Well, I'm sort of stepping in the middle here, but I wonder... is this somewhat on-target? I don't think it's complete, though...
Target Audience: Children
Trying to sell: Toys, Games, Videogames, Merchandise.
Anime Success Indicators: TV Ratings/Timeslot/Length of run
Target Audience: Teens
Trying to sell: Toys, Manga/Magazines, Videogames, CDs.
Anime Success Indicators: Timeslot/TV Ratings/CD sales/Length of run
Target Audience: Young Adults/Otaku
Trying to sell: DVDs, CDs, Videogames, Light Novels, Figures, etc.
Anime Success Indicators: DVD & CD sales
It seems to me that you could actually break this down even futher by gender. For example, a show like NANA would probably fit into a slightly different mold (Driven more by manga/magazine sales, perhaps? Women tend to buy less DVDs than men.).
You notice that I used the word "success" (which, for these purposes, I'm tying to money) as opposed to "popularity" -- I think that popularity is more about "mindshare", and that can either be momentary (i.e. a fad) or enduring (i.e. a cultural icon/phenomenon). It also reflects a success that's broader than the target audience, and I think the real indicator of that is frequency of mention in the mass/mainstream media. So I'm not even sure if either ratings or sales alone could really tell the full story about popularity. Maybe I'm wrong, though...
Anyway, I realize I'm sort of stepping in the middle here, but I wonder if this can help funnel the conversation? If not, please feel free to ignore my rambling.
And by the way, I just want to thank eggplant for updating the thread with new sales data so regularly. Thank you!
