History PeripheryDemographic / WesternAnimation

** ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam'' kind of inverts this. It had a pretty big audience of the usual seven to eleven demographic, though earlier, Nick was trying to target the show towards teenagers (while still keeping it TV-Y7). The show also had a solid adult fanbase as well.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' has a large following of teens and young adults that hasn't been seen since ''[=SpongeBob=]'' premiered. They enjoy it due to the show being similar to their childhoods, having great writing and humor, having many interesting female characters and breaking barriers in children's TV by addressing modern issues like homosexuality. Like ''Rugrats'' and ''[=SpongeBob=]'', it also has a fanbase of toddlers, mainly because it's the first thing to play on Nick after their weekend ''WesternAnimation/PAWPatrol'' re-runs.

** Many autistic kids also like the show, as mentioned on the main page itself.

** Speaking of Britt Allcroft, her other show, ''WesternAnimation/MagicAdventuresOfMumfie'', has a lot of teen and adult fans for the same reason, and the fact that it is more mature than Thomas is. And it's easy to see why-how many preschool shows can you think of where one of the storylines centered around an island turned into a prison and had a scarecrow who thought "come inside" meant something entirely different each time the phrase was said as one of the main characters? Her letter on the official website is dedicated to these fans. And let's not get started on the huge fanbase Scarecrow himself has...

** On the topic of Disney Junior, a lot of babies love ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouseClubhouse'' because of the big heads the characters have and their high-pitched voices [[note]] Babies are naturally attracted to other babies, animals and humans with big heads; this is called baby schema.[[/note]], as well as a number of pre-teens who find the show adorable and/or have younger siblings themselves.

* ''WesternAnimation/WordParty'' is a show teaching vocabulary to preschoolers, but has a big enough following of infants, likely because the characters themselves are babies.

** Despite being meant for preschoolers, it also has many fans who are babies.

* ''WesternAnimation/RosiesRules'' is the most acclaimed current PBS Kids show, with a 9.2/10 on IMDb as of December 2022. Viewers of all ages appreciate the Mexican and blended family representation, as well as the show's comedic yet sweet nature and cute characters.

* Any show by Entertainment One will be as appealing to adults as it is to children. The biggest examples are ''WesternAnimation/PeppaPig'' and ''WesternAnimation/BenAndHollysLittleKingdom''. Their most recent show, ''WesternAnimation/PJMasks'', is also starting to gain a following among people older than the target audience, but it hasn't reached the level of the other two shows.

* ''WesternAnimation/GreenEggsAndHam2019'' is a show for children, but it has a rather large teenage and adult fans of animation because of its' clever writing and interesting stories.

** ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': The show really treads the line on Periphery Demographics, with tongue-in-cheek call outs to comic book plots and characters along the lines of obfuscating Robin's identity via episodes with characters like Red X and Larry, and of course "Control Freak" is a shout out and/or back-handed compliment to fanboys everywhere.

** ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'': It's a show about teenagers for a young demographic, but the plotlines and characters are of a quality found in most pay cable dramas. It's a common feature of Creator/GregWeisman shows, see ''Gargoyles'' below.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{MAD}}'' has earned some older fans because of their references to movies and shows targeted towards teenagers and adults, their tendency to make jokes that feel naughtier than expected for children, and their connections to ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'' (even though the show is said to be a redone version of the FOX show ''Series/{{MADtv}}'').

* Although it's a show aimed largely at 3 year olds, ''WesternAnimation/PAWPatrol'' has been steadily receiving attention and love outside its target audience. The fact that it's a series about [[PreciousPuppy Precious Puppies]] with TransformingMecha probably helps. Or the interpretation that the series is ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'' with puppies and without extreme situations. Nickelodeon even [[https://www.nickresortpuntacana.com/blog/meet-the-new-characters-on-the-block-at-nickelodeon-hotels-resorts-punta-cana acknowledged the adult fanbase for the show]] on the official website for their own resort in Punta Cana.

** ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' had a lot of this. According to Wiki/{{Wikipedia}}, over a fifth of its viewers during its run were adults. Its clever writing, hilarious satire, legendary amounts of {{demographically inappropriate humour}}, and the fact that [[WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh]] worked on the show as writers helped a lot.

