Everyone knows that in 2018 - animation is where it's at, especially adult animation. Shows like
Bojack Horseman, Disenchantment, Rick And Morty, Bob's Borgers, Family Guy, and Paradise PD all help show what adult animation can achieve, and following for series like these grow and grow, and in fact, shows such as these are amongst the most streamed series on the streaming services. This year alone, there have been more than ten new adult animated series orders.
Hulu, one of the popular streaming services that people use to access their shows in place of cable, has an adult animation section. In fact,
Hulu has announced that its viewers are watching 20 hours of adult animated series each month with
Rick and Morty and Family Guy tying first for September.
One person who notices the trend and plans to take advantage of it is David Sapf, who runs
CBS TV Studios. He is launching
CBS Eye Animation while entering space with
CBS All Access Star Trek: Lower Decks.
"Things tend to get replicated when they're successful." - David Sapf, President of CBS TV Studios
It's a good thing he says that, because
CBS hasn't featured a primetime animated series in decades. Sapf's plan to fix this is to work with Katie Krentz, who cemented a deal in January and was a former Animation Executive at
20th TV and
Cartoon Network to expand their offerings.
The new goal is to stop turning away the animation pitches which are presented to them and instead sell the content to cable stations, streaming outlets, or perhaps even
CBS themself. At this point it is still unknown whether
Star Trek: Lower Decks and any other animated series will have the animation handled by
CBS or not.
"You can do five animated shows for the price of one live-action drama. The hope is one of those animated shows pops and becomes a big success with not only viewers but also merchandising." - Katie Krentz former 20th TV and Cartoon Network Animation Executive
When it comes to merchandising, she's not wrong. Just think of the multi-billion dollar franchises that were sprung from animated shows like
The Simpsons which lead to movies, theme parks, games, toys, clothes, and etc. ('Nobody better lay a finger on my butterfinger, man!") A live action show may have the same popularity as an animated one, but less propensity to sell pop vinyls or toys due to the imagery.
Meanwhile at
Netflix, money saving decisions are being made as the Streaming Giant is choosing to handle adult animation with their own in house studio. The plan is to scale back on outsourcing the animation process to companies like Bento Box which currently handling Hoops, which was recently ordered. Sources report that the studio Netflix has will animate originals and films and kid's programming while working with writers such as Shion Takechui (
Disenchantment) and Alex Hirsch (
Gravity Falls) to create new projects. Sources are also claiming that Hirsch is seeing a deal worth $10 million a year.
So, what are your thoughts? Is this too many cartoons, or could we use more creativity and options? Let us know in the comment section, as always!