Children’s entertainment in the past few decades has revolved around TV, with Saturday morning cartoons and TV shows, games, movies, and toys—stuff made specifically for children.
Back when I was growing up, there were cartoons such as Ed Edd n Eddy, Chowder, Regular Show, and many other cartoons; there was a well of entertainment for children growing up, and a lot of people like myself remember these shows fondly and can even rewatch them today.
Some cartoons have crowds way beyond their intended audience, but these come far and few between. My Little Pony and the Pokémon anime are two of the most prominent examples of these cartoons, with children being their intended audience, but their actual audience consists of people of all ages, mainly adults. Avatar: The Last Airbender has something similar, where the original intended audience of children and teenagers grew up to remember the show fondly, and they’re still consuming its sequels and spinoffs, like the recently released Avatar Fighting game. There are also shows created for all ages, like SpongeBob, which remain relevant across the world.
With decades of hit cartoons to watch on demand streaming services, it’s gotten harder to create something that’ll resonate with fans of all ages or just an intended audience since people’s recommendations consist of classics they already know and love. A lot of the newer children’s cartoons aim for young children as their audience instead of the children-to-teenager age range.
It’s still possible for new cartoons to go beyond their intended audience; Bluey and the Japanese anime Chiikawa have garnered audiences well beyond their intended audiences of children and teenagers, becoming a similar phenomenon to what My Little Pony and Pokémon did back in the 2010s; it’s just more difficult.
I think this trend will repeat for decades to come, where a couple of cartoons reach this enigmatic status, but the bar to reach that status will grow higher over time due to the ever-expanding library of television.
Yes, children’s entertainment has changed, but the trends that they follow have stood the test of time.
