I am standing tall on my soapbox once again shouting loudly that it is time to move the key TV sales demo far beyond 18-49, or even 25-54 to 30-to-60 years old!   And, it has nothing to do with me personally, as sadly, I am not in that demo anymore either.

I have been suggesting this to my client general managers for years – and they salivate at the idea.  As I wrote in my blog in June of 2008 – those Americans over 50 have real money to spend – the highest level of disposal income.  Oh, and they watch more television too.  But the neophyte buyers who only know how to read the numbers 18-to-49 in Neilsen books have no clue about that.

Now comes a new study of televison viewing by Steve Sternberg who reports that “the five broadcast networks average live median age this year (not counting DVR usage) was 51-years-old” – cracking the 50 barrier for the first time.   That is a huge eight year upswing from ten years ago.

When you factor in delayed DVR viewing, CBS’s average viewer is 54, ABC prime is at 50 years old, and NBC is at 47 (with Leno’s new show expected to spike that number higher beginning in September).   Fox prime averages 44 years old, and the CW, with its limited viewership, is at 33 year-old.

The ages of live viewers (excluding DVR watching) for all five major networks are at their highest levels ever.  As expected CBS leads the parade with an average age of 55 – the first time they have left the 25-54 demo.  ABC was right behind them with an average age of 51, with NBC at 49.  The Fox viewers average 46, and the CW fandom average 34 years old.

That’s alot of numbers but the bottomline is simple:  It is time to increase the target demographic for advertisers to a more realistic 30-to-60 years old.  Have they forgotten that huge Baby Boomer bubble of viewers that continues merrily on its way to 60 and beyond?   If so, it is time to face reality!

I’ve said it before – and I’m saying it again – C’mon join me in the crusade to raise the key demo to 30-to-60 years old – your bottomline will love you for it.

Jim

This entry was posted on Monday, August 31st, 2009 at 6:24 pm and is filed under Willi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.