Are Young Children The Minority Now Of MLP?

[Eloquence 2,076]

I don't think it really matters what this show is. There's nothing wrong with adults enjoying a children's show, and of course saying a show is "for girls" or "for boys" is just gender-normative bs when you get right down to it (although i do understand why some would say its for girls in this instance given its importance as a means of empowering young girls). Like what you like, and don't worry about justifying it by saying it has a bigger adult audience or it's cool and popular

[GXPBlast 597]

Exactly this............tbh, once i saw the first episode, I had the feeling that Hasbro wanted to go towards a "everyone" and family oriented show.  Not just an all-girls show, imo.

 

Possibly, but clearly the shows main target demographic was for little girls.

[Khaoios 1,970]

Possibly, but clearly the shows main target demographic was for little girls.

 

Yes.....however, as the show progressed, I noticed the "moving away from little girls show to family oriented show".  Yet, that's just my opinion,

[GXPBlast 597]

Yes.....however, as the show progressed, I noticed the "moving away from little girls show to family oriented show".  Yet, that's just my opinion,

 

 

Yep and if you have noticed Hasbro has catered more to the older audience as we are a large chunk of revenue for them.

[Scootalove 10,689]

I wouldn't say that they are the minority, it's just that the show went more to the ''whole family'' route these days.

[M'aiq the Liar 5,804]

They may not be the sole 100% focus anymore, but the sales of the EqG dolls certainly atest the the amount of children there are still watching the show.

[GXPBlast 597]

They may not be the sole 100% focus anymore, but the sales of the EqG dolls certainly atest the the amount of children there are still watching the show.

 

 

How do we know that those are only little girls are buying them? I mean if bronies have collections of pink colored pony merchandise with no shame, we could assume they are also buying the majority of EQ stuff?

[M'aiq the Liar 5,804]

How do we know that those are only little girls are buying them? I mean if bronies have collections of pink colored pony merchandise with no shame, we could assume they are also buying the majority of EQ stuff?

Because of the reaction to the movie as a whole, and the fact that over 80% of all posted collections do not contain enough EqG merchandise in order to facilitate its sales as the top fashion figure of 2013.So unless the massive outrage over that movie was false, or there is some hidden brony buying up thousands uupon thousands of EqG dolls, then it is not the adult fanbase buying them. NNo one is really posting images of themselves buying EqG dolls, nor are peoples posted collections containing many of them.

[Silver Letter 1,832]

I think that young children is still the core audience and the majority by at least 60% or more. It's sort of arrogant to say that the show is more balanced towards others instead of just accepting that it isn't meant for us. It's a good thing that many can enjoy the show but we should not take that truth too far.

[Zygen 6,066]

It's hard to judge the amount of bronies and the amount of people who are in the actual original targeted demographic verses each other. So it's hard to say whos the minority.

 

I'm sure there is still quite a bit of the target demographic who watch the show, and there is also quite a lot of bronies, so idk.

 

While there is different merchandise marketed towards bronies, that doesn't necessarily mean that the market for the target demographic isn't there, it's just trying to reach out to both demographics.

[GXPBlast 597]

I'm sure there is still quite a bit of the target demographic who watch the show, and there is also quite a lot of bronies, so idk.

 

 

I am sure there are alot of younger kids that watch the show, but I have yet to encounter many young kids that watch it. I say this because I have a bunch of younger cousins and have friends that have younger cousins/nephews/nieces/siblings as well and only two of them watch MLP and both just like it for the show but are not hardcore into it.

 

However, I have encountered met people that have many friends who are bronies.

 

So if I were to estimate the amount of the older audience to young kids based on my experiences alone I would say its 4:1 being the older audience being the large demographic.

 

I am sure there is a large group of kids that watch the show, but a huge source of revenue comes from the older audience based on what I have seen and researched.

Edited June 19, 2014 by GXPBlast

[John 793]

I remember someone with a roughly estimated statistic of around like..  "we make up around 80%" or something like that.  It's pretty insane.

 

From what I understand though, children who do watch the show also tend to not understand the implicit gender bias that a show about ponies is supposed to have.  That being said, most of them watch it as a gender-neutral show, such as Spongebob Squarepants or Ed Edd and Eddy.

 

I would argue that the show started out feminine-based and then started to drift towards gender-neutrality.  When I watched season one (particularly the pilot) I noticed that the show seemed a bit "girly" and although I enjoyed the animation, I thought that the storyline could have been a bit more spread out.  This is one of the reasons that (when prompted to watch the show back in 2011), I started from the first episode and didn't enjoy it all that much.  So I rejected the whole "brony" thing until December 2011 when I saw a few "recommended" episodes on YouTube, which were from season two and (in my opinion) more gender-neutral and well-written.

