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Where Are All The Young Adults Going? (03/04 Season)

With just eight weeks under its belt, Broadcast is off to a prickly start this new season as viewers continue to desert the seven Broadcast networks and their new programming lineup. Children, teens, and young adults continue to flee Broadcast seven nets as viewership is down extensively in Primetime. In fact, P50+ is the only demographic to experience a gain in Broadcast thanks mainly to CBS's (+740,000 viewers) and Fox's (+670,000 viewers) lineup. As viewers continue to disappear from Broadcast, cable’s niche programming manages to capture both ends of the age spectrum.

Below are some highlights:

• To date, Broadcast’s greatest loss is among young adults, A18-24 (-648,000) thanks mainly to ABC’s, NBC’s, & WB’s inability to hold on women aged 18-24 (-428,000 v. -221,000 for M18-24). There has been so much hype about young men fleeing – but where are all the women going? Well, cable (+81,000) has managed to capture some of them but the rest of young adults are turning to other forms of entertainment.

• Children aged 2-11 viewership has dwindled 430,000 viewers primarily thanks UPN’s and ABC’s failure to embrace young men as M2-11 viewership fell 17% vs. year ago.

• To date, Persons aged 25-34 viewership has diminished by more than half a million viewers thanks to ABC’s, NBC’s, and WB’s inability to grasp men as viewership is down -405,000 viewers.

• Similar to A18-24, persons 35-49 loss was driven by women (-430,000 vs. -48,000 for M35-49) due to NBC’s and CBS’s weak new programming lineup.

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Content © 2004 by Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau (www.onetvworld.org). Reprinted with Permission.