May 11-15, 2009

[SteveFrame]

On these weeks that the demos are doing better, and without seeing the 50 and older demos, I always worry when the shows don't move that much in overall HH's.

I know that the 18-49 and younger are more important to advertisers, but polls in the last few years keep showing that the TV audience is skewing older to the older demographic. And since live TV is still the most important demo to advertisers, I just worry that the loss of older viewers is going to end up hurting worse in the long run.

[LoyaltoAMC]

Advertisers don't care about the older viewers. Research shows that 50+ people, compared with younger viewers, don't spend as much money and are less likely to try a new brand. The overall audience may dwindle, but as long as the under-50 demo is strong, that's all that counts.

[SteveFrame]

But the trends say that the younger audience is not going increase as more and more of the younger demos shift viewing habits to the new technology. And in the mean time it is going to take several more years before advertisers and the Nielsen's catch up to that.

That is one of the big reasons that the viewing audience for live television is skewing higher because they are the ones who are less likely to view on an Ipod or the Computer.

Networks are going to be more willing to stick with a show if the overall HH's are still good. If not we will be seeing more shows moved to things like Passions was where even on the Internet you have to pay a subscription price to see them. And frankly right now in this tight economy even if it was my favorite show I would just be left out in the cold.

[Ann_SS]

The fluctuations in the 18-49 women demo that have been occurring recently suggests that the bigger problem is that the younger audience is not loyal. Watching soaps is not a daily habit and external events influence their viewing habits. Y&R is the one soap that does well on the Internet and SoapNet. The other soaps appear to be struggling to varying degrees. ABC does not even mention GH's ratings when it releases SoapNet's PR statements. As along as the soaps cannot build on the 18-49 women demo and it continues to slip, the soaps are going to have to keep cutting their budgets substantially and eventually cancellation will become a reality.

[SteveFrame]

And the more you cut out any demo range centering on grandparents and parents you cut out generational transfer viewing too. So many of my online friends learned to watch soaps from their parents or grandparents. When the older generation quits watching, they quit passing it down.

Soaps are so stupid in that continue to allow the network gurus and the advertisers push them for the 18 to 49 target demo during the day. It is a proven fact that many of that generation are not home anymore. Older viewers are the ones home during the day now. They make up the majority of the daytime audience. Daytime soaps don't appeal to them anymore. So they turn off and watch reruns of primetime shows or the news during the day.

More than any other branch of TV, daytime soaps need to reach out to that. Also more and more recent surveys are showing that working mothers are having an even harder time with day care in this economy. The news the other night said that more and more working parents are turning to their grandparents to watch the kids when they are at work because most times it is free child care.

If soaps could get the grandparents to tune back in, then 9 times out of time those young kids when they are out of school will be watching what Grandma watches and a whole new generation of soap viewer is born.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

These demos are atrocious.

[soapydoc]

To be fair, I don't think a ton of people really knew about the shocking ending on Friday. I would not even say it was all over cyberspace. Plus, for those who did not know, the scene was at the very end of the episode so if you weren't watching anyway, you didn't know you missed anything.

The test will be how the following Monday does. Will news spread? Will people who missed it want to tune in to see if there is more to the story? Will people who are not sure who Thom is but sense something is about to go down with Cane turn their TV's on.

Since it was all about their wedding, that is where the most of the blame lies. Frankly, it was a boring wedding.

[MarkH]

Yes. Also, if there is high tune in the following Monday...(and Bierdz has not been shown since that last Friday)...I wonder if that could actually promote more tune-OUT (on Tuesday and subsequent days) by people who were feeling a little 'bait and switch'?

[soapydoc]

I wondered that too. But it is a big enough shock that chances are people will keep peeking in for a follow up. I think the spoilers have him back next week.

[SteveFrame]

Wow I missed Y&R all week. I did not know that Y&R didn't follow up with Bierdz through the week. Talk about lack of follow through on a big cliffhanger.

[Ann_SS]

The soaps have no choice. The companies selling the products and the advertisers know the demos of the consumers of their product. They want that 18 to 49 women demo because these women have the money and they buy household and other beauty products. Most older Americans have brand loyalty, are poorer and live off fixed incomes. If the soaps cannot attract the 18 to 49 women demo because it no longer exists during the daytime, the companies will pull out their ad dollars and take them elsewhere. So the networks will then have to find advertisers with products that target older viewers to buy ads during the soaps. This means much lower ad dollars and the soap budgets will have to be slashed. No wonder the soaps are in so much trouble.

[Carolyn1980]

Actually, the only thing correct about that statement is that older Americans have brand loyalty. While we've all heard about the older people living on "fixed incomes," study after study has shown that this demographic has more disposable income than any other age group. The ONLY reason advertisers continue to cater to the 18-49 demographic is because they believe older people will not try new products, and will not change their brands, in general (brand loyalty, as you say).

Personally, I think advertisers need to come around. That thinking may have been true a generation ago, but not anymore. But until they do come around, we're stuck with the current obsession with the dwindling younger audience.

[MarkH]

See, the future is quite optimistic here.

Soon, we'll be able to count every eyeball ... or at least, we'll be able to count the eyeballs more accurately (interactive DVRs, online streaming, on-demand and PPV TV).

More importantly, through direct and indirect methods. we'll know the viewer's PERSONAL brand loyalty, preferrred brands, categories of interest, etc. So we won't have to rely on fallible predictors like age and gender...we'll deliver targeted messages that are most appropriate for the person.

The internet is already getting very good at this...and it is all converging in that direction.

Once this happens, it will me much easier to monetize content again. Moreoever, there won't be a whole class of unvalued audience members.