History Main / FleetingDemographic

* German TV Station Sat1 attempted to invoke PeripheryDemographic with ''WesternAnimation/ExtremeGhostbusters'' with the slogan "The Ghostbusters are back", and the time slot of just before prime time on weekdays (7pm, with prime time starting at 20:15 in Germany). Unfortunately, ''Extreme Ghostbusters''' style clashed with ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'', and the only opportunity where they could have opted for consistency - using the old voice actors for the returning characters - was passed either out of laziness or because the voice actors in question were too high-priced by now. This led to old fans to dismiss the show, which was quickly shoved into a Saturday morning cartoon slot.

-->'''Caption:''' 'Cause once you turn sixteen and are smart enough to stop watching my videos, someone else turns twelve and wants to hear me scream about Justin Bieber! (close up) It's like a... fan factory.

* The ''Franchise/PrettySeries'' tends to have a new series every four years or so because of this trope.

* Creator/FawcettComics was quite eager to turn [[Franchise/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] readers into ''Mechanix Illustrated'' readers, the logic being that boys (and they saw their audience in The40s as mostly male) would only read comics for a few years but would read a science/technology/DIY/car magazine for life.

* The more specific the subject, the more likely any line of magazines is to have this kind of demographic. For instance, [[http://www.yourweddingcompany.com/index.php/action/createBridalPublications/planId/333/ wedding magazines]]: Considering the rate at which most people get married (even with divorce rates being so high in our troubled times), chances are most of the sales revenue for the publishers comes from a lot of engaged people buying a few individual issues rather than from the comparatively few wedding coordinators and the like buying the full subscriptions.

* Like ''Doraemon'', preschool-aimed cartoons that are LongRunners tend to recycle plots from previous episodes into newer episodes because of this trope, allowing them to teach lessons done in previous episodes of the show in new ways. One example is ''WesternAnimation/DanielTigersNeighborhood'', which had two episodes on what to do when you get mad that aired three years apart (which was notable for dealing with the situation [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop in a manner similar to a tantrum]]) and two ToiletTrainingPlot episodes that played six years apart from each other. However, this is more noticeable in Season 4, where several of the strategies come from Season 1 episodes, but are altered to be done in a new situation or with other characters.

* Up until around 2007 or so, The Disney Channel had an explicit policy of cancelling shows – animated and live-action – after 65 episodes, regardless of popularity. The first show to avoid the episode-limit cancellation was ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' due to huge fan outcry (and, allegedly, the contract with the German network that ran the show). [[SixtyFiveEpisodeCartoon This concept]] was an idea held over from the 1980's and the rise of syndication and the early children's cable networks: 65 was the number of episodes you needed for a show to be successfully syndicated,[[note]]The idea is that another network would buy the syndication package and run one episode every weekday for three months (one calendar season). Other "magic syndication numbers" include 52 from the SaturdayMorningCartoon days (one episode every Saturday for a year), and the ubiquitous 100[[/note]] and kids will probably watch repeats anyway so why make more? Also, since kids' tastes change so fast, they expected that no child would stick with a show for more than three seasons regardless.
* The endless tween sitcoms on Creator/DisneyChannel ([[Series/ThatsSoRaven the oldest of them]] only had a span of slightly more than four years) used to go (and occasionally still go) this way as well. Of course, that's also about how long young actors can convincingly play "tweenage" without going into DawsonCasting.

* Male teenage pop stars and boy bands have a similar problem: The Jonas Brothers were a big teen phenomenon, but their popularity suddenly tanked in 2009 as people started to get tired of Disney shoving them down their throats. This void was filled by Music/JustinBieber, who became an even bigger phenomenon. Unfortunately, as fast as his fanbase was growing, his hatedom was growing even faster. This turned Bieber into the media's punching bag. Bieber's massive HypeBacklash in turn brought Music/OneDirection into the spotlight. The boy band quickly knocked Bieber off of his throne, and once his bad behavior came into play, Bieber fever was over. Justin Bieber had his revenge in 2015, when [[CareerResurrection his comeback album "Purpose"]] prevented One Direction from debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200.

* Like ''Doraemon'', preschool-aimed cartoons that are LongRunners tend to recycle plots from previous episodes into newer episodes because of this trope, allowing them to teach lessons done in previous episodes of the show in new ways. One example is ''WesternAnimation/DanielTigersNeighborhood'', which had two episodes on what to do when you get mad that aired three years apart, two ToiletTrainingPlot episodes that played six years apart from each other, and an episode using the "grown ups come back" moral eight years after it was first used in the show.

* Like ''Doraemon'', preschool-aimed cartoons that are LongRunners tend to recycle plots from previous episodes into newer episodes because of this trope, allowing them to teach lessons done in previous episodes of the show in new ways. One example is ''WesternAnimation/DanielTigersNeighborhood'', which had two episodes on what to do when you get mad that aired three years apart, and two ToiletTrainingPlot episodes that played six years apart from each other.

* Creator/ArchieComics works on the same premise of recycled plots as Superman, etc; they have kept the Riverdale gang in high school for over 65 years now. About 80 percent of any given new Archie Comic will be stories lifted directly from earlier issues, although with some dialogue and panels edited to prevent ValuesDissonance. Strangely, it seems that the majority of its readers nowadays are people who have been reading it ever since they were kids.

