• by Michael Shields , May 11, 2004

Young men are either watching less TV, or they are watching more. Or they are simply watching TV at different times. Or maybe they are playing video games instead. At least those are the contradictory findings of two new studies released Tuesday, which are adding to the confusion surrounding the mystery of missing young male viewers. According to a new survey from New Media Strategies, gamers--primarily young males-- say that TV is on the outs.

The survey, which gathered opinions from over 300 video game consumers in popular entertainment and console-video game-focused online communities, found that 79 percent of gaming consumers say they watch less TV as a result of gaming. Nearly one-fifth (17 percent) of respondents claimed to watch no TV whatsoever.

According to New Media Strategies CEO Pete Snyder, gaming is directly responsible for the loss of young TV viewers this season.

However, ESPN, the traditional bastion of young male viewers, is saying just the opposite. Yesterday, ESPN Research released figures from Nielsen Media Research showing that men ages 18-34 are watching more television than ever before--just less in prime time and more late at night.

"This missing young male issue is really a prime time issue," said Glenn Enoch, ESPN vice president of audience research. Enoch has found that men ages 18-34 watched three hours and 33 minutes per day in 2003--the highest amount in the past twelve years. "What we are doing is taking a total picture of men 18-34 viewing," Enoch said.

According to this study, men 18-34 have increased their daily viewing by 18 minutes since 1998.

While this group is definitely spending more time gaming (up from 8 to 18 minutes over that time period, according to Nielsen), it may be sacrificing sleep rather than TV. The dayparts showing the biggest increases were late night: (11 p.m.-2 a.m. viewing was up 4 minutes), really late at night: (2-6 a.m. was up by 6 minutes per day), and even the next day: (6-9 a.m. increased by + 3 minutes). Prime time viewership is down slightly, dropping one minute per day.

Enoch believes that the proliferation of TV sets has allowed younger adults to have more selection in when they watch. "There are more TV sets than there used to be, more multi-set households," he said. "There is a greater opportunity for people to customize when they watch TV. Lots of teens and kids have TV sets in their rooms."

Shari Anne Brill, vice president and director of programming at Carat USA, thinks this dynamic may have redefined prime time for young adults. "I am a big proponent of the belief that the traditional definition of prime time is not prime time for younger viewers," she said. "It could very well be 10 p.m to 1 a.m." Although she had not seen either study, she was hesitant to buy into the results of any self-reported study, instead favoring Nielsen's data.

There has been much discussion in recent months about the significant drops seen in viewership among younger men, which saw ratings declines of 15-20 percent earlier in the season. While industry experts have debated the source of this drop, and even its veracity, many have blamed the rise of video game play among young males.

Brill was not sure exactly how this has affected overall TV viewing, but said: "This is definitely something that needs to be addressed. There are just so many technological options for younger viewers."

Steve Sternberg, senior vice president and director of audience analysis at Magna Global USA, believes it is more simple than that. "I have said this from the beginning of the season, despite all the wacky theories coming from the networks--it's the programming." He added that if the networks targeted young men, they would watch, as is evidenced by late-night cable's performance. "Programming always drives TV usage," he said.

While the broadcast networks have complained about Nielsen, many cable networks have echoed ESPN's claim, saying that ratings for late night have been strong for young men. Networks such as the Cartoon Network, with its Adult Swim block, and Comedy Central, with the Daily Show and South Park, have programmed specifically to target this audience "after hours."