Pokemon Journeys fails to make Netflix's Top 10 Animated Kids Programs for 2020

[Johtoo]

Avatar: The Last Airbender Was The Most Watched Animated Kids Show On Netflix In 2020

Legend of Korra was big too, but not as much.

screenrant.com

1. Avatar: The Last Airbender
2. The Boss Baby: Back in Business
3. Naruto
4. Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir
5. PJ Masks
6. The Garfield Show
7. Johnny Test
8. The Legend of Korra
9. Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated
10. Cocomelon

Somehow i'm not surprised.

 

[KrspaceT]

...Well I doubt not being in the Top 10 is a death sentence for it, but I wonder if that has anything to do with that director thread.

Also being beaten by Johnny Test of all shows....outch. Though good for Mystery Incorporated

 

[Silktree]

Okay.

 

[KrspaceT]

I'm curious how all the Pokemon series stack up though: you got a bunch of them there broken up into different chunks so how do they all add up?

 

[FelipePR]

Avatar: The Last Airbender Was The Most Watched Animated Kids Show On Netflix In 2020

Legend of Korra was big too, but not as much.

screenrant.com

1. Avatar: The Last Airbender
2. The Boss Baby: Back in Business
3. Naruto
4. Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir
5. PJ Masks
6. The Garfield Show
7. Johnny Test
8. The Legend of Korra
9. Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated
10. Cocomelon

Somehow i'm not surprised.

These data are Worldwide or only USA wise? Because I believe that in Brazil half of these shows are not available, including Pokémon Journey.

 

[Sobble Bubble-O-Seven]

Not surprising really. Journeys isn't that good to be perfectly honest. It's average at best.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I have my doubts that this means much of anything. Netflix typically doesn't give out a lot of information on how well its programming does. Not making the top ten doesn't necessarily mean that the series isn't doing well or that it is a failure. I'm also pretty sure Pokemon Journeys doesn't air on Netflix internationally. Netflix US is home for the U.S. dub, but there are other countries that still air the dub on TV channels, so that could affect the ranking as well.

It just kind of rubs me the wrong way to announce that the series failed to get to the top ten like this. It comes off more like a way for people to feel like their issues with Journeys are more justified or using this as an excuse to complain about the series further than anything else.

 

[Johtoo]

I have my doubts that this means much of anything. Netflix typically doesn't give out a lot of information on how well its programming does. Not making the top ten doesn't necessarily mean that the series isn't doing well or that it is a failure. I'm also pretty sure Pokemon Journeys doesn't air on Netflix internationally. Netflix US is home for the U.S. dub, but there are other countries that still air the dub on TV channels, so that could affect the ranking as well.

It just kind of rubs me the wrong way to announce that the series failed to get to the top ten like this. It comes off more like a way for people to feel like their issues with Journeys are more justified or using this as an excuse to complain about the series further than anything else.

Netflix is the most active streaming company in terms of broadcasting the success of their shows. They even announced that Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution was their most popular animated program (which likely prompted them to bring Journeys to the service). And this data is conducted by the NPD group in America, and the figures are US only (which Pokemon is exclusively on). Again, i'm not broadcasting that Journeys is a flop, but it certainly isn't a success. Maybe this is due to its erratic scheduling? The shows that it was beaten by are long running programs that you can watch from start to end. Maybe it's the lack of appeal to the broader audience. Mewtwo's success was stemmed by children and adults. Most adults will only look at Pokemon if it has Misty or Brock in it. Maybe, and just maybe, journeys is just bad. Even on here the general contention is that Journeys is the worst iteration of the anime (maybe barring Best Wishes). So if adults won't watch it due to the nostalgia, Pokemon fans won't watch it due to its quality or dubbing practices (japanese music and VA please?) and children might not watch it because episodes have been erratically released, can we really be surprised that it wasn't successful?

These data are Worldwide or only USA wise? Because I believe that in Brazil half of these shows are not available, including Pokémon Journey.

The data is USA only.

 

[Yami-no-Game]

Not surprising since there isn't as much excitement for this series as there was for previous ones. I am surprised about ATLA being so successful though I've seen a lot of people reacting to the series online and I hope that this'll convince Nickelodeon to greenlight a new animated Avatar series.

Also in this case does Naruto's views include Naruto Shippuden episodes? Because if it does then that seems unfair because Naruto and Naruto Shippuden are two separate series. If Netflix is combining their views then they should combine all Pokemon series views too.

 

[Johtoo]

Not surprising since there isn't as much excitement for this series as there was for previous ones. I am surprised about ATLA being so successful though I've seen a lot of people reacting to the series online and I hope that this'll convince Nickelodeon to greenlight a new animation Avatar series.

