My Killa App

I find it so difficult today to keep up with my schedule of television shows that missing an episode has become second nature to me. I decided I wanted to have more control over the addiction I have with my television shows to know when they will be airing new or repeated episodes since the networks change their line up of shows and airing of new episodes constantly. I searched around in need to find something that will help me organize my television-watching schedule and found a widget called TV Forecast. This application is a product of Apple and developed by Big Bucket.

This widget is simple and easy to manage; by downloading this, it becomes a tool easily accessible to you in your Mac OS X Dashboard. Not only does this widget allow you to keep track of all of your favorite television shows, but it allows you to see the next air date for each show, which is extremely helpful for the shows that are not aired every week. It also provides a countdown until the next time the show airs, and a link to either watch the episode from TVRage or purchase it from the iTunes store. But don’t worry you PC lovers because this application is not only created for Mac’s but for Intel, and PowerPC based Mac’s as well. Computer users are not the only ones who get to experience the TV Forecast those with the iPhone do as well, for a small fee of $2.99.

After first downloading this widget it appears in your dashboard to allow you to add all of the television shows that you want it to keep track of. They appear as a list with count down days until the next airing of the show. By clicking on the television show on the dashboard widget it leads you to TVRage.com; here you can explore the episode list, guide, forum, stats, quizzes, tidbits, cast, crew, pictures, and reviews related to each episode. Here on TVRage you can also sign up for free to be a member which allows you to have access to everything that is available to those without a member account except for the ability to create a personal blog and profile to voice your opinion about the different episodes.

The way that this widget functions is you have to type in the television show that you are looking for, and choose your time zone. Then you have the ability to choose from a list of functions for your TV Forecast; they include TV shows that are TBA, perform time zone correction, refresh forecast automatically, and link to the iTunes Store.

I have even downloaded this widget to be on my dashboard so whenever I want to find out what shows are new or on that week I just click F12 and I am immediately able to have that information given to me.

Jason Clarke wrote up a review for the Download Squad website and stated that,

“this interface is simple, clean and uses minimum space while it gives you maximum application”

This widget has been around since October 2005, but constantly found itself in trouble while it was linked to TV.com. Apple continuously found themselves to be in trouble with their viewers since the TV.com site would constantly be down and not allow for any access to the television shows. It was not until April 1, 2009 when Apple and Big Bucket decided to change forces and join up with TVRage. Here they have not experienced half as much trouble that they did with TV.com. According to Big Bucket,

“TVRage is much faster. The reason: No more screen scraping. No more modifying the widget every time there is a markup change. That’s a huge relief.”

Many viewers have also voiced their opinion of how happy they are to have TV Forecast be switched to TVRage by leaving comments on the Big Bucket site.

One of TVRage’s main competitors is Hulu.com, here on Hulu they provide their viewers with the opportunity to choose through a larger variety of television shows, but are not provided with the ability to learn more about the shows through other links. Some of the shows on TVRage do not let you view any episodes and only provide the ability to read about them or watch the trailers. Although Hulu may have some shows that TVRage does not, those with the TV Forecast widget will check their dashboard first since it is easily available for them to access.

A review titled Track Your TV Shows lists the Pro’s and Con’s for this widget. It lists the Pro’s as being,

“an attractive interface, easy to use, and iTunes store links to past episodes”

Some of the Con’s are,

“frequently breaks, limited features in iPhone application for the price, it does not intergrate with iCal”

Most of the time I think what is the purpose of some of these widgets but this one makes perfect sense why it was created, and provides a type of organization for their users. The iTunes store also is able to make money by having the ability to easily access the television show through the click of the mouse to their store online.

Now you are probably all wondering why I picked a widget like this to persuade you into downloading. Well my reasons are simple, for one I think that this widget is a great organization tool to stay on top of all of your shows. I also wanted to share another way that television viewers are accessing their shows in places other than on the television.

