Want to stream cartoons on a Saturday morning like the old days (but via modern technology)? Maybe dont turn to Apple TV+.

The core Apple SVOD service has all but abandoned developing animated shows at a clip that would make Netflix blush, a new study from Luminate Intelligence has found.

In (late) 2019, when Apple TV+ launched, the service ordered all of one animated series it was very early days. Three animated shows were ordered in 2020 and eight greenlights came in 2021, more than Peacock, Prime Video and Paramount+ (but less than Max and Hulu, and significantly less than Disney+ and Netflix). It was the pandemic, and turning to animation simply made sense; Frog and Toad did not need to quarantine. As things returned to normal in 2022, everyone but Apple TV+ (and Netflix, which was basically flat) began to shrink their animated development slates. Apples 15 series orders, meanwhile, nearly doubled its animation ambitions from the prior year. Even with a relatively small sample size, the anomaly stuck out like a giant, red, throbbing sore thumb a favorite gag in animation.

For 24 months, Apple TV+ gave animation a real go. In 2023, it again ordered 15 animated series, marking back-to-back years in which it ordered more animated series than even Disney+ did.(!) It didnt last. In 2024, Apple waived the white flag, ordering just six animated series, or 60 percent fewer than each of the prior two years. (Netflixs league-leading animation slate decreased by one-quarter that year.)

Reps for Apple TV+ did not immediately respond to The Hollywood Reporters request for comment on the Luminate findings.

Its a huge reversal for a rich company that in 2018 made a rich investment to carry and create new Peanuts programming. This May, Charlie Browns gang released their first original musical in 35 years, but thats about as one-off as it gets. Apple and WildBrain, the Peanuts owner, are currently working on a Peanuts feature film.

One thing not helping the curve here is Apples general preference for childrens animation at a time when adult-animated shows have the greater momentum within the broader industry. While the company may prefer the kids stuff, it is no longer investing in it not on the series side, at least. (Perhaps if it added commercials)

Evidence of that can be found beyond series orders. In early 2024, Apple TV+ laid off (a bit) more than a handful staffers at its Kids team, and the streamer has canceled animated series Central Park, Doug Unplugs, Duck and Goose, Harriet the Spy, Interrupting Chicken, Little Angel, Pinecone Pony, Pretzel and the Puppies, Puffins Impossible, Slumberkins and The Snoopy Show.

A few animated shows have continued, notably Eva the Owlet, WondLa and Stillwater; Frog and Toad, Sago Mini Friends, and Curses! ran two seasons through 2024 and have all not had a third. Be@rbrick, Not a Box, and Goldie are new in 2025 not that theyre bumping up the bar graph.