• AP/Yahoo, Monday, August 16, 2010 10:42 AM

Youth isn't king at the networks any more. The median age for viewers at those networks and CBS is now 51. The broadcasters' audience has aged at twice the rate of the general population during the past two decades, according to a new report. It's a quiet trend with a real impact on the way they do business.

Worries that an aging audience will alienate advertisers is becoming old thinking. For years, networks (except for CBS) have sold advertising based on how many people were watching in the 18-to-49-year-old demographic. Both CBS (55) and ABC (51) had median ages above that range last season, according to the report. NBC's median age was 49 and Fox's was 44. Of course, the American population as a whole increased from 33 in 1990 to 38 last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Advertisers looking for younger potential customers have more options, including the Internet and smaller cable networks. MTV (median age 23), Comedy Central (31), E! Entertainment (34), FX (38) and Bravo (42) are among the networks that have siphoned younger viewers away from broadcasters.

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