Cartoon Network Boss Details Warner Bros. Discovery’s Animation Strategy

Cartoon Network and Adult Swim president Michael Ouweleen has rightfully been asked a lot of questions about the future of the animation networks since the Warner Bros. Discovery era has begun. He recently talked with Variety about how things have changed and I’m really impressed with how he’s handling everything. 

First things first, the networks are alive and well. While there was a lot of speculation about the death of Cartoon Network after the decision to merge Cartoon Network Studios and Warner Bros. Animation under a single entity, Ouweleen has assured us that they are not only alive and well, but, “We’ve got more stuff coming next year than we had this year”. That being said, some cancellations were inevitable as was the fate of Tuca and Bertie which Adult Swim had rescued after Netflix canceled it. Although it was cut, I think Ouweleen has a really good attitude about keeping good relationships with creators when he said:

I was glad that we were able to give it two more seasons and be able to let that thing evolve in front of people… …We’re not looking to cancel shows. It’s just we have to allocate the money we have in ways that we think are going to have the biggest impact and please the most number of people. You want to keep those creative relationships with people and see what else you can do.

With HBO Max canceling tons of animation projects and essentially getting out of the kids and family business, it will be up to Cartoon Network and Adult Swim to pick up the slack and provide new shows for those who still enjoy animated shows. Ouweleen says that the plan to compete with Disney in the kids and family business has been shelved. As a result, the new plan is a return to form for Cartoon Network. This is the most exciting part to me, it sounds like Cartoon Network is aiming to go back to the kind of programming it had when I was a kid. Not just kids programming, but animation that appeals to a wide range of tastes and audiences. As Ouweleen puts it, 

When I joined the network [in 1996], to our minds it wasn’t a kid network, it was an animation network… …We said it was for a psychographic, not a demographic. The best animation works on a couple levels and works for a couple of different audiences at once. And I think that’s where Cartoon Network proper is coming back around to.

The remit I think for us now is to go back to being the best animation across Cartoon and Adult Swim, and serve the audience that is still there, starting on linear, which is adult.

Quotes like this help assure me that the network is in the right hands. Animation is a wonderful medium that can be used to tell tons of different stories, not just for children but for everyone. Ouweleen points to shows like Adventure Time as a brand guidepost for the network moving forward. Recognizing that more than just children enjoy animation helps make way for more creators and more creativity in the field. Ouweleen has run Cartoon Network long enough to know what animation can be and fortunately now has some bigger name adult animations like Rick and Morty to point to to show people that animation can be just as popular and profitable as live action shows. In his words:

When we get out of thinking of Cartoon Network as just living and dying based on kid revenue, it actually frees us up to do more stuff and lean into really what our core always was, which is, let’s advance what the animation art form can do, and create iconic stuff

This interview the Ouweleen has done with Variety is very heartening. Not only is the network clearly not going anywhere, it sounds like it's going to be allowed to become what Cartoon Network was always meant to be, an animation channel that appeals to all age groups. I love animation, the kind of stories told through it are amazing and should definitely not be viewed as only for kids. I’m excited to see what will be coming out of the network in the future.