TV and Ad Execs: The Demographics You Value Are Outdated
I see it all the time, and it never stops bothering me. Since I follow the television industry, I look at the TV rankings each week. There will be a list of how many people watched a particular show and there is always another list of how many people in the "valuable 18-49 demographic" watched each show. Funny, that most of the TV series that I watch are in that second list, but I am not considered "valuable" anymore.
Grouping television viewers by value makes sense to me. If I were an advertiser, I would want to get the most bang from my buck. And, in the past, the 18-49 year old demographic might have been the group to target. But, as the country's demographics have changed, why haven't the advertisers and television network executives kept up?
I would assume that advertisers would want their products seen by the people that have the highest disposable income and that like to spend the most money. Hasn't that always been what the Baby Boomers have been known for? With the exception of the recession, which is affecting everyone, we haven't slowed down. Most of the Baby Boomers are 50 and older now. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that our demographic is just as "valuable" if not more than the beloved 18-49 year olds. (CBS is the only network that does seem to get this).
Sometimes, the demographic is further refined to 18-35 as being the most valuable. How much of any income do most people in that age group have? They are either students, just starting out, or beginning families and all their disposable income is going to baby products. Also, this is the age group most likely to DVR their TV shows and then skip the ads, or watch TV online. They are also more likely to multitask, so even if they are watching a TV show a television live, they are less likely to pay attention to commercials because they are probably online at the same time.
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