Now I know that I have convinced all of you to try out this widget so I have created a simple step-by-step process, on Prezi, of how this TV Forecast works just by clicking on the link provided, http://prezi.com/31857/. Here you will see visualize images of how to set up this widget to be on your dashboard, and take full advantages of its uses. The self-explanatory screen shots allow for a quick and easy understanding of why this widget is so useful, and how it can become part of your life. The first screen shot image is of the Apple download page, here you can see all of the Apple widgets that are available to download, but by typing “TV Forecast” into the search engine in leads you to a page that provides information about the widget and all of the perks it has to offer for its users. After downloading this application it immediately becomes added onto your dashboard for Mac users. There you create a list of all of your favorite television shows that you want to keep track of, simply by typing in the name of the show and selecting done. By clicking on the title of the show it takes you to TVRage’s page with information about that show. Some of the sites where you cannot watch the episode provide you with written up analysis and reviews of each episode. Instead of this you can also click on “buy” to have it redirect you to iTunes page where you can buy the episode to watch at your leasiure. An example of Desperate Housewives is then shown as an example of an episode being purchased and then watched from iTunes.

Go ahead and check out my presentation and have this widget be apart of your television viewing life too!

Future of Television

I think that the future for television networks and their demographics is slowly fading into something new in this digital age. Television shows will develop a new kind of format and relationships with the networks that will act as place-holders and time fillers. Because of the decrease of commercial viewing and the increase of product placement it becomes harder and harder for the networks and TV stations to make money needed to carry out their television shows. I think that the scripted sitcom shows will eventually be founded only on OnDemand. This way the viewer will have to pay a small fee in order to view their show and allow the show to make some of the money that they had spend on each episode since they will not be receiving the revenue from the advertisers. Sitcoms whether it be thirty minutes or sixty are pricy for networks to produce and with the shift of everything becoming digital it is very likely that they will fade away from their regular viewing ways. Hulu and other TV show viewing sites will increase with their popularity for those who do not want to pay the fee of it OnDemand.

News, talk shows, and reality shows will stay because of one main reason they are inexpensive to produce. Also no one is going to pay OnDemand to watch their news because who wants news from two days ago? I do believe that the way news is presented and formatted will change to give viewers a less in depth look at what is going on in the world because by the time that this changes the Internet will be at full speed; with the Internet being the primary way of reading full stories of what is happening around the world. Talk shows and reality shows are also inexpensive because the sets are usually not elaborate and they do not have to pay reality stars, and the talk show guests.

Eventually I think that as the Internet has become so extremely popular I think that cell phones will eventually become just as popular. Right now people are already using it to check emails, upload applications, and even watch television shows but in the near future this will be the first place people will turn to in order to watch all of their shows and news.

So in the next five to ten years when everything I have just said has come true you can thank me for providing you with this insightful look in to the digital entertainment era.

Children's Shows Rules and Regulations

I never realized how strict networks have to be about airing children's television shows until a speaker from the FCC, Federal Communications Commission, came and talked to my Television Stations Management class last week. He informed us about all of the rules and regulations that networks have to follow in order to keep themselves out of trouble. Some of the rules that they have to follow is that they can not have that many minutes of breaks and have to have bumpers before the show comes back on saying, now back to the show. They also can not have a character from the show selling a product in a commercial because the kids will not know how do distinguish between the show they are watching and a commercial. Finally, they can not have an Internet website in a commercial because it encourages the kids to go on to the Internet when their parents may not be around.

Thinking back to when I was little watching the shows on the Disney Channel I would always remember them announcing to their young audience “now back to the show” and we would all come running back into the room. Too bad they do not do that today, but I guess the invention of the DVR has replaced the need for networks to announce this to the audience. The need to keep kids so protective from the media has increased through out the years as more and more ways of accessing media related products has become available to little kids.

If the networks do not follow the rules of the FCC there are many fines that they will be faces with that do not seem to be worth the money. These little kids are so impressionable that any little thing that could confuse their perception of something they are watching on TV can jeopardize their network.

Jumpin on the Bandwagon

I feel like I have jumped on the bandwagon once again by joining yet another social networking site. This new sight that has entered my life is Twitter, and I’m now addicted. I told myself that I was not going to join any other sites that require me to make up a password and username, I think I have a running total of 6 different ones that I keep alternating. The thing that I like about Twitter is the fact that the users pages are clean and simple; there you can not upload photo albums, give people stickers, or take quizzes to see what kind of drink you are. It’s straight and to the point. At first I was hesitant because I did not want just anyone to click to my page and decide to follow me, but when I realized that you can control your privacy I was ready to join.

