Audience

As animation is the discipline I am studying I will look at audiences from an animation perspective. There is often a tendency to label animation as for children, I prefer to think of animation as a media, a way to tell a story just like film making or the writing of a book. I believe it is the content of the story that determines its appropriate audience rather than method in which the story is told. I think the misconceptions about animation come because granted there are many children's programmes that are animated but people see animation as a nostalgia trip and because they might have seen animation when they were younger assume that it is the same when you are older. As with most stories there tends to be something for everyone to watch in animation, entertainment for children but also morals and lessons for those slightly older and more complex stories for adult viewers. There are some animated shows that simply aren't appropriate for children such as Futurama or South Park.
http://www.quora.com/Who-is-the-target-audience-for-animation-films-from-Studio-Ghibli
The question posed in this link is asking who the target audience is for Studio Ghibli, and the discussion and answers that follow i found quite enlightening.

http://www.rotoscopers.com/2013/03/05/why-animation-is-wrongly-disregarded-as-childrens-entertainment/

http://animation.io9.com/why-saying-animation-is-only-for-kids-is-bullshit-1561023216