Why is CN marathon obsessed?

AnimatedFan01

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It seems as if whenever you look at the new schedules, all you'll see is mini-marathons for Gumball, TTG!, Craig of the Creek, and Total Dramarama. Just why do they insist on running these shows all day all week long post-Cartoonito? Why can't they switch things up and give us more Infinity Train, Mighty Magisworld, Victor & Valentino, and Apple & Onion? If you look at any of their pre-2013 schedules, you'll see they had more variety even with their highest-rated shows Adventure Time, Regular Show, Gumball, Ben 10 and MAD all running simultaneously. 2008 was an even more varied time; while Johnny Test admittedly got overplayed, it gave room for other shows such as Chowder, Flapjack, The Secret Saturdays, TDI and 6Teen to breathe.

Is CN really trying to compete with Nickelodeon by rating-milking their shows with marathons much like they do with SpongeBob and TLH/Casagrandes?
 
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Silverstar

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Yes, they are. And it's cheaper and easier.
^^This.

In a nutshell, the shows which earn the highest ratings get the most airings and encores. Networks tend to rely on marathons because that's just easier than programming a bunch of different shows to air over a chunk of hours. Just run several episodes of a proven hit that's guaranteed to keep butts in seats for hours on end.

This practice is hardly exclusive to Cartoon Network; cable channels do this all the time, particularly on weekends and holidays. Look how many airings Charmed and Supernatural have gotten on TNT. Whenever things get slow on Food Network, they can always just marathon Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. History Channel shows Ancient Aliens back-to-back nonstop. And so on.
 

Markus Nelis

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This isn't only CN who is marathoning shows. Every network nowadays who find successful shows are just going to milk their shows.

Look, cable isn't as popular as it used to be so having popular shows for the most part of the day is one of the ways to have viewership.
 

JMTV

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Because...they receive high ratings? I mean, that just Business 101.

When a show is popular, the networks will milk for all of its worth.

We've seen this time and time again. This is not a CN exclusive thing. It's cable TV in general.

Networks are gonna air the most popular show whatever we like it or not. We have so many options to watch cartoons nowadays rather than cable TV. That's all there is to it.

Look how many airings Charmed and Supernatural have gotten on TNT.
Which is kinda ironic considering that both Charmed and Supernatural both aired on The WB Network, which owned by Warner Bros., and Warner Bros also owned TNT.
 

Dr.Pepper

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Isn’t this just how cable networks run these days? For example I know Food Network airs Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives all day long on Fridays.
 

Markus Nelis

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Like literally, there are streaming services and you can watch the shows you like there. No one is forcing you to watch cable since streaming gives you free choices.

Even ads aren't as long or there are no ads at all compared to cable. TV channels usually have 3 minutes of ads + their own promotions.

Back in the day there was variety yes, but back then streaming services didn't exist. Some say cable die but I'd say not really. It's just that they need to milk their best shows and marathon them a lot so channels like CN don't lose a lot of viewers, I bet that's the strategy they're having. Makes sense, right?
 

mqg96

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Cartoon Network has always done marathons thru-out the years, but the difference is that, in the old days of the network, marathons were only done on special occasions, and the marathon was advertised very well with a lot of effort put into the promo, and it got any viewer hyped up big time for the marathon, and you would mark that down on your calendar for the weekend.

Now as already explained above (but this has been going on with multiple networks the last several years), you get mini-marathons for multiple shows thru-out the day as part of the regular schedule. That's a thing on most cable networks now, and there's not much to worry about when you have the streaming services for other shows to watch out there.
 

Low Spark of Lyman

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From what I remember, many networks were already into this practice before Cartoon Network got into it some years ago. Basically, it's just that CN was late to the party. Which, I think, may contribute to the disappointment with that very fact- "Oh, now they're doing it too? I thought CN was the place where you could watch various cartoons! I mean, just look at what they were like in (insert year(s) here)!"

I'm not big on the lack of variety myself, but with the larger amount of options for watching stuff nowadays compared to a mere 15-20 years ago, complaining becomes trivial.
 

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