MEDIAN AGE ANALYSIS OF TV PROGRAM GENRE VIEWERS
One of the ways that demographers distinguish between one medium and another is to plot the median age of their constituencies. While this is a fairly simplistic approach, in the case of television program genres, the resulting comparisons can be most revealing. A case in point is the trend in the median age of primetime ABC/CBS/NBC program viewers as it has developed over the years. In the early-1960s, when the three broadcast networks regularly garnered 90% of the average quarter-hour primetime audience, the median age of their viewers was about 34 years. This was only four years higher than the comparable figure for the total population, and was caused by the adult orientation of most primetime fare and the fact that most younger children were in bed by 8pm or 9pm.
Although the age of the broadcast networks’ primetime audience continued to be broadly representative of the overall population, the advent of cable and the ensuing rating fragmentation in the 1990s and thereafter changed everything as far as ABC/CBS/NBC were concerned. The emergence of youth-targeted alternative broadcast networks like Fox, UPN and the WB also siphoned off 18-34-year-old viewers, teens and children. As a result, the median age of the average ABC, CBS and NBC primetime viewer has risen steadily to its current all-time high of 56 years. This is 18 years above the corresponding figure for the total population, which has also risen but at a far slower pace.
Median age calculations are commonly used to describe the audience profile of TV shows. If the median age for the total population is about 38 years, a show with a median age of 30 could be characterized as having a very young appeal. Variations are also apparent by network and daypart, and can have a bearing when creating a targeted media plan. We recently revisited this topics in our report, “Media Age Analysis Of TV Program Genre Viewers,” where we provide median age trending for primetime broadcast network fare, current data for program genres for broadcast, cable and syndication and a profile of sports viewership. It’s a useful way to get a quick overview of the state of linear TV viewership today.