Multiple Demographic Appeal

Both sides of the messed-up politics coin.


"We have to make the show for the hard-core fans who care about the numbers, but we also have to make it for my mom, who just wants Sawyer to take his shirt off."
—Damon Lindelof, co-creator and executive producer of Lost

A series that contains elements that appeal to multiple demographic groups, resulting in them all watching it.

For example a series might contain:

If Multiple Demographic Appeal is misinterpreted, Executive Meddling may result to make it more appealing to one of the "extra" demographics—while removing what made it appeal to the original core audience.

See also:

Examples of Multiple Demographic Appeal include:

Anime & Manga

  • Anime and Manga in general outside of Japan have become increasingly popular with girls and women over the last decade; where once it was the domain of boys and sci-fi geeks, titles like Sailor Moon and Inuyasha helped bring girls into the fold; now females and women constitute a sizable portion of the international fanbase. Moreover, thanks to wider distribution of titles and the proliferation of the Internet, anime fandom has spread across nearly every national, linguistic or ethnic boundary.
    • The typical anime convention nowadays has two-four females for every one male.
  • Rurouni Kenshin is one of the classic examples of this when it comes to manga & anime; while it was technically a Shonen fighting series, it had plenty of cute guys in addition to the girls, a lot of interesting history-based backstory and plot, generally fascinating villains and a pitch-perfect mix of humor and drama. This led to it shattering ratings and sales expectations in Japan since everybody, regardless of age or gender, seemed to love the hell out of both the manga and the show. This also led to it doing fantastically well overseas, with the U.S. being practically the only country to not run the show several times. In Latin America and Asia the show was beloved, however, and still gets run occasionally.
  • Saiyuki. Action? Check. Comedy? Check. Ho Yay? Check. Bishounen? Check. And that's just the tip of the iceberg...
  • According to a demographic report accidentally released and posted on the Net, Futari wa Pretty Cure appealed to both girls aged 4–9 and men aged 19–30. However, Shojo has a history of having male fandoms (see Moe).
  • Vision of Escaflowne has Humongous Mecha, samurai, a female protagonist, and a Love Triangle. The appeal to both genders is such that there's both a shoujo manga spinoff and a shonen manga spinoff.
  • At least part of the massive popularity of Suzumiya Haruhi has something to do with the fact that it combines light high school drama, Sitcom-like comedy, sci-fi and something resembling a love story or an unconscious Unwanted Harem, along with dashes of mystery, musical, maths and physics fanservice and wacky misadventures, with a strong-willed (and cute) female lead opposite an affable and extremely relatable male lead. Like Escaflowne, its appeal spreads across both genders.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam 00 certainly has this; while it has obvious male appeal, the character designs were obviously more female-oriented, one character (Tieria) is so Bishonen that many fans thought he was a girl before the show started airing; a lampshade is later hung on this.
    • For the same reason, all too likely because of CLAMP costume designs, Code Geass has its worth here too, concerning a few Lelouch scenes (his naked shower in R2 for example), and especially when Suzaku's wearing his flight suit. They're trying to get someone to notice that bulge...
  • Kannazuki no Miko is half star-crossed Girls Love romance, half Humongous Mecha action with fantasy elements thrown in. Some reviewers have complained that the show's attempt to appeal to every demographic possible only causes each appeal to be of below-average quality.
  • This is the entire point of the Shipping-and-explosion-laden Magical Girl show Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha.
    • At first, anyway. The more girlish elements quickly take a back seat to flashy, explosive fight scenes, military drama & fannish Shout Outs to various members of the Super Robot Wars pantheon. Not that any of this makes it a bad show, you understand. It's just not really a magical girl show anymore.
      • So much that the manga-only season Magical Wars Lyrical Nanoha Force drops the Magical Girl from the title, albeit that's maybe because Nanoha is now past 25 years old.
      • On the other hand, the other manga-only season, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid, starts taking a more Magical Girl-like direction by concentrating on Nanoha's 10-year old, budding Magical Girl Warrior daughter, complete with Older Alter Ego and a Bunny Plushie device.
  • Figure 17 includes both sci-fi action and nostalgiac slice-of-life drama, but weighed much more heavily towards the latter. (Whoever made the trailers seems not to have realised this).
  • Fullmetal Alchemist actually does an omake comic lampshading this fact and speculating that the reason might be the lack of "typical" Shonen themes. Other reasons probably include Roy and Ed.
  • Ranma ½ is often touted as one of the rare Shonen series that has equal numbers of male and female fans—fitting, given the premise of the show.
    • This is true of pretty much anything by Rumiko Takahashi, who packs her works equally full of intertwining relationships and romantic entanglements as of action, bawdy humor, and plenty of Fan Service for both sexes.
