Adult Swim (stylized as
[adult swim] and
[as]) is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on
Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening,
prime time, and
late-night dayparts. The channel features stylistically varied
animated and live-action series targeting an
adult audience. The block's content includes
original programming, which are particularly comedies and action series,
syndicated series, and
short films with generally minimal or no editing for content. Adult Swim is programmed by
Williams Street, a subsidiary of
Warner Bros. Television Studios that also produces much of the block's original programming.
Launched on September 2, 2001, Adult Swim has frequently aired
animated sitcoms,
adult animation features,
parody,
satire,
mockumentaries,
sketch comedy, and
pilots, with many of its programs being aesthetically
experimental, transgressive, improvised, and
surrealist in nature. Adult Swim has contracted with various studios known for their productions in
absurd and
shock comedy. In addition to comedy, Adult Swim also broadcasts Japanese
anime and American
action animation, and since May 2012 this type of programming has generally been aired on its Saturday night
Toonami block, which itself is a relaunch of the original block of the same name that ran on Cartoon Network from March 1997 to September 2008. Adult Swim operates a video game division known as
Adult Swim Games, which started publishing indie games not based on the block's original programming in 2011.
Adult Swim initially ran in the late night hours. It began to expand into prime time in 2008, and moved its start time to 8:00 p.m. ET/PT in 2014. To take advantage of adult viewership of Cartoon Network in the daypart, Adult Swim expanded further to 7:00 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays beginning in May 2023. After experiencing success with the changes, Adult Swim further expanded to 5:00 p.m. beginning on August 28, 2023, eclipsing Cartoon Network in daily runtime.
Due to its differing
demographics, Adult Swim is usually promoted by
The Cartoon Network, Inc. as being a separate network time-sharing with Cartoon Network on its channel allotments, with its viewership being
measured separately by
Nielsen from the youth-oriented
daytime and afternoon programming carried under the Cartoon Network branding. (
Full article...)