Who exactly is watching 'Rick and Morty' on Hulu? The answer may surprise you
When people think of Rick and Morty fans, they tend to imagine internet edgelords with "well actually" tattooed on their foreheads.
But new viewer data gathered by Hulu, which recently launched Season 3 of the hit animated show on its platform, proves you shouldn't judge a book by its toxic masculine cover.
According to Hulu's internal data and analytics team, the statistics paint a more diverse picture of the Rick and Morty viewership. One of the most surprising demographic facts found that gender is much more equal than previously assumed, with women making up 40% of the audience.
That number stands in stark contrast to the shitty fan culture Rick and Morty has become known for.
In the past year alone, Rick and Morty fans garnered attention for: 1) Launching a baseless, misogynistic backlash against the show's female writers, 2) Abusing innocent McDonald's employees for running out of Szechuan sauce, and 3) Birthing an entire meme genre around the obnoxious claim that "you have to have a very high IQ to understand Rick and Morty."
That awful, vocal minority of Rick and Morty fans -- coupled with gendered assumptions about who would watch a vulgar, science-oriented animated show -- warped our perception of its viewers.
Granted, this data is not an accurate assessment of viewer demographics across all platforms, with numbers based only on who's watching Rick and Morty through its exclusive streaming partner, Hulu. A Hulu representative explained to Mashable that the data was gathered over a 6-month period, spanning from January to July of 2018.
The more comprehensive viewer data from Nielsen ratings doesn't account for gender, either.
But back in October it found that the initially niche show exploded into mainstream popularity, becoming the #1 comedy for millennials with an average of 2.5 million viewers, out-pacing titans like The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family.
What Hulu's numbers do show, however, is that Rick and Morty is for everyone -- despite what online hate mobs want us to believe.
Another interesting Hulu data trend found that, while Rick and Morty viewers were (unsurprisingly) fans of similar shows like Family Guy, Bob's Burgers, and South Park, a whopping 40% of them also watch emotional live-action dramas like This Is Us and Handmaid’s Tale.
So maybe you actually also need very high emotional intelligence to get Rick and Morty?
While the data helps dispel some negative connotations and assumptions about who likes Rick and Morty, the Hulu stats confirmed one hypothesis: People who watch Rick and Morty are night goblins, with 11PM to 1AM EST winning the most popular viewing time slot.
Sadly there's still no data for interdimensional cable shows like Gazorpazorpfield or Ball Fondlers, though.
Jess is an LA-based culture critic who covers intimacy in the digital age, from sex and relationship to weed and all media (tv, games, film, the web). Previously associate editor at Kill Screen, you can also find her words on Vice, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Vox, and others. She is a Brazilian-Swiss American immigrant with a love for all things weird and magical.