  • Examples of Multiple Fanservice Appeal can be found in Change 123, not only in the context of the manga itself (through the female protagonist having Multiple Personalities), but also in a cosplay movie within the story, where viewers, during the movie premiere show, comment on various "assets" of the female protagonist and, when she takes off her helmet and the fact that she also has glasses shows up, one of them says: "They've got all the bases covered with this one."
  • Detective Conan. How do you make the show appeal to both teenagers and kids? Simple: have the main character be a teenager transformed into a kid.
  • Guys watch Baccano!! because of the gangsters, the violence, the Jigsaw Puzzle Plot, and it's resemblance to Pulp Fiction. Girls watch Baccano! for the gangsters, the violence, the Jigsaw Puzzle Plot, it's resemblance to Pulp Fiction and (as both reviews and advertisements are keen to point out) the surplus of hot men in suits.
  • Chrono Crusade is a Shounen series with a pair of Official Couple leads and plenty of pretty girls and boys, not to mention as heavy of a focus on relationships as there is on action. To top it off, the manga version throws in some sci-fi elements in with the supernatural thriller action.
  • Hell Girl is another Shojo series with a male following.
  • Axis Powers Hetalia simultaneously manages to draw in the history geeks, the Yaoi Fangirls and the Moe crowd.
  • Why do you think Code Geass is so Troperrific? You've got all The Beautiful Elite, a number of whom are Fetish Fuel Station Attendants and engage (canonically and fanonically) in any and all Yays you can possibly think of; Humongous Mecha that are used in furthering the Gambit Pileup and making giant pizzas; and basically a show that traverses the Sliding Scale of Silliness Versus Seriousness round and round, sometimes in one episode. It's everything you could ask for in an anime epic.
  • Eden of the East clearly seems to be going for this trope, featuring Shojo-esque character designs and female protagonist coupled with a Seinen-like conspiracy thriller.
  • The prominence of Fan Service, violence and dark themes in Neon Genesis Evangelion endears it to male fans, but the intense drama, extremely well-developed and emotionally complex characters, and of course the Ensemble Darkhorse White-Haired Pretty Boy with attendant Ho Yay subplot have managed to draw in quite a few female fans as well, while the series's weighty artistic ambitions, audacious execution and complex themes attract adult and/or arthouse audiences as well.
  • Death Note: Despite originally being published in Shonen Jump, the dark and fast-paced thriller plot drew in many older audiences, while the Bishonen character designs attracted female fans by the bucketload.
  • Martian Successor Nadesico aims for this with a plot that expertly balances comedy, drama, sci-fi, action, intrigue and romance. It was one of the most popular anime of the 90s in Japan, though it never garnered more than a cult following in the West.
  • Papa no Iukoto o Kikinasai is not only suited for all demographics, the publisher demands it to be for all demographics; this series of Light Novels about a young man suddenly finding himself as the legal guardian of his three nieces has spawned six manga adaptations, two for each demographic: 2 Shounen, 2 Seinen and 2 Shoujo.
  • Brigadoon Marin and Melan focuses on a young teenage heroine who has to struggle through some of the usual problems of growing up, surviving seventh grade, and falling in love. This might suggest a female audience which likes Slice of Life with equal parts comedy and drama. But wait! There are fighting robots with swords! There's a serious science fiction plot that occasionally verges on fantasy. And there's fanservice, including an unfortunate amount of lolicon fanservice. Who was this series for, anyway?
  • One Piece has a noted (and creator-acknowledged) appeal to females. Female appeal created Ensemble Darkhorses like the shirtless wonder, Portgas D. Ace, after all.
  • Blue Exorcist has plenty of appeal all around. There's plenty of action and fantasy with exorcists and demons running around. Plus, there's a bit of a subtle romantic sub-plot with Rin, Yukio, and Shiemi. The cast includes a decent number of Bishounen: Rin, Yukio, Mephisto, Amaimon, and a few others. So far, we have two Bishoujo: Shiemi and Izumo. And then there's Shura of course. No wonder this series is rising in popularity rather quickly...
  • Tiger and Bunny is, according to its creators, a Seinen geared towards those with some interest in more Western media such as comic book superheroes. It's also a very liberal user of the Female Gaze, some of which is lampshaded (Apollon Media has a habit of scheduling Barnaby for photo shoots—clothing optional).
  • Black Butler. Although published in a Shonen magazine, it has very Seinen themes (violence and gore, murder, pedophilia and the main characters are villains, among others) and a lot of subtext with art resembling that of a Shojo series. Nonetheless, the fight scenes and premise (a Deal with the Devil, etc) are fairly common to Shonen series.
  • Just about anything drawn by CLAMP, or adapted from something drawn. Best example being Cardcaptor Sakura. Magical Girl - Oh, so the series is aimed at young girls? Check. Bishounen - Older female fans. Okay. Ho Yay, Les Yay, Yuri Fandom - What?


