Made first for young men 1
TUGS's audience scores lean most toward young men at 100 of 100 1. Its overall reach is rated targeted — targeted reach aimed at a specific demographic segment 2. On content balance it reads entertainment-first at 0 of 100, weighting storytelling over explicit messaging 3.
- 1Audience scoreyoung men 100 of 100 is the top quadrant.WhatSphere audience model, score_version 1
- 2ReachAudience breadth rated targeted.WhatSphere audience model, score_version 1
- 3Content balanceContent balance entertainment-first at 0 of 100.WhatSphere content-balance model, score_version 1
WhatSphere presents the sourced record; it does not cast the judgement. Every statement above is drawn from a stored, sourced row — shown beside it — and nothing is asserted beyond what those receipts support.
Synopsis
TUGS is a British children's television series first broadcast in 1988. It was created by the producers of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, Robert D. Cardona and David Mitton. The series dealt with the adventures of two anthropomorphized tugboat fleets, the Star Fleet and the Z-Stacks, who compete against each other in the fictional Bigg City Port. The series was set in the Roaring Twenties, and was produced by TUGS Ltd., for TVS and Clearwater Features Ltd. Music was composed by Junior Campbell and Mike O'Donnell, who also wrote the music for Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. Due to the bankruptcy of production company TVS, the series did not continue production past 13 episodes. Following the initial airing of the series throughout 1988, television rights were sold to an unknown party, while all models and sets from the series sold to Britt Allcroft. Modified set props and tugboat models were used in Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends from 1991 onwards.
Age: 20 — strongly youth-oriented
Quadrant Scores
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Advocacy Over Time in Family
The average advocacy score of Family titles by release year, with this title marked. Higher is more advocacy-driven.
| Year | Average advocacy | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| 1940 | 0 | 2 |
| 1944 | 0 | 2 |
| 1951 | 0 | 2 |
| 1959 | 0 | 2 |
| 1965 | 0 | 2 |
| 1969 | 0 | 2 |
| 1973 | 0 | 3 |
| 1974 | 0 | 2 |
| 1975 | 0 | 2 |
| 1977 | 0 | 3 |
| 1981 | 0 | 2 |
| 1982 | 0 | 3 |
| 1983 | 1 | 5 |
| 1984 | 3 | 2 |
| 1985 | 0 | 3 |
| 1986 | 0 | 8 |
| 1987 | 0 | 5 |
| 1988 | 1 | 5 |
| 1989 | 2 | 8 |
| 1990 | 0 | 8 |
| 1991 | 1 | 5 |
| 1992 | 1 | 6 |
| 1993 | 0 | 9 |
| 1994 | 1 | 8 |
| 1995 | 2 | 4 |
| 1996 | 2 | 5 |
| 1997 | 0 | 7 |
| 1998 | 0 | 4 |
| 1999 | 0 | 10 |
| 2000 | 0 | 5 |
| 2001 | 2 | 10 |
| 2002 | 1 | 10 |
| 2003 | 1 | 12 |
| 2004 | 0 | 8 |
| 2005 | 1 | 13 |
| 2006 | 1 | 15 |
| 2007 | 0 | 14 |
| 2008 | 2 | 9 |
| 2009 | 2 | 5 |
| 2010 | 4 | 4 |
| 2011 | 3 | 4 |
| 2013 | 6 | 4 |
| 2015 | 4 | 2 |
| 2016 | 8 | 4 |
| 2017 | 12 | 5 |
| 2019 | 5 | 7 |
| 2020 | 5 | 8 |
| 2021 | 5 | 6 |
| 2022 | 12 | 6 |
| 2023 | 19 | 8 |
| 2024 | 5 | 11 |
| 2025 | 1 | 11 |
| 2026 | 0 | 5 |
| This title (1989) | 0 | 1 |
● This title (1989): advocacy 0 · explore Family →
Cast & Crew
Made for the Same Audience
Titles with the closest audience-sphere profile — not just the same genre.
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