Posted on 11/19/2006 8:53:37 PM PST by Snickering Hound
NEW YORK — Americans born between 1946 and 1964 are accustomed to being catered to, but that's not the case with much of television today. Now there's some new evidence that they're finding this mighty irritating.
A study conducted by Harris Interactive suggests that the television industry's obsession with youth is backfiring.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they believe that most TV programming and advertising is targeted toward people under 40, the survey said. More than 80 percent of adults over 40 say they have a hard time finding TV shows that reflect their lives.
A significant number of baby boomers — 37 percent — say they aren't happy with what's on television, according to the study.
"The amount of people dissatisfied with television overall was a pretty big eye-opening thing for us," said Larry Jones, president of the TV Land cable network, which commissioned the study.
To a certain extent, the generation that decades ago warned against trusting people over 30 can blame itself for the predicament. The TV industry's slavish devotion to ratings within the 18-to-49-year-old demographic started when most baby boomers fit into that group.
The theory among advertisers is that it's important to reach young people as their preferences are forming — get them hooked on a certain toothpaste or soda early and they'll be hooked for life. Advertisers will pay a premium for young viewers: $335 for every thousand people in the 18-to-24 age range that a network delivers, for example. Viewers aged 55-to-64 are worth only $119 for every thousand, according to Nielsen Media Research.
That's why ABC and NBC conduct all of their business with advertisers in the 18-to-49 demo. From a financial standpoint, if you're 50 or over, you mean nothing to those networks' executives. For Fox, the CW, MTV, BET and countless other networks, even 40 is too old.
The peak year for births within the baby boom, Jones noted, was 1957 — meaning all those people are turning 49 this year.
Much of the television industry isn't aging with them.
"They've just never changed or haven't realized that the population has moved on," said Randy Berkowitz, vice president of research for Combe Inc., which makes health products and beauty aids.
Berkowitz believes that "people are just not in tune with TV because they can't relate to it anymore."
Jones, who's 46, said he wants to come home at night and see an entertainment program that appeals to his sensibilities. Some people may find Paris Hilton funny on "The Simple Life," for example — not him.
To a surprising extent, advertising is also alienating. The Harris Interactive study found that half of baby boomers say they tune out commercials that are clearly aimed at young people. An additional one-third said they'd go out of their way NOT to buy such a product.
"I'm not saying that every show, every network should reshape, but that's an awfully high level of dissatisfaction among the largest generation group of all time," said Ken Dychtwald, a psychologist who worked with Harris Interactive on the study. (Harris conducted an online survey of 4,220 adults between April 28-May 15 this year, with a sampling error of plus or minus 1.5 percent).
Some advertisers have responded to the aging population. Financial services firms, for example, see many potential customers advancing toward retirement. Two decades ago drug companies didn't advertise on TV; now you could fill a medicine cabinet with all the products hawked on the evening news.
But these were cases where the companies making these products saw the opportunity, not necessarily the TV industry, Berkowitz said.
TV Land's Jones is already using the survey in his business. The results have convinced him that, more than ever, his network of mostly classic TV shows should be boomer-centric, he said. He also comes armed with the survey when he meets with the Madison Avenue types who buy advertising time.
One statistic he's sure to cite: The survey found 51 percent of the postwar generation describe themselves as "open to new ideas." Meanwhile, only 12 percent of young adults think the older folks feel that way.
Why does that matter? Jones said the average media buyer or planner is under 30. Many are undoubtedly hired for their know-how in appealing to a specific generation, and it isn't the baby boomers.
"There is this huge perception versus reality situation in the marketplace," he said.
Jones is pushing the idea of a "middlescence," about 40-to-59-year-olds who don't feel young anymore but don't feel old, and have plenty of discretionary income.
With the continued carving of the television audience into smaller slices because of all the networks on the air, the chance for advertisers to reach particular niches increases, said Evan Shapiro, who had his own marketing firm and is now head of the Independent Film Channel. Shapiro, 37, doesn't buy the idea that there's nothing on TV for older viewers.
"If you are a 50-year-old male or female, there is an enormous amount of television for you," he said. "It's just not on all the places that it used to be."
Still, Shapiro said he senses that marketers are slowly waking up to the potential in older TV viewers.
But by the time it happens, the children of the baby boomers will be the focus, making their parents even more irrelevant in television's eyes, he said.
Another House fan - yeah!
I loved his comment earlier in the season that the hospital administrator should call Jack Bauer.
My two favorite TV guys.
Three? We were lucky to get one snowy channel.