Comics

  • The continued success of the French comic book series Asterix is commonly explained by its Multiple Demographic Appeal. Children can enjoy the madcap adventures and slapstick comedy, while grown-ups would appreciate (among other things) the multi-layered puns and societal satire. Also doubling the pleasure is the possibility to reread as adult the comics that you so much enjoyed when young, and discovering all you could have missed.
    • Which would also work for The Smurfs if people didn't automatically associate them to the Animated Adaptation that drops most of the slapstick and social satire.
  • Calvin and Hobbes: Good for the kids via the beautiful art and the many imaginative storylines (Snow Goons, Cardboard Box, etc.), and great for adults with social satire, philosophical ponderings, and Calvin's large vocabulary, as well as jokes that kids aren't going to get, leading to many a Late to the Punchline moment as they age.
  • The Dark Age of Comics can be seen as a deliberate choice by publishers to focus only on the older section of their audience demographic, sacrificing the Multiple Demographic Appeal they had long enjoyed. Along with other factors (high prices, poor distribution), this has crippled the sales of superhero comics for years. Recent years have seen DC and Marvel introduce "kiddie" versions of their printed titles to try to recapture the youth market, but there's still no effort by the Big Two to try and grab both age groups with a single title, with the possible exception of Marvel Adventures.


Films -- Animation

  • Pixar is known for making movies that appeal to parents as well as children.
    • The Toy Story series is an especially clear example of this; the initial main concept (Living Toys) sounds on the surface like something that is just for children, but as the series goes on, the concept is explored in more depth and eventually treated in a way that has its own meaning for adults. For example, the toys feel about their owner leaving like parents feel about their kids leaving, which is hinted at very strongly, especially towards the end of Toy Story 3.
    • And much like the Harry Potter example below, those who were children when the first movie came out would be young adults by the time the third was released, maybe even about to go off to college themselves.
  • Many classic Disney films (e.g. Snow White and The Lion King) are appreciated by adults as much as children.
  • Most post-Shrek animated films in the US aim for this by inserting swarms of pop culture references, self-mockery, and jokes that only adults will get, with widely varying degrees of success.


Films -- Live-Action

  • Apparently, Hollywood executives divide audiences and appeals into a simple grid: Male/Female under/over 25.
  • The Lord of the Rings
  • Star Wars. Mr. Plinkett points out it wasn't as successful in the Prequels.
  • Almost any superhero movie (even if a Token Romance has to be added); Watchmen being an aversion.
  • Titanic and Avatar managed to become the highest-grossing films ever because of this.
  • The Princess Bride: It's got slapstick for the kids, clever dialog for the adults, romance for the ladies, action scenes for the guys.
  • Armageddon sought this as a calculated marketing ploy: while Bruce Willis and company flying into space to save the world by nuking a giant asteroid was a clear draw for a male demographic, they decided to play up the romance between Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler's characters to draw in the female audience too.


