Are Bronies the main reason why MLP is still running?

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

Woah, holy optimism batman. While I think bronies are a nice addition, and were important in the EARLY days when the show hadn't built itself a strong young fanbase, this overwhelming voting that bronies are why the show is so successful I find baffling.

SALES are what matter, not anything else to hasbro, and bronies are probably, at this point, less than 20% of the overall sales. The vast majority of space on shelves at toy stores is for the generic girls toys, NOT brony toys, and that pretty much shows what's most important to hasbro, sales wise. The kids are who are getting those 70.00 celestia castle playsets bought up, not  bronies.

Not that we don't give some money to them that's a nice bonus: I like I said, maybe 20% of the sales each year might come from bronies (I think proportionally it was probably higher earlier on in the show but probably has dropped in proportion as the young fanbase increased)

Heck, Big jim even said on twitter to adult fans, straight up Adult fans are a welcome surprise, but they don't try to capture them or worry about them.

[KatonRyu 1,033]

I don't think so. While some bronies are very ardent in buying merchandise and toys, I think a lot of us merely watch the episodes online on Youtube or Dailymotion, which doesn't count towards viewer total or bring in revenue, or buy merch that isn't actually licensed by Hasbro, thus not generating revenue either. All in all, I think Hasbro is keeping this series around because it does well in its target demographic.

Edited October 11, 2015 by KatonRyu

[Lil Pip 775]

Idk I think Faust was a great contributor to pull it out of what was the slippery-slope of bad generations. Without that change bronies wouldn't have existed, so I cannot say its thanks to bronies, when they are what hooked us to begin with.

I think the Bronies and the quality of writing and animation of the show go hand in hand. The show is without a doubt, high quality. But with the tremendous support from the fandom, mainly bronies, I think the show has ascended to a level that without the Bronies, would've never reached.

Episode 100 is strong evidence to this.

[GuyNamedEarl 1,332]

Pretty much bronies keep it going. If it were just for kids, it probably would have ended with season 3.

[gamecubeguy214 2,512]

Maybe. The previous three generations had mostly its target audience, which was little girls. Now in generation 4, there are some little girls watching the show like it was supposed to be, but the bronies probably shine brighter and make the show more successful.

[Moony the Cat 3,702]

Well, considering the older shows were all cancelled really soon and the first theatrical Feature a box office failure, i would say, Bronys help a lot to keep the show going.

 

Because the older ( i mean with that, the fanbase that existed back then ) main target audience...werent that many probably.

I think Bronys have helped. 

 

But on the other hand, you could argue that the first theatrical release was to early, since only 2 ovas were released before the film and that the film would have been more successful, when it aired after the first Mlp Series was already going.

 

But then again, the G3 movies actually got good critics but Hasbro still decided, they needed to reboot it, because i guess it was getting less popular? Maybe?

 

And G4...well is still going. Maybe because of all these new Fans.

So i believe, that Bronys are part of the reason, why Mlp is still going. 

Edited October 16, 2015 by Velvietta

[Paleopony 703]

I think the reason the show ran for so long was because a lot of people liked it, whether they were little girls or grown men. 

[Evil Pink One 13,507]

Bronies might be the cause of mlp downfall... Bronies complain alot and the author's tried to please them.... Eventually.. the author's might've just gotten pissed off by us and started not to care... If I was in their shoes I'd be pissed off by the bronies too... We act like retards you know....

[Luna the Great of all the Russias 2,986]

I do not know. While I am sure Bronies made Hasbro more profitable to a notable extent, I still expect most of the profits to have been from parents buying toys and other merchandise for their young daughters.

1 hour ago, Kujamih said:

Bronies might be the cause of mlp downfall... Bronies complain alot and the author's tried to please them.... Eventually.. the author's might've just gotten pissed off by us and started not to care... If I was in their shoes I'd be pissed off by the bronies too... We act like retards you know....

If so, it is a downfall that occurred fairly late; nine years is a long time for a show to air.

[RDDash 19,189]

I don't really understand this question. G5 would have been created whether or not bronies liked it or not. G4 overstayed it's welcome with the Friendship school and the evil child Cozy Glow, some other questionable decisions. So once again Hasbro doesn't really care about the fans. People who liked G4 aren't necessarily going to flock to G5. G5 is for new people.

Edited August 30, 2021 by RDDash

[Rawzy 1,302]

Having a massive fanbase is always good for a show but I rekon we'd have to consider how much they're making off the merchandise for the show. Almost every child Ive ever come across has at least an mlp figurine or peice of clothing. Not to mention the amount of toys bronies have been collecting for years. 

[JMTV99 1,354]

1 hour ago, RDDash said:

G5 overstayed it's welcome with the Friendship school and the evil child Cozy Glow, some other questionable decisions.

Yup, with everything going on behind the scenes, this show should've ended after Season 3.

1 hour ago, RDDash said:

G5 is for new people.

Considering that G5 called 'A New Generation', it's pretty apparent here.

 

To answer the OP's question: that's hard to say considering that MLP is running for so long BEFORE Bronies became a thing. The only reason MLP was currently running was because of profits, recognition, and merch sales. Let's be honest, MLP cartoons sucked before FiM. But Hasbro doesn't care about that because the toys has been selling like hotcakes for decades. Bronies are just the extra boost of it's popularity because of how beloved FiM was. Not the main boost(big difference).

[Cash In 22,407]

I think even without bronies, the show was successful enough to have kept going for at least a while. I think that if they were out of the picture completely, FiM would've had around 5 to 6 seasons.