** Really, most animated shows based off superhero comics end up getting a lot of older viewers, as often they follow the comics in having good characters and story arcs. The first ''WesternAnimation/XMen'' animated series was a similar case, as was ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution''. (it's often stated that out of the superhero animated shows, Evolution was the most popular with teenage girls) ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'' was the same way.

* ''ComicBook/{{WITCH}}'', a comic/cartoon about five girls with magical powers, has no small number of male fans, in part due to its gorgeous art (and ''not'' just in a sexual sense, either; it's essentially a series that ascends Disney fairy-tale art UpToEleven), and in part due to the way its characters, though predominantly female, are also very ''human''. The show took its appeal to the opposite gender even farther; while Blunk was [[TheScrappy not so liked]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}} Napoleon]] the talking cat was a big hit, to the point that it's sad his screen antics never ascended in the comics. The show also has some very impressive action scenes.

* ''WesternAnimation/PegPlusCat'' seems to have a good amountnof teenage fans of the show despite it being aimed at preschoolers. For instance, it's quite common to see videos on [=TikTok=] about the show, especially on tags related to Creator/PBSKids.

* ''Cocomelon'' is aimed at preschoolers, but there are many babies who happen to be fans of the show.

* Although it's a show aimed largely at 3 year olds, ''WesternAnimation/PAWPatrol'' has been steadily receiving attention and love outside its target audience. The fact that it's a series about [[PreciousPuppy Precious Puppies]] with TransformingMecha probably helps. Or the interpretation that the series is ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'' with puppies and without life-threatening situations. Nickelodeon even [[https://www.nickresortpuntacana.com/blog/meet-the-new-characters-on-the-block-at-nickelodeon-hotels-resorts-punta-cana acknowledged the adult fanbase for the show]] on the official website for their own resort in Punta Cana.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Sidekick}}'' has a largely teenage/adult fanbase outside the children that the show supposed to aim. The reason is because of the show's parodying superheroes, technology and teen culture, as well as romantic relationships and the show's characters.

** Even more so with Craig Bartlett's newest series, ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'', due to the fact that it is very educational about space, which caught the attention of many astrogeeks. Other than that, parents of the kids that watch the show and teens absolutely love the show for its unique visual style, clever writing, amazing soundtrack, and humor. It's worthing mentioning that there's a fandom on Tumblr.

* ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'' has fans who are neither children nor religious. The copious cultural-reference {{Parental Bonus}}es (which are mostly based on things popular in the 1970's, which was the time the creators grew up) probably help.

** ''Rugrats'' was subject to the same things as ''[=SpongeBob=]'': older fans there for the writing and quirkiness, and some younger-than-intended viewers as well. The latter happened in no small part because the main characters are babies and toddlers, to the point where Creator/NickJr once aired it, and it aired on the UK version of the channel until it was moved to ''Nicktoons'' in 2015.

** The periphery demographic ultimately came back to bite the show in the ass. While it maintained relatively high ratings, most of the viewers were outside the show's target demo. Comparatively, the LighterAndSofter ''WesternAnimation/{{Ultimate Spider-Man}}'' continues to be divisive online, but did much better among the network's target demographic. As such, ''Earth's Mightiest Heroes'' has been cancelled, with ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'' taking its place.

** This can be explained by the show's surprisingly clever writing, [[BetterThanABareBulb lampshadic nature]], almost constant ParentalBonus and [[ShoutOut references]] to things ''definitely'' not for kids,, and the fact that every episode [[TropeOverdosed died of trope overdose.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/CampLakebottom'', although it meant to aim to kids ages 6-11. Its horror comedy-related tone, humour, storyline and characters, which are comparable to fellow 6-11 show ''Gravity Falls'', attracted many fans over the age of 12.

* The Britt Allcroft era of ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'' has a very large amount of adult and young adult fans, many of whom grew up with the shows and appreciate the realism and storylines of the earlier episodes. In spite of many NarratingTheObvious moments, the earlier episodes didn't believe that ViewersAreMorons and still treated them with respect.