Literature

  • Harry Potter. Partly because the fantasy elements have general appeal for people of all ages, partly because J. K. Rowling specifically intended the books to grow up with their audience, and partly because someone who read the first book as a child when it was released in 1997 would have been a young adult by the time the final one was released in 2007. This last is why criticisms of adults reading Harry Potter verge on Critical Research Failure, because by that logic hardly anyone who read the first book when it came out would have been able to finish the series.
    • More specifically, the wondrous, imaginative setting appeals to children, the Epic Fantasy elements appeal to boys, the detailed relationships appeal to girls, the complex mysteries and sharp (and occasionally subversive) wit appeal to adults, and the colorful characters and exciting plot developments appeal to everyone.


Live-Action TV

  • Lost has love triangles, science fiction, Fan Service for both sexes, fantasy... The list could go on for much longer.
  • Doctor Who, especially the recent revival, which is frequently criticised for being overly sentimental to appeal to a more mainstream audience. The spinoffs, especially The Sarah Jane Adventures, are written just as much for adults as they are for kids, too.
  • The Dukes of Hazzard
  • Charmed mixed multiple genres into its original supernatural drama premise, including horror, wacky comedy, and Sex in the City-like soap. Along with the occasional fanservice.
  • House is becoming a fusion of soap opera and gory medical drama. The sometimes-labryinthine relationships between characters is balanced by the "Oooh, that man's testicle just exploded" moments. This phenomenon becomes even worse when taking into account House fanboys versus... less committed fans.
  • Supernatural has a bit of everything. Fanservice for absolutely everyone, gore, awesome music, comedy, angst, urban legends and a decent myth-arc to boot.
  • The creators of the 60's Batman series did this deliberately. The Silver Age was in full swing in the comicbooks, so the producers adapted it to TV so that children 10 and under would watch because Batman was a cool superhero—while anyone over 16 would watch because he was campy and hilarious.
  • So...let's have Chris Barrie, who has an established fanbase and his own personal estrogen brigade and give him a supporting cast that includes his sexy, snarky Number Two, a pair of hot Yaoi Guys who run around in shorts and a cute Genki Girl with an enthusiasm for firearms. Now let's make the comedy a blend of Work Com humour, absurd surrealism and Black Comedy about death, suicide and pill-popping...yeah, it's not surprising the BBC extended The Brittas Empire for two seasons past its planned five.
  • Although not at blatant as some others, Power Rangers is starting to go this way. They've brought back actors from the first few season (who the intended kid's demographic won't recognize) and did quite a few callbacks in RPM (that younger kids wouldn't know about) and there is a rumor that they're trying to get Super Sentai to ditch the costumes for something a little less hokey (Namely switching them from Spandex to a more subdued material, possibly leather like the X-Men films.) They may not be trying to catch both markets (kids and the nostalgia set) but they're at least acknowledging them.
  • Super Sentai has this from time to time. Adults could enjoy the action and the drama of the story, while kids could enjoy some fun superhero-y goodness.
  • Kamen Rider, even moreso than Super Sentai. Especially the Heisei series. The male adults can enjoy the action, drama and beautiful female actresses, female adults can enjoy the handsome male actors, kids can enjoy the superhero adventure, cool gagdets and costumes.
  • The Big Bang Theory: Humour that nerds would enjoy, romantic subplots and Fan Service for both sides.
  • The Sopranos: The mafia action appealed to fans of mob movies (up to and including actual mobsters), the well-realized characters and drama appealed to fans of family dramas, the excellent acting, directing and production values appealed to film lovers, the excellent soundtrack appealed to rock lovers, the wry wit and middle-aged characters appealed to older audiences, and the complex themes appealed to intellectuals.
  • Good Luck Charlie tries for this. The creators worked on a show that would appeal to the whole family (as opposed to Disney's usual attempt to appeal to young girls or boys), which is seen in the lack of a "gimmicky" premise. It has Parental Bonuses for the adults, Teddy's love problems for girls, and most of Gabe and PJ's plots for boys.
  • True Blood has attractive characters of both sexes, fantasy, love triangles, even some gore... the list goes on.


