Diving Into South Park

Photo: Comedy Central

South Park started on Comedy Central back in August 1997 as a crass, slapdash, and highly controversial adult comedy with child characters that drew the ire of schools and parent groups. The animated series never stopped generating new waves of backlash (there’s a Wikipedia page dedicated to “South Park controversies”) that the show has managed to ride for a quarter of a century. Co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are throwing a 25th anniversary event to celebrate the series’ incredible milestone. 

The people at Viacom, parent company of South Park’s home channel, are likely watching over the festivities with mixed emotions. Viacom’s streaming service Paramount+ won’t own the exclusive US streaming rights to this hit series until 2025 (new episodes will begin airing on Paramount+ in 2024), thanks to a $500 million deal inked with HBO Max in 2019. That means Warner Bros. Discovery will be reaping the subscription dollars flowing from this nostalgia-inducing anniversary for the foreseeable future. 

A relatively new streaming service, Paramount+ is still hoping to find its footing and attract subscribers away from big competitors like Netflix and HBO. What kind of new shows can it produce — or what old shows can it buy the streaming rights to — to get the South Park audience onboard well ahead of 2025? We’re taking a deep dive into South Park’s fan base to understand what it is about the show that appeals to fans, and what other series are enticing to them.

The South Park 25th Anniversary Concert will be held at the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado August 9 and 10. The concert will be televised on Comedy Central August 13 and can be streamed on Paramount+ the following day.

What Do Fans Love About South Park?

If there was any doubt that South Park was Comedy Central’s crown jewel, our list of The Best Comedy Central TV Shows (13K votes) can dispel it: South Park comes in at #1, with almost 400 more upvotes than the #2 show on the list, the beloved sketch series Chappelle’s Show. South Park also tops the lists of The Most Crude And Classic ’90s Adult Cartoons (28K votes) and The Best Satire TV Shows (9K votes), where it beats out The Office and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It’s even the #1 Best Animated Comedy Series Ever (20K votes), ahead of longtime rivals The Simpsons and Family Guy, as well as more recent upstarts like Rick and Morty. 

If you think the show has lost steam in its later years, you might be surprised to learn that South Park is also #6 on The Funniest Shows On TV Right Now (57K votes) and #4 on The Best Current Animated Series Airing Now (37K votes). Finally, and perhaps most impressive, the long-running series is #7 on the highly competitive Funniest TV Shows Of All Time (653K votes).

These rankings confirm that South Park is incredibly popular and well-regarded by TV fans, but the popularity of lists about South Park gives us insight into which qualities make it so beloved. The famously selfish and conniving Eric Cartman is ranked #4 on The Funniest Characters Currently On TV, and well over 5,000 people voted on the list of All The Times Eric Cartman Said Exactly The Right Thing, which confirms that he’s a major part of the show’s popularity. High-traffic lists like Celebrities Mocked The Hardest On South Park (13K votes) and The Most Controversial South Park Episodes (9K votes) indicate that the willingness of Stone and Parker to court controversy is a major part of their cartoon’s appeal.

Who’s Watching South Park?

We know that South Park’s legions of fans love edgy satire and a willingness to offend, but if Paramount+ hopes to appeal to them, it’s unlikely to come up with anything that can compete with the show in this department. What other series can the platform emulate or license to fill the void represented by South Park and ensure these fans save some subscription dollars for their service before 2025 comes around?

OUTRAGEOUS SATIRE

The rights to spoof celebrity culture may be everything but owned by South Park, but the predilection of its fans toward other satire series indicates that when it comes to vicious parody, there’s more than one game in town. South Park fanatics are 6X more likely to love American Dad!, which largely spoofs American politics and cultural norms, as well as Chappelle’s Show, which is remembered for its game-changing caricatures of the nation’s racial attitudes in the early 2000s. They’re also 5X more likely to love stop-motion animated hit Robot Chicken, which primarily mocks popular movies and TV shows.  

These viewers love South Park and… American Dad!, Chappelle’s Show, Robot Chicken

CYNICAL SITCOMS

Besides its direct attacks on famous celebrities and political issues of the day, South Park also parodies ideas about family and friendship that are commonly found in TV shows. That’s something it shares in common with some of the more popular cynical sitcoms of its era: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Arrested Development, and Seinfeld are all famous for featuring unlovable characters and their highly dysfunctional relationships with one another. These shows also share plenty of fans, as South Park viewers are 5X, 3X, and 3X more likely to love each of these shows, respectively.

These viewers love South Park and… It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Arrested Development, Seinfeld

DRAMAS WITH DARK HUMOR

Unlike their favorite animated comedy, fans of South Park aren’t two-dimensional: Their tastes aren’t limited to other outlandish comedies. Ranker Insights suggests they’ve also got a taste for heady, critically lauded dramas, though they prefer dramas with a dark sense of humor. That explains why those who love South Park are 3X more likely to also love HBO masterpiece The Sopranos, 3X more likely to be fans of Better Call Saul, and 2X more likely to approve of Barry, the dramedy from frequent South Park contributor Bill Hader. This suggests that Paramount+ doesn’t need to come up with a show exactly like South Park to attract its audience: it just needs something original and well-written that incorporates something akin to the cartoon’s sense of humor.

These viewers love South Park and… The Sopranos, Better Call Saul, Barry

These stories are crafted using Ranker Insights, which takes over one billion votes cast on Ranker.com and converts them into actionable psychographics about pop culture fans across the world. To learn more about how our Ranker Insights can be customized to serve your business needs, visit insights.ranker.com, or email us at insights@ranker.com.

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