Cartoon Network President Confirms Channel Will Stick To Its Roots
Cartoon Network has supplied the world with countless animated hits over the decades, with Adult Swim helping in creating surreal series that are skewed toward an older crowd. Recently, in a new interview with Variety, the current President of the cable network has taken the opportunity to talk about the future of the platform while also making a promise that Cartoon Network will work to stick to its roots in the realm of animation.
Ouweleen has been a part of the company for quite some time, revealing how they've always taken the approach that the channel will feature animation that appeals to several different demographics:
"When I joined the network [in 1996], to our minds it wasn't a kid network, it was an animation network. We said it was for a psychographic, not a demographic. The best animation works on a couple levels and works for a couple of different audiences at once. And I think that's where Cartoon Network proper is coming back around to. The remit I think for us now is to go back to being the best animation across Cartoon and Adult Swim, and serve the audience that is still there, starting on linear, which is adult."
Cartoon Swim
Ouweleen also detailed the beginning of Adult Swim, which helped in forming Cartoon Network as a channel that would appeal to both children and adults alike:
"When we started Adult Swim, that was the first moment where we were like, 'Oh, wait, if there's a thing just for adults, what is Cartoon Network now?' It took us I'd say a couple of years to figure out what Cartoon Network was. Now it's more natural for it to be aimed at doing great animated shows for everybody at once. And linear still has a healthy adult audience."
On the subject of Adult Swim, the current Cartoon Network President noted the recent cancellation of Tuca & Bertie, the surreal animated series that the channel had brought back from the dead following its Netflix cancellation:
"I was glad that we were able to give it two more seasons and be able to let that thing evolve in front of people. We're not looking to cancel shows. It's just we have to allocate the money we have in ways that we think are going to have the biggest impact and please the most number of people. You want to keep those creative relationships with people and see what else you can do."