Music

  • Older people, younger people, boys, girls, all around are hailing Doctor Steel as their new Emperor. There's even a division in his fan club for the over 35 crowd now!
  • Celtic punk bands often attract older fans of Irish and Scottish Traditional Folk, as well as their more typical young, punk-orientated fanbase.


Puppet Shows

  • Much of the 40-year success of Sesame Street can be its intentional Parent Service, it was once quipped that the show "entertains parents so much they force the kids to watch."
  • For that matter, The Muppet Show was meant to appeal to all ages, not just kids or adults.


Tabletop Games

  • This is one of the reasons why Warhammer 40,000 has so many different, highly distinctive factions. The Space Marines are the mascot faction that bring in many gamer fans, while the Imperial Guard appeal to many historical military geeks. The Tau are argued to be aimed at Anime fans, but their appeal is really more to fans of cyberpunkish aesthetics. (The Eldar have some of this, too.) The Orks have a great appeal for the creative and fun-loving players, and the Tyranids are loved by fans of big scary monsters. Bet you never thought of it that way, huh? That's not even all the factions.
    • The setting as a whole also seems to appeal to two different kinds of fans, some of whom will never even paint a miniature. On the one hand, the desperate, eternal war in the grim, dark future appeals to the Maturity Is Serious Business mindset, as there can't be many settings much more scowlingly serious than the galaxy of 40k, but at the same time, the unflinching commitment to the ever-worsening gothic horrors of the galaxy - the hideous corruptions of the warp, the nine-foot-tall superhuman Space Marines in huge armour wielding artillery weapons one-handed, hyperspace travel with a good chance of being eaten by demons, everything about da Orks, the colossal battle-cathedral mecha that look like Hogwarts got up and stomped off with a chainsword the size of a battleship - mean more light-hearted fans love it for being so over-the-top.
    • The gameplay of each faction is also designed to appeal to people who have completely different tastes. For those people who like to have to use cunning maneuver, speed, efficiency, and a bit of cleverness, there's the Eldar, Dark Eldar, and Tau. These armies tend to make other players scratch their heads in confusion as they ask "how do you use this screwy army?" For those who want to do something that vaguely mirrors actual military logic, there's the Imperial Guard, where you need your Tank Goodness to cover your Redshirt Army and your grunts to seize ground and get the tank killers out of the way. For those who like to just rush, put up a Tyranid 'Nidzilla list, a 'Nid horde, or Orks. Like a little Schrodinger Fu with massive beasts? Daemons. Marines are fairly balanced and appeal to those who want to play elite supersoldiers. Basically, however "deep" you want your strategies to get, and however aggressive you like to play, some force fits you.


Theater

  • William Shakespeare, easily the mostly widely-performed playwright of all time and the most widely-read writer at least since The Bible. He has stayed popular for over four centuries, each generation claiming him all over again and reinventing him as their own. In his own day, he deliberately maintained Multiple Demographic Appeal, writing plays that managed to please the uneducated lower classes, the moderately-educated emerging middle class, and the well-educated members of the court (up to and including Queen Elizabeth and later King James).
  • Cirque Du Soleil's success is largely built upon this—the fact that it has mounted permanent, successful productions at both Las Vegas casino resorts and Disney Theme Parks is a sign of that. They have enough productions now that some are aimed at more specific audiences (Zumanity is adults-only and Hotter and Sexier, Wintuk is a Lighter and Softer holiday-season show), but in general they cast their net wide with stunts and comedy that appeal to all ages. At Mystere (Vegas) you'll often see children sprinkled admist all the adults in the audience while at La Nouba (Walt Disney World) adults without children attend alongside family groups.