* Much of the longevity of the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' anime can be attributed to the target demographic cycling through about ever five years, so the fact that the same general plot is used every generation only serves to annoy some [[PeripheryDemographic older fans]] (mostly outside Japan) and no one else. This was taken to its utter extreme in ''Anime/PokemonGenesectAndTheLegendAwakened'', where the legendary Pokémon Mewtwo was featured. Although the series had a pre-established and unique Mewtwo character, this movie chose to introduce a brand-new Mewtwo and have no connection to the original, presumably to make things easier for the young children of the day to understand. [[{{Irony}} Yet they brought back Ash's Charizard from the same era anyway.]]

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* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'': Although the show does have its older fans, the general demographic is young boys who will grow out of the show after a few years, which is probably why the show started doing the new storyline every year thing instead of the continuing storyline it used to do. Since this is exactly what happens in the Japanese counterpart, ''SuperSentai'', no one seems to mind.

* Like ''Doraemon'', preschool-aimed cartoons that are LongRunners tend to recycle their plots often, usually every few years. One example is ''WesternAnimation/DanielTigersNeighborhood'', which had two episodes on what to do when you get mad that aired three years apart, and two ToiletTrainingPlot episodes that played six years apart from each other.

* Like ''Doraemon'', preschool-aimed cartoons that are LongRunners tend to recycle their plots often, usually every few years. One example is ''WesternAnimation/DanielTigersNeighborhood'', which had two episodes on what to do when you get mad that aired three years apart, and two ToiletTrainingPlot episodes that were six years apart from each other.

* ''WesternAnimation/DanielTigersNeighborhood'' tends to recycle its' own plots for this reason.

* The ''[[VideoGame/PriPara [=PriPara=]]]'' series began to recycle plots and songs as well as new protagonists in season 4 because the original demographic was getting too old for the series.

* German TV Station Sat1 attempted to invoke PeripheryDemographic with ''WesternAnimation/ExtremeGhostbusters'' with the slogan "The Ghostbusters are back", and the time slot of just before prime time on weekdays (7pm, with prime time starting at 20:15 in Germany). Unfortunately, ''Extreme Ghostbusters''' style clashed with ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'', and the only opportunity where they could have opted for consistency - using the old voice actors for the returning characters - was passed either out of laziness or because the voice actors in question were too high-priced by now. This led to old fans to dismiss the show, which was quickly shoved into a saturday morning cartoon slot.

* Much of the longevity of the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' anime can be attributed to the target demographic cycling through about ever five years, so the fact that the same general plot is used every generation only serves to annoy some [[PeripheryDemographic older fans]] (mostly outside Japan) and no one else. This was taken to its utter extreme in ''Anime/PokemonGenesectAndTheLegendAwakened'', where the legendary Pokémon Mewtwo was featured. Although the series had a pre-established and unique Mewtwo character, this movie chose to introduce a brand-new Mewtwo and have no connection to the original, presumably to make things easier for the young children of the day to understand. [[{{Irony}} Never mind that they brought back Ash's Charizard from the same era.]]

* ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' {{remake}}s its anime series and, occasionally, movies every decade or so for precisely this reason.

* Takara & {{Sunrise}}'s ''Anime/BraveSeries'' of SuperRobot shows is an interesting case, as they originally set out to produce something that would attract a new generation of kids each year, but wound up developing a dedicated fanbase anyway. Though the sixth series, ''Anime/TheBraveOfGoldGoldran'', the most "kiddie" of the bunch had the highest TV ratings, it was unpopular with longtime fans and was apparently a merchandising disappointment as well. After that, the final two shows went for MultipleDemographicAppeal, first with ''Anime/BraveCommandDagwon'', where the robots were piloted by a team of teen heartthrobs in an attempt to cash in on the earlier ''[[Anime/RoninWarriors Samurai Troopers]]'' series' PeripheryDemographic success with teenage girls (a scheme Sunrise would again pull, this time with much greater success with ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing''). Then came ''Anime/GaoGaiGar'', a giant love letter to the last two decades of giant robot anime which found much more success with the otaku crowd than it ever did with schoolchildren.

* The endless tween sitcoms on DisneyChannel ([[ThatsSoRaven the oldest of them]] only had a span of slightly more than four years) used to go (and occasionally still go) this way as well. Of course, that's also about how long young actors can convincingly play "tweenage" without going into DawsonCasting.

Often a consequence the work of being a UnintentionalPeriodPiece. Contrast GrowingWithTheAudience, when the series/franchise matures as its audience matures. If the franchise tries to appeal to a current generation and fails somehow, that's WereStillRelevantDammit

Contrast GrowingWithTheAudience, when the series/franchise matures as its audience matures. If the franchise tries to appeal to a current generation and fails somehow, that's WereStillRelevantDammit

%%* ''SaturdayNightLive'' has a very similar relationship with its audience. (Please explain this example with its own merits and not merely saying it's "similar" to another example)

* One of the reasons Creator/{{MTV}} has maintained its popularity over time is that it elected not to follow its original audience (the teenagers of the eighties and early nineties) into adulthood, instead opting to always focus its marketing on the current generation of teenagers. (Whether its ''[[NetworkDecay quality]]'' has also been maintained is a matter best left for debate elsewhere). ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' lampshaded this by having a quick reference to ''Film/LogansRun'' that involved microchip-implanted [=VJs=] that alerted the execs to send in a new show host whenever the original person became a ChristmasCake.

Contrast GrowingWithTheAudience, when the series/franchise matures as its audience matures.