at Cartoon Network, nor does Cartoon Network have anything to do with their programming.

Lets clear up some fallacies concerning CN and AS that have been spread these forums (This is in regards to America, not Australia, The UK, Europe, Canada, etc.):

1.) Bleach has nothing to do with Cartoon Network, nor is it the reason Naruto was cancelled.

2.) Average Naruto ratings (up until January 2009) were around 1.5 - 2.0 million viewers, for comparison Star Wars: The Clone Wars averaged about the same number of viewers. [source: Nielsen]

3.) Cartoon Network's current live action shows are drawing in around 1 - 1.5 million average viewers. [source: Nielsen]

4.) Disney XD averages a total of 371,000 viewers for their prime shows, including Naruto Shippuden. [source: Nielsen / TvByTheNumbers.com]

5.) Adult Swim's Family Guy Averages 0.75 - 1.0 million viewers per airing Monday - Friday. [source: Nielsen / Adult Swim]

6.) Target demographics are key to configuring advertising line-ups. As such, Adult Swim's key demographic is 18 - 34 years old viewers, Toonami's demographic was targeted to viewers between 9-16 years old. [source: Nielsen]

7.) In Toonami's target demographic Cartoon Network's live action shows are performing (on average) as well, if not better than Toonami. [source: Nielsen / TvByTheNumbers.com]

8.) In 2009, Disney XD was the fastest growing television channel in Toonami's target demographic, showing gains of almost +96% over the previous year. [source: Nielsen / TvByTheNumbers.com]

9.) Naruto filler episodes performed on par with the rest of the series, averaging 1.5 - 2.0 million viewers. [source: Nielsen / TvByTheNumbers.com]

10.) Currently, on Hulu, Naruto Shippuden is consistently ranked in the top 15 overall in total views, sometimes peaking into the top 10.

With all this information I've presented lets review:

1.) Naruto wasn't cancelled due to poor filler episode ratings.

2.) Naruto wasn't cancelled due to Adult Swim picking up more Bleach episodes.

3.) Naruto performed as well as Cartoon Networks current live actions shows.

4.) Naruto is one of the top ranked series currently available on Hulu.

5.) Disney XD is the fastest growing "Toonami" demographic specific channel.

6.) Adult Swim's demographic isn't the same as "Toonami's".

In conclusion, it seems Naruto was either dropped because the network decided to move into a different direction, or perhaps it would've been the sole anime in their current "Toonami" replacement block. Perhaps the rights to purchase the series vs. the advertising revenue just didn't work out when compared to other options. I honestly felt that moving Toonami to Saturday, and only Saturday, was a mistake. Ever since the move I knew its time was coming to an end. I grew up with the "after school" block and it really did get me into anime. Gundam Wing, Dragon Ball Z, Blue Sub 6, Tenchi, etc. all became the epitome of after school programming to me. I even followed them when they started the Midnight Run and when that evolved into Adult Swim. To me, Naruto was the last bastion of Toonami, it was the last symbol of shonen anime on Cartoon Network (excluding Adult Swim). Honestly, I'm still a little shocked they cancelled Naruto and basically handed it over to Disney XD. When doing the research above, it dawned on me that despite all of our groaning over dropping Naruto, the marketing heads don't care. They're getting the same ratings with or without Toonami / anime. Many of you have moved on to Disney XD, many don't care because they had Dattebayo and other groups doing fansubs or more recently Hulu releasing episodes 1 week behind the original air-date in Japan, but I for one am saddened by the death of Toonami.

[MysticGoten]

Thank you, VERY much, for this information.
I'm amazed by some of these things.

[iamoverrated]

Yeah I think a lot of people are just preaching blind assumptions and outright lies. If you spend an hour doing the research you'll find the truth and really it isn't all that shocking, in fact its rather mundane. I was expecting to find Naruto filler episode tanking in ratings or Disney XD to have twice the viewers as Cartoon Network, I was wrong. I had read that Adult Swim had technically become its own channel, while sharing the same station as Cartoon Network. It was mainly for advertising revenue, marketing, and financial reasons, but you can read the stories posted online and even the press release from Turner Broadcasting. With bleach showing very strong ratings I'm sure Adult Swim is trying to find anime in the same vein. The new Fullmetal Alchemist series looks very promising, but essentially for the first 20 episodes, its the same as the previous series. I'm sure Adult Swim is dedicated to finding their niche in the anime world, as they've demonstrated countless times. Despite huge ratings drops when bleach began the reruns and with little viewer support for the other shows on their anime block, they persevered through some hard times. If anything, Adult Swim, is truly the continuation of Toonami, and the people at Williams Street (Adult Swim) have proven their dedication.

I know some people on here bash Adult Swim, but don't... they've given you a whole night dedicated to anime, and not just complete crap, but very quality shows, enjoy them while you can for who knows what tomorrow may bring.

[original uchiha]

cereal :3 thanks for clearing this up for me

[ThePurpleChidori]

this deserves rep.

[NarutoUzumaki12]

yeah i thought as much

[trouble88]

wow who know that was so true man thanks dude