Video Games

  • Most of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has a multiple demographic appeal. This may be due to the fact that many of the people who played the original game in their childhood are now in their twenties/thirties and it's nostalgia setting in. In addition, the series attracts new fans for its Scenery Porn, Awesome Music, Darker and Edgier stories (though they're going back on that one recently), Fan Service, and Sonic's Badass attitude making the series enjoyable for kids and young adults alike.
    • The same is true of all the Sonic animated series. Unfortunately, this seems to have resulted in those demographics turning on each other.
  • Nintendo thrives on this. Not only does the Mario franchise have a multiple demographic appeal that greatly exceeds that of Sonic, but most first party Wii titles are specifically designed for it.
  • In general, by implementing Dynamic Difficulty along with a ranking system and Bragging Rights Rewards, a game can be designed to be enjoyable but still challenging at any skill level.
  • The different classes and playstyles of Team Fortress 2 seem to have an interesting side effect of being more accessible to fans of certain other games. Halo veterans apparently adapt well to the fast, jumpy Scout playstyle, Quake arena players will find the Soldier familiar, and Counter-Strike veterans can take advantage of years of honed skills as the Sniper.
    • And outside of the first-person-shooter aspect of it, the Pixar-esque art and humor draws people in to those unaccustomed to normally serious games of this genre.
  • Space Channel 5 has the strong female protagonist and Camp to draw in the demographic that the arcade action and Fan Service wouldn't.
  • World of Warcraft is one of the biggest examples in video game history, expanding its audience far beyond the pre-existing MMORPG crowd to become a bona fide global phenomenon.
  • StarCraft breached the limitations of the PC strategy game demographic to become one of the most successful and long-lived PC titles in history.
  • The Sims was a breakout success that challenged conventional notions of not only what a game could be, but also to whom it could appeal; studies have cited it as being played by girls and women more than any other video game in history.
  • Metal Gear Solid has found major appeal among multiple demographics; the exciting gameplay and deep game system attracted both mainstream and hardcore gamers, the well-developed (and often attractive) characters drew in female players, the labyrinthine plots and mysteries drew out the geeks, and the uniquely Japanese sensibilities appealed to anime fans.
  • The Final Fantasy series has found great success across age, gender and national barriers, particularly after its breakout title, Final Fantasy VII. The cinematic qualities and detailed storylines wowed mainstream gamers, the customization-heavy game systems and lavish production values appealed to the hardcore crowd, and the extensive character development and character designs drew in female players.
    • Final Fantasy X-2 tried to do this - putting in lots of Costume Porn to appeal to girls and lots of borderline Actual Porn to appeal to guys. Unfortunately, they mostly failed on both counts - the costumes are tied to the plot in a ridiculous way that ruined many a Willing Suspension of Disbelief, while the Fan Service is mostly done through a whole lot of occasionally-incestuous Les Yay between the female protagonists. The game is one of the less well-received of the franchise.
  • The Persona series, particularly after breakout hit Persona3, has transcended its status as a Widget Series to become a hit with players of different genders, ages, demographics and nationalities and a critical and commercial success both in Japan and abroad. Here's how it works: the strategic battle system, stat management and extensive customization features appeal to the usual Atlus audience of hardcore RPG enthusiasts, the art style and setting appeal to anime fans, and the social sim element appeal to female players (so much so that the PSP Enhanced Port of Persona3 introduced a new female main character and respective campaign.


Webcomics

  • The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob began as a print comic for a college publication, and the dialogue and science fiction concepts are clearly directed at an older audience, but it's also clean enough that the strip has appeared on the Kidjutsu.com child-friendly webcomics site.
  • The Dreamer has elements of a high-school drama, American Revolutionary action, romance arcs, and gorgeously-drawn characters.


Web Original

  • Homestar Runner doesn't have a particular target audience. It's enjoyed by people of all kinds and ages, from kids to the elderly, from geeks to relatively "normal" people. With squeaky clean PG rated humor with nothing worse than a mild innuendo, that is kid safe, geeky parodies and references for the geeks, pop culture references for the "normal" adults, and zany, wacky, and surprisingly clever humor for just about everyone. There might be some parts one person might not laugh at, but another scene will get them cracking up.