Also in this case does Naruto's streams include Naruto Shippuden episode? Because if it does then that seems unfair because Naruto and Naruto Shippuden are two separate series.

There is a possibility that Avatar is more popular now than what it was back when it was airing. The success of that show is truly astounding and it deserves it. It is undoubtedly one of the finest animated/cartoon programs ever made.

 

[Momentum]

Considering how quickly Disney XD booted the series, Viz Media's attempt to distribute episodes on Blu-ray being short-lived (likely due to poor sales), it making up barely a sliver of the franchise's total revenue (source attached), and now this news; I think it's becoming pretty obvious that the series just isn't popular like it used to be.

 

[Johtoo]

Considering how quickly Disney XD booted the series, Viz Media's attempt to distribute episodes on Blu-ray being short-lived (likely due to poor sales), it making up barely a sliver of the franchise's total revenue (source attached), and now this news; I think it's becoming pretty obvious that the series just isn't popular like it used to be.

Nostalgia sells. Especially in the west. I think most people here don't want to admit it because it would be admitting that the only way to save the show is to bring Misty and Brock back, but that would work. Mewtwo Strikes Back was a huge success for Netflix and an animated show featuring the original trio with the original music intact maintaining the original feeling would be a huge success. Visit Twitch whenever they show a marathon, Kanto episodes, and a lesser extent, Johto, draw in huge viewers. There is a huge audience ready for a Nostalgia throwback, and I wouldn't be surprised if that happened sooner rather than later.

 

[GrookeyFan77]

Journeys got beaten by Cocomelon, PJ Masks and Johnny Test? Pathectic.

 

[Nikita Dracovish]

Hang on, fucking Garfield?

...it better be the 80s/90s specials with that not-Bill Murray VA.

On a serious note - I think it being on Netflix hurt it. If it was airing on anything you didn't need a subscription for... call me a boomer-at-heart, but you kind of have to go the extra mile to get Netflix for your kids.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Netflix is the most active streaming company in terms of broadcasting the success of their shows. They even announced that Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution was their most popular animated program (which likely prompted them to bring Journeys to the service). And this data is conducted by the NPD group in America, and the figures are US only (which Pokemon is exclusively on). Again, i'm not broadcasting that Journeys is a flop, but it certainly isn't a success. Maybe this is due to its erratic scheduling? The shows that it was beaten by are long running programs that you can watch from start to end. Maybe it's the lack of appeal to the broader audience. Mewtwo's success was stemmed by children and adults. Most adults will only look at Pokemon if it has Misty or Brock in it. Maybe, and just maybe, journeys is just bad. Even on here the general contention is that Journeys is the worst iteration of the anime (maybe barring Best Wishes). So if adults won't watch it due to the nostalgia, Pokemon fans won't watch it due to its quality or dubbing practices (japanese music and VA please?) and children might not watch it because episodes have been erratically released, can we really be surprised that it wasn't successful?

I don't know about those reasons The scheduling isn't really erratic exactly. I wouldn't call twelve episodes every three months erratic at least, especially compared to when Netflix drops off episodes of their own original series. I'm not sure if lacking an appeal to the broader audience would mean that much either. Plenty of long time fans would be more interested in anything featuring the original main cast like the Mewtwo remake, but I don't know if not having Misty and Brock in the anime would be that much of an issue or more importantly that they'd care about attracting a broader audience when that has never really been a goal for the anime. I imagine that TPCI would care more about if kids like the anime more so than if it could attract old and new fans.

The notion that it's just because Journeys is bad is a bit too disingenuous to me. I think that's taking the opinions of older fans here and assuming that kids would feel the same way, especially about the lack of Japanese music and the quality of the voice cast. Journeys not being well received here doesn't mean that every Pokemon fan feels the same way about it. I have seen more positive receptions towards Journeys on other sites and I certainly don't have the same kind of negative feelings towards the series as a whole like a lot of other members here do. I just wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the series as unsuccessful.

 

[Momentum]

It wouldn't surprise me if these batch releases are causing viewers to tune out. When it was airing weekly on television, especially on CN, it aired every single Saturday of the year (except for the last week or two in December due to holiday scheduling). Children who were watching only had to wait a week to see the next episode and were less likely to forget about it. But now on Netflix, the gap is extended to three whole months. Sure, we get 12 episodes in a lump sum, but the average child will probably knock those back in a matter of days.

With the television formula, episodes are rationed out and incentivize children to come back the same time every week to see more. But with these batches, there's the undeniable risk of viewers losing track over a three month period of time. And pretty much all of the shows on this Top 10 list are either fully completed or genres that do not tell stories connecting across every episode. Probably didn't help matters when the first batch of Journeys episodes ended on a three-month cliffhanger. Long story short, I don't believe these batch releases are doing Journeys any favors.

