What would you call a comedy about a suicidal depressive who befriends a talking dog, or a bloody horror drama featuring a dysfunctional family living in a haunted house?


At FX they’re called hitting the demo. (In this case, with the shows “Wilfred” and “American Horror Story.”)


FX, a basic cable channel that is part of News Corporation’s powerful cable division, has consciously carved a niche in the new television landscape — one mainly aimed at young men whom marketers pay a premium to reach — with risky, breakthrough and even occasionally offensive material. And that was before it announced a new show featuring Charlie Sheen.


“I tell them, ‘You already spend a fortune on a show that has to do with incest, child abuse, adultery and murder; it’s called the news,’ ” said Lou LaTorre, president of advertising sales at the Fox Cable Networks Group.


FX is following a blueprint that is well known within its parent company, News Corporation, which similarly lured younger viewers to its Fox Broadcasting channel in the early years with shows like “Married With Children” and “The Simpsons.”


The strategy has helped FX emerge as a significant revenue generator for its parent company on the strength of shows like “Sons of Anarchy” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” Last year was FX’s most-watched year, with an average nightly audience of 1.5 million and a 22 percent lift in viewers ages 18 to 49. In the first quarter of 2012, FX ranked as the 10th most-watched basic cable channel, and the eighth most-watched in the 18-49 category.


And like Fox, FX has suddenly become more than a blip in News Corporation’s portfolio.


Chase Carey, the company’s president and chief operating officer, has said that FX significantly contributed to the company’s $882 million in profit from its cable networks in the quarter that ended Dec. 31, a 20 percent jump from the previous year. Last year, marketers spent $506 million to advertise on FX, compared with $367 million in 2008, according to the research firm SNL Kagan.


Part of the reason FX has the freedom to mix its in-your-face, devil-may-care original series with its safe Hollywood movies is that people did not pay much attention to a channel once known for Nascar races and “M*A*S*H” reruns.


On Thursday the channel will have its annual upfront presentation in New York, in which executives will solicit advertising for its slate of original series, movies and syndicated reruns like “How I Met Your Mother” and “Two and a Half Men.”


The original series on FX — including its top-rated drama, “Sons of Anarchy,” about a ragtag motorcycle gang — reach mostly male viewers with an average age of 38. That is a sweet spot for advertisers, even if the shows mostly revolve around unsavory story lines and characters not tailor-made to sell soap.


A decade ago, FX had only one original series in “The Shield,” a critically admired police drama that broke basic cable viewing records. Today, the channel has 10 original scripted series, including “Justified,” a drama about a deputy United States marshal in Kentucky; the animated comedy “Archer,” about an oversexed spy; and “Louie,” a sitcom written by and starring the comedian Louis C. K.


In June, the channel is adding what it hopes will become its first late-night entry, “Strangely Uplifting,” an unscripted half-hour comedy with the British comedian Russell Brand. Also in June, FX will introduce “Anger Management,” a new sitcom starring Mr. Sheen.


In the next three years, FX could have as many as 15 original series, said John Landgraf, the network’s president and general manager.