Is CN losing confidence in Teen Titans Go?

[Daikun]

Remember about 5 years ago when Cartoon Network was jokingly referred to as the "Teen Titans Go Network"? It was either completely dominating CN's schedule, or it was competing for airtime with The Amazing World of Gumball. It seems like, over the past year, that CN is mostly the Gumball Network now.

Over the past couple of weeks, the maintainer of CN Schedule Archive finally posted a good chunk of CN's schedules from last year after falling way behind. In the past couple of months leading up to Adult Swim's expansion to 5PM, TTG was already lagging behind. The most slots the show would ever receive in a given week (specifically, the week of July 24-30, 2023) is 70. The show wouldn't see that many airings again, falling to lower numbers like the high 50s and 40s.

July 3-30, 2023
July 31-August 27, 2023

Then everything changed--Adult Swim expands to 5PM, and TTG's slots fall even further, usually to a paltry 34 slots per week. Gumball, meanwhile, remains consistently at 100+ slots per week, and the show even GAINS more slots after AS took over those extra hours.

August 28-September 24, 2023
September 25-October 22, 2023
October 23-November 5, 2023
November 6-19, 2023

If you want more recent schedules, check out BrovivoReturnal's graphs on the CN Schedule Updates thread. As of right now, TTG currently airs the following slots per week:

1 hour per weekday, 1-2PM
90 minutes on Saturdays, 10:30AM-noon
Nothing on Sundays.

That's a pitiful 26 slots a week. Aside from that, premieres have also dwindled significantly as well.

I thought I'd go back in time to the premiere threads I've made over the past year (due to the forum shutdown, most of 2023 is missing). Here's a count of all the new episodes that have aired since September.

September 2023: 1 episode
October 2023: 2/3 episodes (WB's 100th anniversary special was a half-hour)
November 2023: 1 episode
December 2023: 1 episode
------------------------------
March 2024: 5 episodes

...Yeah. That's it. The only time TTG has aired ANY new episodes so far this year was in March, and (spoilers for the July thread, which I will be posting this Monday) there doesn't appear to be any new episodes next month, either. After Craig of the Creek's Sleepover Chronicles arc ends, it will be replaced not with new TTG, but with new Prince Ivandoe.

The show also had minimal presence at this year's Annecy event, which may as well be CN's upfront at this point. A stop-motion special was announced for the show's 400th episode....and that's all she wrote. Will there even be a season 9? Considering how much TTG's presence has diminished on CN's schedule, the show's future seems up in the air at this point.

So now, I open the floor to you. Is CN losing confidence in this show? Whether you think the show has a bright future or not, one thing is certain: The joke moniker "Teen Titans Go Network" no longer applies, at the very least.

 

[Markus Nelis]

TTG will certainly be gone. CN already has it's number one show. That being Gumball and it's been obvious for a few years now. But no need to get sad cause this show lasted 11 years and will at least make it to 12. Not sure about 13 but that's on jeopardy. It seems that adults watch more of other shows than TTG. Makes no sense to keep TTG going when it was kids' favorite show. The average viewer is an adult after all. CN always had a confidence in TTG but even that has to end because it's not performing as good as other cartoons.

 

[EdCNPowerpuffDrama]

EIDR is listing a season 9 of TTGO and a sequel to TTG To The Movies, but who knows if they will really end up happening. They're still listing 40 eps for Craig's 5th season and we all know only half of that is actually real.

 

[Yojimbo]

I could see it going 2 more seasons just to get to 500. If not, there's always that The Night Begins to Shine spin-off but then again we haven't heard anything about it since Jan. 2023 and it was first announced in Feb. 2021. So it's been 3+ years with little news.

That listing for a second theatrical movie was a weird one since it said the release date was 2022. Might have been shelved after the box office numbers for League of Super-Pets didn't do as well as To The Movies (Pets did like twice its budget in 2022 while To The Movies did 5x in 2018). TTG got 3 DTV movies after To The Movies instead.

 

[Ace]

Perhaps it's original fanbase just got too old and aged out of the channel's demographic or just grew out of the show outright. I didn't think it was the kind of thing that could go on forever. It's not like a Spongebob level cultural zeitgeist that appealed to multiple generations.

It was really popular in the ratings when it came out temporarily making CN the #1 kids network at times back in 2013 but it slowly lost steam over time. DC also just in general seen better days and was a lot more culturally relevant in the early 2010s than it is now.

Another thing is that CN right now is just trying to undo a lot of decisions they've made in the mid-late 10s. Bringing back Adventure Time, Regular Show and Gumball and now removing reruns of Teen Titans Go kind of fits the theme of that. Now that the generation that grew up with these shows have kids now or will have kids they seem to be trying to make that appeal to nostalgia.

 

[RegularCapital]

I think they're resigned to the fact that the show won't get the viewership it once had but still gets the views to justify continue making the show, TTG! is taking a backseat ride now and will eventually wind down. It's good timing considering that CNS/WBA/HBSE announced their "new" programming slate a couple of weeks ago.

 

[JMTV]

Another thing is that CN right now is just trying to undo a lot of decisions they've made in the mid-late 10s. Bringing back Adventure Time, Regular Show and Gumball and now removing reruns of Teen Titans Go kind of fits the theme of that. Now that the generation that grew up with these shows have kids now or will have kids they seem to be trying to make that appeal to nostalgia.

That is true. As @Goldstar! and @Silverstar pointed out that CN is in a Catch 22 situation right now. People are not interested in CN anymore because there's nothing good on their network, yet CN refused to air something good on their network because nobody is watching them.

And you do brought a good point that CN was trying undo a lot of mistakes from the Miller era. To be honest with you, after Steven Universe, what new CN originals came out in the mid to late 2010's that really stuck out for a lot of people? Not much. Disney has been stolen a lot of the spotlight for their original animated shows than CN was during that time.

So they have to rely on pre-existing IPs rather than experimenting with new ideas. I mean, hell, a lot of studios are doing this, not just CN.

As for the topic at hand, I have no opinion about this. Unless CN not renewing TTG for its ninth season, I won't say they're not confident in it anymore.

 

[Stumpos]

And you do brought a good point that CN was trying undo a lot of mistakes from the Miller era. To be honest with you, after Steven Universe, what new CN originals came out in the mid to late 2010's that really stuck out for a lot of people? Not much. Disney has been stolen a lot of the spotlight for their original animated shows than CN was during that time.

I thought We Bare Bears, Craig of the Creek, and OK KO were pretty well liked, with lots of people being upset over OK KO's cancellation.

 

[JMTV]

I thought We Bare Bears, Craig of the Creek, and OK KO were pretty well liked,

Sure they are well liked but they weren’t like big big big phenomenon shows that kept people talking many many years from now.

with lots of people being upset over OK KO's cancellation.

Same could also be said for Infinity Train….

 

[cartoonnetworkpoke]

I can't believe this is actually happening haha! Maybe there is some hope for Cartoon Network after all.

 

[Vuxovich]

I am so glad and I hope so!

 

[DeanBurrito25]

Teen Titans Go has been on air for over a decade now, right? It's not out of place to deduce that most of the show's demographic has aged up or moved on since the show was at its peak; kids aged 6-12 who were watching then are likely either in high school or about to start college (as unbelievable as that sounds )

That said, it is interesting to learn that Gumball has gained more real estate on CN's schedule lately considering it last aired new episodes in 2019 - with any future episodes or the movie notwithstanding at this time. I wonder what the driving force behind that decision was?