That's what tv is and movies as well. Empty-headed pap. No substance and no redeeming qualities AT ALL!
There's no originality in hollywood anymore. If you watch real close, everything's a remake. Did the world REALLY yet ANOTHER remake of King Kong, Lone Ranger, Zorro, Three Musketeers, Count of Monte Cristo, Mission Impossible and on and on and on and on ad infinitum, ad nauseum????
No originality at all in TV Or movies.
Except reality shows. The studios LOVELOVELOVE reality shows. Cost them a small fraction of what genuine content programming costs them. That's why there's such a heavy focus in the news telling us over and over how we love reality tv. Survivor has to be THE stupidest thing that I've ever dreamed in my worst nightmares could be put on tv. Absolutely, horrendously stupid.
The only reason that I own a tv is that it powers my vcr where I have taped over a thousand movies that I can watch. Without that, I'd ditch the tv as not worth the investment. My wife and I earn over 100k per year and we don't watch tv therefore we don't put ourselves into a position of watching advertisers or buying their products. Let these tv "execs" think about that.
Empty-headed pap and lefty claptrap. that's all you find on tv or movies nowadays.
Godspeed
Prison Break
Heroes
Veronica Mars
Friday Night Lights
Lost
Smallville
Supernatural
Ghost Whisperer
I agree with several of your picks. I think Prison Break is the most consistently suspenseful show on the air at the moment. Lost remains frustratingly intriguing. Smallville and Heroes are entertaining.
I'd add:
House - imagine Groucho's Dr. Hackenbush, only not in a comedy
24 - gotta love a show where you can go cold turkey off of heroin within a couple of hours, and get from the Valley to LAX in less time than it takes to book a shuttle.
Doctor Who - the new series boasts impressive special effects and good writing, though it's often tough to keep on top of the dialogue, as the dialects are sometimes very heavy.
Jericho - sort of Lost in the midwest
Daybreak - can't imagine how they'll sustain the premise over the long haul, but off to a promising start
Medium - clever and innovative offering from Glenn Gordon Caron (Moonlighting), just returned. Unfortunately, for some reason, when I went to play the season opener from NBC's HD feed, my DVR had only received the surround audio and none of the main dialogue channel.
Eureka - on hiatus from the Sci-Fi Channel, due back in January, I think. Cleverly written and humorous, with some interesting story arcs.
Psych - also on hiatus (USA Network)until January. Imagine Ferris Bueller as a detective. Often laugh-out-loud funny, with the catchiest theme song in years.
Vanished - moderately interesting, but more than once the show has lived up to its title, and I've missed an episode because of some scheduling shenanigans by the network.
LOL! I just noticed that show on my tivo and asked hubby what the heck it is. We ended up watching the last two episodes. It is the oddest show...but I think I might be hooked.
I got sucked in from episode one.:)
One of my twin daughters is a Medium fan. I watched a couple of times to please her. I thought it was exceedingly boring.
What's it about?
Hey! There's my Car!
24 is the only show that I do watch, so when it's off season, my tv's are off.
The only shows I watch on network TV are "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy". Other than that, it's Turner Classic Movies, History Channel and it's international version and Military Channel.
yah. You're right. I should have added these to my above rant. I don't watch the sports channels, but History, discovery and FNC I watch regularly. AMC sometimes as well. And sci fi.
But the more FNC tunes in to the entertainment circuit or this sensational murder or that sensational abduction the more I tune them out. I can get that kind of trash on the networks, don't need to be glued to FNC to get it.
I wouldn't watch Desperate Housewives if someone paid me, but my youngest daughter is a Grey's Anatomy fan. I've never watched it, so I don't even know what it's about. My hubby watches sci fi and old black and white movies. He flips the remote for sports sometimes, but rarely watches a full game.
We have one little TV, only because my son's roommate at college couldn't take it on the plane. It is on Saturdays for ND football. Maybe Ohio State, but we always hated them when I was a kid. Still do. Sundays only for football. Love to cheer for the hapless Browns and against the Steelers, Baltimore, Denver, Seattle, and a few others. That's it. No NBA, no MLB. Used to love baseball but now, not so much. Don't even listen on the radio anymore. The TV sits unused in the football off-season.
Sponsors like the visciously racist Orbitz. I'm not listening, either.
Boomers remember a time when good family values and old fashioned patriotism was in vogue.
The current brand of crap on TV is a giant middle finger to all who enjoyed traditional programming. TV does its best to alienate a huge customer base and is scratching its head and saying "What happened?"
Genius.
Yep
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations (i.e. The Baby Boomers) are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.
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