Why Does AS Keep the Action Block Around?

[Trip]

It consistently scores fewer viewers than comedy. So why is it still around?

Is it cheaper for them to acquire the rights to broadcast shows already animated and dubbed than to make things in-house like Venture Brothers or ATHF?

Are there simply not enough 'good' shows they have confidence in to get standard comedy block ratings?

Or could it be that they're actually willing to take it in the pocketbook to give anime fans their fix on standard cable?

[Master Moron]

Well, it might partly be what you said and that they simply don't have that many comedy shows to fill out 36 hours a week. And I'd imagine aquiring anime would be cheaper than making their own shows as well. But, it's not like all the animes get bad ratings. Full Metal Alchemist occasionally beats Futurama. Besides, consider the fact that Saturday is a day where a lot of people go out. However, die hard anime fans would be willing to stay in on Saturday. Not to say that if Saturday was all comedy it would get worse ratings, but well, look at Venture Brothers. It's ratings on Saturday stunk, yet on Sundays it prospered. I think anime, which is more of a cult thing, is better suited to Saturdays where die hard anime fans will stay home to watch it.

[Kagetsu]

Blasphemy, as someone who doesn't go near that late night comedy block, by having the very important action block, they get some extra viewers they wouldn't get rerunning ATHF twice.(yuck) If it wasn't for the action block, I may not have known what anime was and a dark void would still be in my life.

[AlphaPrime]

I don't go near the comedy except for Robot Chicken, rest is lame.

Adult Swim Action for evar!

Some peeps only like the action, while some only like the crap, um comedy, and some like both, gotta keep a mix of stuff.

[Trip]

Blasphemy, as someone who doesn't go near that late night comedy block, by having the very important action block, they get some extra viewers they wouldn't get rerunning ATHF twice.(yuck)

I expected responses like this... But is that really true?

Futurama and Family Guy are still AS's biggest performers on the whole, and they've been running for how long now? With how many episodes per week? ATHF is the #1 AS original and I don't see why it couldn't handle another day.

[Karl Olson]

1. Variety - People would be more likely to tire of the block as whole if it didn't offer a little of everything. Anime is an effective of doing this because of...

2. Cost - Considering how much it costs them to licence an anime for TV, it's very cost effective, even with the lower ratings, to air anime as a means of generating variety. It's about as profitable as the much higher priced comedy. ATHF because though the other AS originals may be cheap to make, they aren't as inexpensive as licencing anime. Therefore, ianime doesn't perform wonderfully.

3. Installed Viewership - Though anime is very hit or miss, when it does well, it almost always does well, no matter how many times it's run. People always seem to tune in for Cowboy Bebop and probably always will. It's not the same size of installed viewership as Futurama or Family Guy, but it's still reliable.

[Demonic Raven]

Because it's the best freakin part! Well, at least for me.

[Sketch]

Comedy may do much better most of the time but AS has had several anime hits that have brought in excellent numbers. Adults like a little action with their comedy. The mix is what makes Adult Swim so great.

[Beat]

Adult Swim would die without the mix. Plain and simple.

[True Noir]

Blasphemy, as someone who doesn't go near that late night comedy block, by having the very important action block, they get some extra viewers they wouldn't get rerunning ATHF twice.(yuck) If it wasn't for the action block, I may not have known what anime was and a dark void would still be in my life.

Exactly. I have never watched AS for the Comedy (besides Family Guy). If they took out Action...AS would be losing many veiwers. Well, somewhat many. Me included. Anyway, why would they want to take out action when they are doing better cheaper? It just wouldn't be the smartest move in the world.

[livingfruitvirus]

Anime or domestic, Adult Swim should have action in some way or form. It creates a special blend of programming fullfilling the viewer's demands on multiple fronts.

[Trip]

Adult Swim would die without the mix. Plain and simple.

I can't say I agree with this assumption...

Exactly. I have never watched AS for the Comedy (besides Family Guy). If they took out Action...AS would be losing many veiwers. Well, somewhat many. Me included. Anyway, why would they want to take out action when they are doing better cheaper? It just wouldn't be the smartest move in the world.

AS is already forking over the cash for the Comedy shows, why not show it an extra day? If they're able to pull in even half as many viewers as with the Action shows then they may still be better off - they've already invested in the shows, they're not paying any extra to get those viewers like they are when they buy the rights to show anime.

Let me put together a simple example.

Assume AS gets 700k viewers on Sunday with Comedy and 400k viewers on Saturday with Action. They spend $350k for the shows on Sunday and $200k for the shows on Saturday. So they get 1100k viewers for $550k, which is 2k viewers per $1k.

