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TV Audiences Age, Networks Don't Care

  • The Wrap, Thursday, July 22, 2010 11:39 PM
Ten years ago, ABC and NBC had a median age audience in the low 40s; today, ABC is over 50 and NBC is right under 50. CBS is the oldest-skewing network with a median age in the low 50s.Even Fox and the CW -- supposedly the younger-skewing networks -- are aging. Fox's audience was in the mid-30s 10 years ago, and now it's in the mid-40s. The WB (which merged with UPN to become the CW) was under 30, now it's risen to just under 40.

The data comes from TV research guru Steve Sternberg, who says it's the way the networks are programming themselves that is causing the upward aging, and the networks think that's OK -- as long as they can win the key demo races amongst themselves."They have found that if their median age goes up, they can still draw a lot of 18- to 49-year-olds. First place is what matters," he says.

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