• by Wayne Friedman , July 11, 2005

CBS may have grabbed the number one spot in terms of upfront advertising dollars--but it still has the oldest median age of any of the broadcast networks, according to a recent study by Magna Global USA.

CBS actually witnessed a slight drop to 51.8 median age, down from 52.9 versus a year ago. But it still has yet to crack the 50-year-old barrier. Next year it hopes to finally dip below the 50-year-old mark, now that four of its older-skewing shows won't be returning--"JAG" (58.3), "60 Minutes Wednesday (59.2), "Judging Amy" (53.9), and "Joan of Arcadia" (53.9).

On the other side of the spectrum, the new king of young television is UPN, with an median age of 32.9. That should improve now that it has cancelled "Enterprise," and will give increasing emphasis to shows such as "America's Next Top Model" and the upcoming, highly praised Chris Rock-inspired comedy, "Everybody Hates Chris."

The WB lost its youngest age crown, now at the average age of 35. More older-skewing shows such as "Blue Collar TV" (41.0) and "Reba" (40) are the reason. "Everwood," at 42.4 years old, is the oldest show on the network.

NBC's bad news from last season found no solace with its viewer age news. After being relatively stable over the past four years at around 45 years old, the network jumped to an average 48.0 for this past season. NBC's increasing reliance on its "Law & Order" franchise moved the network close to the 50-year-old mark--as well as the ending of two of its comedies--"Friends" and "Frazier."

Magna Global notes for the first time that more than 45 percent of NBC's audience is now over 50 years old. Fox also jumped this year--now at a 38.2 median age, which will probably grow next season with dramas such as "House," "Bones," and "Prison Break." The report notes that "American Idol" is also trending up.

ABC came in as the youngest of the big three networks--its 45.3 average was exactly the same as the season before. Four of its new shows from last year--"Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy," "Super Nanny," and "Wife Swap"--all help some, coming in under 45 years old. In syndication, the comedies have the youngest median age--dramas, talk shows, and court shows are older. Syndication comedies are generally younger than their airings on network. "Everybody Loves Raymond" is almost 6 years younger in syndication than on network--which could be a function of the availability of younger viewers in late afternoon and early evening time periods, when many syndication shows air.

Cable networks generally skew older. Magna says in prime time--not counting the networks targeting kids--only 12 of its 52 networks were under 40. But more than half of the broadcast networks are under 40. The five oldest-skewing networks are Biography (57.2), MSNBC (57.5), Hallmark (58.5), CNN (61.2), and Fox News (61.8). The youngest (not including kids-targeted networks) are Fuse (19.7), MTV2 (20.2), MTV (21.5), BET (26.2), and VH1 (28.1).