Western Animation

  • As far as audience breakdown goes, Kim Possible is probably the closest thing to a Shojo series created in America, yet. It gets males and females, from about seven all the way up to college, and their parents like it too.
  • Transformers. The sheer number of cars out there that have Autobot logos on them sums it up nicely.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender has a massively diverse fanbase for a Nickelodeon kids' show. Action, romance, crazy adventures, a solid plotline, and Fan Service for everyone.
    • The Sequel series The Legend of Korra follows in its predecessor's footsteps in this way.
    • Arguably, another show that came on the same network around the same time is also this: Danny Phantom. Kids and people up to their college age, of both genders are watching both. These shows have pretty wide fanbases.
  • Movies like Balto, All Dogs Go to Heaven and Rover Dangerfield, and shows like Road Rovers and Beethoven the Animated Series appeal to fans of cartoon dogs, adult furries, fans of 2D animation, and nostalgia lovers as well as children.
  • Looney Tunes and Animaniacs have Shout Outs to every conceivable demographic.
  • WITCH is a show aimed at young boys, which is based on one of the most top-selling comics in the world, which was aimed at girls, featured main characters who are female, an epic story reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings, and has the name "Greg Weisman" attached to it. They made sure to cover all their bases.
  • A recent ad for a Batman the Brave And The Bold DVD claimed that it was one of the most popular shows among boys ages 6–12 and among men age 18-49. Most people, upon hearing this, simply wondered what the hell was wrong with 13-17-year-olds.
  • Code Lyoko, for an action series aimed at 6 to 12-year-old boys, has a surprising amount of teenage and older fans of both genders.
  • Occasionally (though perhaps not accurately) cited as a reason for the cancellation of Invader Zim, as it was apparently popular with a number of demographics, often older than expected, but unfortunately not enough so with its TARGET demographic.
    • During it's original run it had a healthy fanbase with the younger crowd and the pilot episode that they showed to a test audience was Nick's highest positive reaction at the time. Sadly, airing at 9:30 on Fridays doesn't help much if you want a younger audience.
      • Freakazoid! was presumably cancelled for the same reason.
    • This is not actually quite true of Zim, and neither is the rumor about moral objections to the show; Zim had very high ratings and viewership, and the management didn't really have much objection to the content. The problem was that Invader Zim was just really expensive to make, and they simply were losing too much money on it.
  • Phineas and Ferb seems to be thriving on this. Sharing writers with Family Guy is a pretty clear sign.
  • Almost any Nicktoon: SpongeBob SquarePants, Rugrats, Danny Phantom, KaBlam!!. Angry Beavers, The Fairly OddParents, Rocko's Modern Life and many more wre targeted for 6-11. However, the shows' Parental Bonuses and Getting Crap Past the Radar earned it fans of a higher demographic as well.
  • Every show in the DCAU.
  • Ren and Stimpy, to the extent that reruns have aired on non-children networks like MTV and VH-1.
  • South Park thrills teenagers with its shock value and iconoclastic worldview, while amusing adults with its pop-culture parodies and social satire.
  • Jane and the Dragon is an example, with its target audience in the U.S. being 5 and 6 year olds (due to the fact that it airs on the Saturday-morning programming block Qubo, along with other shows like Maisy and Babar); but it a lot of adult fans.
  • My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic is (or rather, was) primarily aimed at young girls, but clever writing, excellent humor and solid overall performance have earned it an audience among many adults. The show's creators acknowledge this, and work material for adults (not just Getting Crap Past the Radar, but stories with their own meaning for adults) into the show.
    • That, and some aspects of the show are more appealing to male viewers than you'd think, such as the most significant male character hanging out with a group of girls. (Especially since he has a crush on one of them.)
    • The dark side of the trope rolled around recently, too—the studio thought they'd give the "bronies" a big shout out by giving "Derpy Hooves," a walleyed pegasus the fans had adopted as a sort of mascot after her initial gag appearance, a voiced appearance. Unfortunately, a cascade failure of miscommunication and poor judgement resulted in a final product that appeared to be a dig at the mentally disabled, offending a vast minority of the people watching. Then they changed it,[1] and offended the people who weren't offended the first time.
  1. ↑ The official story is that the original voice was because Tabitha St. Germain thought "Derpy" was a boy, and they wanted her to redo it with a less awkward girl voice, although that leads inevitably to the question of why they didn't do that before the episode aired
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