 

I digress,

I'm sure there's a group of people out there who strictly fall in line with the stereotypical audience hasbro was likely anticipating.

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,302]

I can't really say.  But I think the adult fans are definitely important.  The "Brony" demographic just kind of manifested and fell into Hasbro's lap, and I'd argue that adult fans possess greater spending power than, say, little kids (of either gender).  Obviously a child can say to a parent, "I want that thing."  And then await either a "yes" or a "no."  Or the ambiguous "maybe."  But *I* can go, "I want that thing...  I shall buy that thing."  And then I buy that thing. xD  Plus, whereas a child infatuated with MLP may well outgrow it, some of us are well past that point.  We've not put away "childish things" or conformed wholly to what our age demographic says we should watch and like.  Yes, the younger demographic has a way of replenishing and replacing itself, but I might *always* be a fan.  Oooooh...  Has anyone quoted MLP on their headstone??

[Justin_Case001 4,900]

I agree that it is definitely not only a kid's show anymore, but it's for everyone, all ages and genders.  However, I'm not really sure about any specific statistics.  I've heard various numbers flying around, but I'm not sure what's true and what's not.  I would wager that kids probably still make up the majority of the fanbase, but that's just my guess.  If bronies actually are the majority, well, that would be kinda cool, actually.  But it doesn't matter who is the majority.  It's just a great show for everyone, and it pleases me to no end that we have wide arrarys of merch targeted for kids, and targeted for adults.  It's a great sign that we're still moving in the right direction in society, and that's towards a time and place where target demographics don't matter, there is no "suppose to," and everyone can just freely like what they want to like.

[Away 2,077]

Idk. I mean, I guess it's still the target audience, but I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of the viewers were bronies instead of little girls.

[Shanks 10,816]

Bronies may or may not be the majority (I think there are a lot more little kids still watching then we often give credit for)  it is commonly argued that MLP is not a "kids show" which is a response to the arguments about MLP being "for little girls" but these arguments sort of miss the point because they still still broadly label entire groups of people based on stereotypes. MLP is indeed not a "kids show" or "for little girls" like many brony haters argue but that dosen't automatically mean that it is geared only toward bronies or that it should be. MLP has had a few bumps in the road but has kept a fairly good balance between keeping the newfound brony audience while not alienating the young children and their parents. Simply put Lauren Faust herself said that the show is aimed toward everybody and for the most part this has been honored.

[Banul 3,831]

I think the show is still primarily aimed at little kids. The difference is that they don't treat those little kids like idiots and, as a side effect, the show can be enjoyed by anyone.

 

I feel like people overestimate how many bronies there are compared to how many children there are watching the show. You can't judge a core audience based on what you find at Hot Topic or who you find at conventions. Those things are targeted for a very specific audience, us. It doesn't necessarily mean that we are the majority.

[GXPBlast 597]

You can't judge a core audience based on what you find at Hot Topic or who you find at conventions. Those things are targeted for a very specific audience, us. It doesn't necessarily mean that we are the majority.

True but one thing Hot Topic does say about a fandom, if those type of products enter the store lineup and videos are made for such a show being the Hot Minute series, it sure does show how popular it is among older audiences. I mean Hot Topic is not known to be a store targeted for kids but rather teens to young and older adults.

Edited June 22, 2014 by GXPBlast

[#1FluttershyFan 206]

I think it's great that stores like hot topic are selling MLP stuff. I've been confronted about liking Mlp and "isn't it a little girl show?" when I was wearing my Brony T-Shirt. Viewing audience is only a suggestion people! And not a very good one at that.

[Paleopony 703]

On 2014-04-25 at 4:50 PM, Kay Dreamer said:

We are not the core demographic.

 

The show is well-written to the point where it is enjoyable despite the age of the viewer. But it's still targeted at little girls. The writers will occasionally throw in the odd reference for us as a little 'hey, we know you're there, thanks for supporting' thing, but the show is not, nor will it ever be targeted at an adult audience. The quality of the plot and writing is what appeals it to us.

 

This is one of the only decent TV shows little girls have. Executives go out of their way to deliberately exclude little girls from other quality cartoons. (The Young Justice controversy, anyone?) This is their show, and while we may enjoy it, we have to come to terms that we're sharing it with them.

Exactly.

[Splashee 28,566]

On 2014-04-25 at 10:40 PM, GXPBlast said:

As we know MLP was originally a show made for little kids specifically girls.

And it still is.

With the decline of Bronies over the last few years, and interest moving elsewhere, the majority of MLP is its target, young children, specifically girls. it is the way Hasbro sells their merchandise and how they advertise it.

[Pentium100 2,153]

The show is for little girls, but FIM was made with the idea that older people (parents and older brothers of said little girls) will probably be watching the show with their daughters/sisters, so it should be made enjoyable for them as well. 

They are making G5 most likely with the same in mind.