 

[Hidden Mew]

It wouldn't surprise me if these batch releases are causing viewers to tune out. When it was airing weekly on television, especially on CN, it aired every single Saturday of the year (except for the last week or two in December due to holiday scheduling). Children who were watching only had to wait a week to see the next episode and were less likely to forget about it. But now on Netflix, the gap is extended to three whole months. Sure, we get 12 episodes in a lump sum, but the average child will probably knock those back in a matter of days.

With the television formula, episodes are rationed out and incentivize children to come back the same time every week to see more. But with these batches, there's the undeniable risk of viewers losing track over a three month period of time. And pretty much all of the shows on this Top 10 list are either fully completed or genres that do not tell stories connecting across every episode. Probably didn't help matters when the first batch of Journeys episodes ended on a three-month cliffhanger. Long story short, I don't believe these batch releases are doing Journeys any favors.

The main reason I don't think that I don't think that release format is causing viewers to tune out is because this isn't really too different from how they've released episodes for some of their own original series, including ending on cliffhangers that aren't resolved for months on end. Maybe you could argue that it's more of a necessity for their original shows when they have to make them from scratch, but those original series still attracted attention whenever new episodes came out, so I don't think that would be that much of an issue for Journeys either.

I also have my doubts about kids just forgetting about it because of the three month long gaps. If kids enjoy the series, they could easily put it on their Netflix list and they do make it clear when a series has new episodes available. It's possible for it to still get loss in the shuffle, but I don't think kids would forget about a show just because it isn't airing new episodes every week anymore. Granted, I still think that people might be jumping to conclusions here about how Journeys is doing based on this top ten list, but I don't think that the series would have broken through this list if it was released weekly instead.

 

[Everclear]

On a serious note - I think it being on Netflix hurt it. If it was airing on anything you didn't need a subscription for...

I don't know if things changed over time but like 2-3 years ago when I had cable I didn't have access to Disney XD with my basic cable package so I couldn't watch Pokemon Sun & Moon without subscribing to a higher tier cable package. Maybe it was different in more recent times but for me the show airing on Netflix now as opposed to Disney XD made no real difference.

Anyways why is Garfield so popular? I remember that they used to show re-runs of some CGI Garfield show on CN but I always thought it got bad ratings because it always aired during really weak time slots. I also thought that Boss Baby was a mediocre Dreamworks franchise so I'm shocked it's doing so well on Netflix

 

[Nikita Dracovish]

The main reason I don't think that I don't think that release format is causing viewers to tune out is because this isn't really too different from how they've released episodes for some of their own original series, including ending on cliffhangers that aren't resolved for months on end. Maybe you could argue that it's more of a necessity for their original shows when they have to make them from scratch, but those original series still attracted attention whenever new episodes came out, so I don't think that would be that much of an issue for Journeys either.

I also have my doubts about kids just forgetting about it because of the three month long gaps. If kids enjoy the series, they could easily put it on their Netflix list and they do make it clear when a series has new episodes available. It's possible for it to still get loss in the shuffle, but I don't think kids would forget about a show just because it isn't airing new episodes every week anymore. Granted, I still think that people might be jumping to conclusions here about how Journeys is doing based on this top ten list, but I don't think that the series would have broken through this list if it was released weekly instead.

I'm actually curious about Digimon Adventure 2020's ratings in comparisons, now, especially since it's on an all-ages platform and has such a rapid pace compared to Journeys.

I don't know if things changed over time but like 2-3 years ago when I had cable I didn't have access to Disney XD with my basic cable package so I couldn't watch Pokemon Sun & Moon without subscribing to a higher tier cable package. Maybe it was different in more recent times but for me the show airing on Netflix now as opposed to Disney XD made no real difference.

Anyways why is Garfield so popular? I remember that they used to show re-runs of some CGI Garfield show on CN but I always thought it got bad ratings because it always aired during really weak time slots. I also thought that Boss Baby was a mediocre Dreamworks franchise so I'm shocked it's doing so well on Netflix

I think it depends on area, too. Like, Cali tends to automatically include CN/Disney/Nickelodeon by default on higher packages, but this was YEARS back, when I actually pretended to watch some TV.

EDIT: Forgot to add, but the original Garfield shorts were actually pretty good. Lots of deadpan humor.

 

[FelipePR]

I'm actually curious about Digimon Adventure 2020's ratings in comparisons, now, especially since it's on an all-ages platform and has such a rapid pace compared to Journeys.

Well, I don't know about the United States. But in Brazil, there is a chance that the anime will not even make it to television, only will be available in Crunchroll. I believe that is quite hard the remake to be an international success.