The study was conducted with the help of the common scientific methods: descriptive, analysis and synthesis. Having used the descriptive method, it was possible to outline the main features of the selected animation projects. Through the analysis and synthesis, key causes of popularity were identified and an overall portrait of the target audience of Adult Swim was formed. The «Rick and Morty», «The Boondocks», «Robot Chicken» satirical cartoon projects have won the favour of a thinking adult audience through the use of such methods as profanities, ridicule and critique of phenomena of modern mass culture, hypertrophic cruelty and non-veiled eroticism. The effect of remoteness, which was able to provide the animated genre, allowed the audience to confront the realities of their own daily lives and perceive them with a smile, without the direct moralism typical for tales. The novelty of the research results is the understanding of the key features of the target audience of the Cartoon Network unit for adults, which is owned by transnational corporation WarnerMedia, which allows us to speak about a new type of perception of visual media production. This is the basis for the further development and implementation of commercially successful and profitable products.