From the current issue of World Magazine...
....But television watching as a whole is also in decline. Nearly all of the new shows that premiered last season were bombs. NBC lost an average of a million viewers a week from last year.
In the demographic most prized by advertisers, men ages 18-34, ratings for the broadcasters are down 7 percent, a catastrophic drop-off that has studio executives doubting the instrument, insisting that the Nielsen raters must be making a mistake.
But the networks have an even bigger problem with younger viewers. Among women in the younger demographic of 18-24, viewership has dropped 20 percent. With young men in that age bracket, the drop is 18.3 percent.
And they are not all going to cable. Despite its relative success, ratings for ad-supported cable among men 18-24 is down 3.7 percent. Nor are they going to pay channels like HBO, despite their much-hyped series like The Sopranos and Sex in the City. Ratings for that age group on pay cable are down 25 percent.
Maybe a generation that has grown up on so much TV has finally gotten tired of it.
Posted by at December 28, 2003 09:33 PM | TrackBack