I finally cancelled my linear TV subscription last year (YouTube TV) and switched 100% to streaming subscriptions. But there was one channel that kept me from making that switch years earlier, and it was Cartoon Network.
So I was sad to learn that Cartoon Network has had a very bad financial decade. Bloomberg Businessweek published the original article (behind a paywall) and Cartoon Brew wrote a summary of the details.
In very brief summary: revenue is down 80% in the last decade, young viewership of Cartoon Network content on Max (HBO Max now?) is significantly lower than competitors (dead last in some demographics), and in response the Warner Bros. leadership is focusing on established IP instead of creating original content.
Unfortunately, Adult Swim is included as part of Cartoon Network. The drop in revenue includes Adult Swim and viewership of the block has dropped 84% in the last decade. The only good news is that some original content from Adult Swim has decent performance on Max.
I don’t know how the Toonami sub-block is faring, but they are late to show some of the latest seasons from their biggest anime series in recent years, like My Hero Academia and Dr. Stone. That cannot be a good sign. I hope Tom and SARA are able to keep broadcasting!
