The median age of a broadcast television viewer is now the highest ever at 54

[eridani]

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-aging-tv-audience-20140223-story.html

The median age of a broadcast television viewer is now the highest ever at 54. Twenty years ago, it was 41. The most-watched scripted series in the 1993-94 season was "Home Improvement," with a median viewer age of 34. Today, it's "NCIS," with a median viewer who is 61.

Confronted with these realities, the networks are aggressively making the case to advertisers that older viewers are valuable — especially the affluent and influential 55-to-64-year-olds they're calling "alpha boomers." The 50-and-up crowd of today, they contend, is far different than the frugal and brand-loyal group that came of age during the Great Depression and World War II.

"These people are more active, healthier and much more likely to still be in the workforce," said David Poltrack, chief research officer at CBS. "It's certainly a much more vibrant and economically active audience than it used to be."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2014/09/05/tv-is-increasingly-for-old-people/

The median age of a broadcast or cable television viewer during the 2013-2014 TV season was 44.4 years old, a 6 percent increase in age from four years earlier. Audiences for the major broadcast network shows are much older and aging even faster, with a median age of 53.9 years old, up 7 percent from four years ago.

These television viewers are aging faster than the U.S. population, Nathanson points out. The median age in the U.S. was 37.2, according to the U.S. Census, a figure that increased 1.9 percent over a decade. So to put that in context of television viewing, he said TV audiences aged 5 percent faster than the average American.

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1. Interesting!

I haven't watched broadcast television since I was going to school and living in my parent's home (I am now at the point in my life where I am receiving Social Security). It always seemed like once I was on my own, there was so much more important stuff to do with my life, than to watch that one eyed box.

I find the content of the most of the programming on TeeVee to be boring, and all of the advertising (which I believe is now at least 50% of the total air time) to be an insult to my intelligence.

I think that advertising has had the effect of legitimizing the act of lying into becoming a normal and accepted part of our culture. It seems to me that many people now commonly lie, but especially the police, lawyers and most politicians (sorry, but I won't be voting for the Hill - even though I realize that she has truthfully only "evolved" - in a manner similar to Judas Iscariot).

Recently during a conversation, the person with whom I was speaking had to explain to me what Febreze is, and why I need to buy it. She could not believe that I had never heard of it.