Suppose then that AS decides to axe Action and show Comedy on both days. Due to showing the content more they lose some viewers: 600k on Sunday and 350k on Saturday, giving them 950k viewers. However, they no longer have to foot the $200k bill for the Action, so they've got 950k viewers for $350k - giving them 2.7k viewers per $1k. Fewer viewers overall but a relatively significant increase in the efficiency of their money.

Yes, I realize these are clearly fabricated numbers. But my point remains. Given how much the Comedy shows are shown already, I don't think the actual situation would be far off from my example...

[Trip]

Anime or domestic, Adult Swim should have action in some way or form. It creates a special blend of programming fullfilling the viewer's demands on multiple fronts.

This is true only if there is significant overlap between the viewer base in each block.

Obviously there are some people who watch both (particularly around here), but what about in general? How many people do watch both? I'm very doubtful that the numbers are significant.

Most people I know who watch AS only watch one or the other (the majority being Comedy). My personal experience clearly doesn't speak for the all-encompassing situation, but I've yet to see or hear anything that suggests viewers are consistent between the two nights.

I don't deny the possibility that it's true but I've yet to see any evidence to suggest it.

Not only does there need to be significant crossover, but it has to be from the Action block TO the Comedy block for AS to really 'rely' on Action. After throwing that into the mix I'm very skeptical...

[jlaking]

AS is already forking over the cash for the Comedy shows, why not show it an extra day? If they're able to pull in even half as many viewers as with the Action shows then they may still be better off - they've already invested in the shows, they're not paying any extra to get those viewers like they are when they buy the rights to show anime.

Let me put together a simple example.

Assume AS gets 700k viewers on Sunday with Comedy and 400k viewers on Saturday with Action. They spend $350k for the shows on Sunday and $200k for the shows on Saturday. So they get 1100k viewers for $550k, which is 2k viewers per $1k.

Suppose then that AS decides to axe Action and show Comedy on both days. Due to showing the content more they lose some viewers: 600k on Sunday and 350k on Saturday, giving them 950k viewers. However, they no longer have to foot the $200k bill for the Action, so they've got 950k viewers for $350k - giving them 2.7k viewers per $1k. Fewer viewers overall but a relatively significant increase in the efficiency of their money.

Yes, I realize these are clearly fabricated numbers. But my point remains. Given how much the Comedy shows are shown already, I don't think the actual situation would be far off from my example...

I don't think they would paid that much for an episode for Action, maybe for thier original Comedy since they made it and take a higher risk.

Also that would create more reruns which creates less ratings in the long run.

[Demonic Raven]

AS just wouldn't be the same without action. I'm sure ALOT of people would be pissed if they took action off of the air. Inuyasha fans can get quite rabid. Quite.

Action makes up almost half of Adult Swim ...so what would they fill it with? AS would just be the same stuff we see on Sundays only over and over 6 days a week. It would get repetitive, but throw action in the mix and we have something that can last and not get stale.

[True Noir]

AS just wouldn't be the same without action. I'm sure ALOT of people would be pissed if they took action off of the air. Inuyasha fans can get quite rabid. Quite.

Inuyasha fans. Yes. Inuyasha fangirls.....another scary situtation.

*Immagines AS headquarters being bombed by fangirls.....shutters*

[LordByronius]

Not only is airing anime cost-effective (it probably cost them a pitiably low amount to pick up s.CRY.ed, so even if it only pulls in >200k viewers it'll still be successful), but you're forgetting that much of the Williams Street staff are, in fact, big fans of the shows they put on the air. Obviously they'll lobby harder for certain shows than others (Big O and Fooly Cooly versus, say, Blue Gender) but they seem certainly content with having the entire block around. And so far the upper Turner management seems okay with what they've been doing, so forsee no real reason for them to change anything.

[Vagrant]

If the action (read anime) shows aren't making enough money to satisify management, they would have 'get gone already'.

Now, is this some kind of rhetorical question?

[Nin-Nin69]

Adult Swim would die without the mix. Plain and simple.

If they aired Family Guy, Futurama, Sealab 2021 for 3 hours, they'd do fine.

[Chris Wood]

AS is already forking over the cash for the Comedy shows, why not show it an extra day? If they're able to pull in even half as many viewers as with the Action shows then they may still be better off - they've already invested in the shows, they're not paying any extra to get those viewers like they are when they buy the rights to show anime.

.

Perhaps you'll recall a few years ago when Who Wants to be a Millionaire? was a huge hit for ratings desperate ABC. So what did they do? They started airing it every freakin' day and drove it into the ground.

Overexposure is never healthy.