Thursday, April 2, 2009

TV Demo Literary Review

I have found so many interesting and informative sources on my topic of television and demographics. I have been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to listen to speakers from Fox and CBS speak on their networks television show strategies, and have found many other academic sources as well. I find it so enthralling to see how much the television industry is changing everyday.

The speakers have given me a first hand experience of what they are really facing everyday. The speaker from Fox provided the audience with a print out of the statistics of their Tuesday ratings compared to the other networks. The information is broken down into gender, and ages to allow for me to have a better understanding of the exact demographics that are watching the most of the certain shows. American Idol proves to be the dominant show in amongst all of the shows and ages at the eight o’clock hour, but seems to be an acception to the fact that the 18 to 34 year olds are the key marketers.

The 18 to 34 demographics are extremely important to networks because the advertisers are always willing to pay premium. They think that the younger demographic are easier to target in their attempt develop them in to loyal and lifelong customers. They are more experimental to buy the products and take advantage of all of the sites that pertain to the shows.

It seems like more today than ever before is demographics the topic of concern with the different networks. The growth of technology and media and allowed for this topic to constantly be in the eye of the networks. The young demographic seems to be constantly on the go which keeps the networks on their toes to continuously improve their marketing strategies.

An example of a show that is aimed at the 18 to 34 year olds is “Gossip Girl” this show takes advantage of each type of growing new media. The product placement that the advertisers use through out the show and cross promotion of different ways you can access the show is an example of the new media in effect. The online sites allows for people to interact with the show on a personal level by playing games and shopping for clothes seen in previous episodes. The amount of time that 18 to 34 year olds spend on the internet helps to increase the CW network’s ratings with the show.

Even though it does make sense that those 50 and older in the baby boomers generation would be the key demographic because of their stable lives and steady income. They are the risky ones that the networks dread to see as a larger demographic for one of their shows. They are unwilling to engage in the exciting new media and are seen as being too safe, by watching their shows the same way every week in front of the television at that specific time. They are also less willing to multi-task while they are watching the shows, which can hinder the networks strategy for them to take full control of their resources.

The world of television demographics is constantly changing as new media is being explored, so the question as to why the 18 to 34 year olds are so important, despite the baby boomers more steady income and life style is a question that will soon be unfolded.

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