By Ashley Haycock
• Adventure Time: A cartoon series which airs daily on Cartoon
Network about a boy named Finn and his brother dog called Jake
• The series is set in the world called Ooo, a post apocalyptic world
inhabited by many different forms of creatures including vampires,
giants, flame people and candy people, as well as many other forms
of mad creatures
• The show follows the two main protagonists, Finn and Jake, on their
many different adventures, which usually includes saving princesses
from the antagonists
• The main characters include Finn the Human, Jake the Dog, Princess
Bubblegum, Marceline and The Ice King
• Adventure Time has an audience of mainly young children, from the
ages of 7 – 14 focusing mainly on the male gender, however,
females also watch the show
• This target audience is maintained by the cartoon features (which is
said to have drawn inspiration from “The Marvellous Misadventures
of Flapjack”), immature humour and action scenes
• Despite the show being aimed at young children the show also
draws in a more mature audience
• This mature audience usually ranges between the ages of 16 – 21,
again mainly males but again, females also watch the show
• This elder audience is drawn in by adult humour that a younger
audience may not notice
• From the introduction to the show it is quite obvious that the show
is aimed at a younger audience from the basic cartoon features and
childish music
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHjg6cTxmrQ
• However, in scenes such as this, you can see the adult humour
which draws in an elder audience
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBEK0TL0EQY
• Now whilst a child may not see anything wrong with this scene, Jake
the Dog and his girlfriend, Lady Rainicorn, went to tier 15 and…
THEY HAD PUPPIES
• Adventure Time aims to keep it’s target audience, whilst also attempting
to widen it slightly by many forms of media
• There are many books and comic books out about the world of Adventure
Time
• As normal, it has it’s own webpage
• There is a wide variety of Adventure Time clothing
• Adventure Time releases its series on DVD
• There are also many small online games about Adventure Time, as well as
a 2 full games available on many different consoles
• There is also a complete section of Reddit dedicated to Adventure Time
• Reddit is one of the largest online forums in the world which is occupied
by a audience of mainly 16+ males due to the content of the site
• The Adventure Time section is filled with fans discussing the plot of the
show and attempting to notice any hidden meanings behind certain
scenes
• Adventure Time was created for and aired on the channel, Cartoon
Network which is owned by Turner Broadcasting System, which is a
subsidiary of Time Warner
• Cartoon Network’s statistics say on average each episode of
Adventure Time receives between 2 and 3 million viewers
• The pilot episode of Adventure Time received 2.5 millions views on
first broadcast
• The premier of the most recent series of Adventure Time (series 5)
received 3.435 million viewers
• According to Nielsen Ratings (a audience measurement system
created by Nielsen Company) Adventure Time constantly rates first
in its time slot for its target audience (males between the ages of 2 –
14)
• Adventure Time has also won 5 awards
• The Simpsons: Another cartoon series which airs daily on Channel 4
and Sky following the life of the Simpson family
• The series usually takes place in the small town of Springfield, but
usually widens travelling to many well known countries all around
the world
• The show focuses on the Simpson family, which consists of Homer,
Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie and their pets, Santa’s Little Helper and
Snowball II
• The Simpson family aims to represent a stereotypical dysfunctional
family which has been a world-wide sensation since its creation
back in 1987 when The Simpsons appeared as shorts on The Tracey
Ullman Show
• The Simpsons is one of those shows that has quite a large target
audience due to the shows nature and running time
• The Simpsons attracts both a male and female audience of people
between the ages of 12 and 40
• Despite this audience The Simpsons may attract an older audience
as it has been running since 1989, keeping its audience for almost
25 years
• However, The Simpsons does limit its audience due to the offensive
nature featured in some episodes e.g.: Rio de Janeiro's tourist
board threatened Fox with legal action as they believe one episode
portrayed their country in an ill manor
• The Simpsons has even been banned in Russia, Germany, Japan and
China
• There are yearly specials created by The Simpsons, and each one
draws in a massive audience
• Every year there is a special for the Halloween season and the
openers for the episode will usually feature characters from popular
horror films in a humorous way
• This will help widen it’s audience bringing in fans of horror films
• The Simpsons has also had many celebrity guests over the years
• This guests range from Lady Gaga to Ricky Gervais and even Green
Day!
• By having celebrity guests on the show, this greatly increases the
target audience as certain people would watch the show just to see
the celebrities
• Obviously, with such a large name, The Simpsons is not just limited
to a TV series
• In both Universal Studios Orlando and Hollywood, there is The
Simpsons Ride which is a simulator
• The Simpsons first created a full length game in 1991 called The
Simpsons produced by Konami
• In 2007, a full length Simpsons movie was released produced by 20th
Century Fox
• The movie gained over $500 million in profit
• Here is maybe, one of the most rememberable scenes from The
Simpsons Movie
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=714-Ioa4XQw
• There have been 9 comic book series released about The Simpsons
since 1993 published by Bongo Comics
• The Simpsons is owned by the Fox Network family, which is owned
by Rupert Murdoch
• Rupert Murdoch, one of the most powerful men in the world,
starred in an episode
• http://www.viddler.com/v/fd49c387
• The Simpsons has over 25 seasons and approximately 535 episodes
• Due to the large amount of episodes this makes The Simpsons the
longest-running American sitcom and the longest-running American
animated program
• The show even has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
• Over it’s 24 years of broadcasting, the show has won 27 Primetime
Emmy Awards, 30 Annie Awards and a Peabody Award
• Homer’s catchphrase "D'oh!" has even been introduced into the
English language
• BARB stands for Broadcasters' Audience Research Board
• BARB is the organisation that measures audiences and TV ratings in
the UK
• It is owned by BBC, the ITV companies, Channel 4, Channel 5,
BSkyB, and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (professional
institute for agencies in the UK's advertising and much more)
• BARB monitors viewing statistics by placing a small box on top of
participating viewers TV sets which monitors what is being watched
• Between the dates of Nov 04 13 – Nov 10 13, according to BARB
statistics The Simpsons placed 25th in most viewed shows in the
“Other” section
• RAJAR stands for Radio Joint Audience Research Limited
• It was established in 1992 and is jointly owned by the BBC and the
RadioCentre which is the commercial radio's trade body
• RAJAR measures audiences for the radio industry in the UK
• NRS stands for National Readership Survey
• The NRS is a joint company owned by the IPA (Institute of
Practitioners in Advertising), NPA (Newspaper Publishers
Association) and PPA (Periodical Publishers Association)
• This is used to measure the audience of over 250 British newspapers
and magazines for advertisers
• “Meh, I suppose it would be 16 and above because in the Simpsons there's allot
of sexual references, its the same in adventure time, there are quite a bit of
mature things in it but you have to have a open mind to see them, for example,
when do you see a rain acorn get pregnant in any other show xD”
• “I believe that, with the show 'Adventure Time' you can either watch from a
child's perspective, and enjoy the obvious, or, an older watcher can take away a
deeper, metaphorical experience”
• “i would say kids and adults who still like to embrace their inner child”
• “Simpsons - Anyone its a show I have watched throughout my life, small children
initially watch it and so do their parents as a result of this and the child is hooked
for life. Adventure time - Young teenager/older child, I however think it is suitable
for all audiences.”
• “I think the target audience for The Simpson is anyone as I think everyone can
enjoy this show regardless of their age and as for Adventure Time I think the
audience is aimed more at 13-18 year olds, as this is the age group I see watching
the show”
• “I personally think the age range for adventure time is 0-16 and the Simpsons
would be any age”