I created it this past weekend, and thought it was fun putting down my status of what I was doing, and where I was going, but now being back at school this week I noticed that I have one not been on to change my status as much, and two when I do what am I going to put down..I’m on my way to class or stuck in the library? It does not seem to be as interesting as the things I do on the weekend but I guess I’ll eventually get in to the whole Twitterness. I actually think of it as a mini blog where I can just go to quickly jot down my thoughts.

Even though I do not go on it that much now I think once my friends, and I become true Twitters it’ll be helpful to quickly find out what my friends are doing, and save myself from going over my limit for text messaging. 

Widget Review

For all of you who have a hard time keeping up with your favorite TV shows I’ve found the widget for you. It’s called TV Forecast and it is found on the Mac OS X Dashboard, not only does this widget allow you to keep track of all of your favorite television shows but it shows you the next air date for each shows, which is extremely helpful for the shows that are not aired every week. It will also provide a countdown until the next time the show airs, the episode title ad even a link to buy previous episodes from the iTunes store. But don’t worry you PC lovers because this application is not only created for Mac’s but it is available for PC computers as well. Computer users are not the only ones who get to experience the TV Forecast, but those with the iPhone do as well.

This widget is found under the Movies and Television category along with many other widgets pertaining to movies and television. A review titled Track Your TV Shows lists the Pro’s and Con’s for this widget. It lists the Pro’s as being,

“an attractive interface, easy to use, and iTunes store links to past episodes”

Some of the Con’s are,

“frequently breaks, limited features in iPhone application for the price, it does not intergrate with iCal”

Most of the time I think what is the purpose of some of these widgets but this one makes perfect sense why it is created and provide a type of organization for their users. The iTunes store also is able to make money by having the ability to easily access the television show through the click of the mouse to their store online.

Some more Con’s that I read in an article titled Review TV Forecast 101 for iPhone stated,

“it is not a TV guide, and it is only available for current television series”

So for all of you who want to watch your past time television shows you are out of luck. The way that this widget functions is you have to type in the television show that you are looking for, and choose your time zone. Then you have the ability to choose from a list of functions for your TV Forecast; they include TV shows that are TBA, perform time zone correction, refresh forecast automatically, and link to the iTunes Store.

I have even downloaded this widget to be on my dashboard so whenever I want to find out what shows are new or on that week I just click F12 and I am immediately able to have that given to me.

Jason Clarke wrote up a review for the Download Squad website and stated that,

“this interface is simple, clean and uses minimum space while it gives you maximum application”

The reviews for this widget seem to have greater Pro’s than Con’s. I think that if an application is as simple to use as it is functional than it is no question as to if you should use it or not. The perk of not missing another one of your favorite television shows is one major plus that made me want to download this widget.

Advertising Age: MediaWorks

To all of my followers I think that you will be excited to hear about my discovery of a widget that will keep you that much more informed about what is going on in the advertising world. You probably are thinking why would I think Advertising Age would be something that I am excited about and think would be beneficial, when the blogs I write about are based on television demographics. Well, the reason why I think this widget is so valuable is because advertisers are all of the networks main source of revenue, and having the stories available at a moments notice will help to expand your knowledge about the advertising world as well.

The large role that advertisers play with television is so significant that with out them the stations would not be here today. Advertising Age has widgets that provide an emphasis on different advertising topics, and the one that I choose has an emphasis on MediaWorks. The articles that they have on advertising in the media will allow for a better understanding of how different television networks function. The way that it is set up will be easy for those of you who do not have the time to sit down and read a long article, the short clips give you a sense of if the article is to your liking or not.

I’ve learned that having knowledge of all aspects that are related to television demographics will put you one step ahead of everyone else. It gives you an advantage when you are talking about demographics to incorporate the information of other fields of research as well.

Widgetbox

Until this semester the word widget seemed to be a foreign word, and then once I found out what it was I felt that it would be no use to me. After finding out that this mini-web application can also be added to my blog or social network site to provide me with quick information related to a particular subject has changed my world. To me this device is shockingly interesting since I did not realize that it would actually have use to me. Not only did I not know about widgets, but I did not realize that they had sites specifically dedicated to widgets. The widget that I found is located on the Widgetbox website. This site has hundreds of widgets to choose from and categorizes them in to specific tags such as “family”, “games”, “movies” and “sports”, or you can type in any topic into the “Find Widgets” box. Having so many widgets on this site is not as over-whelming as it may seem since they also categorize it into “Hottest Widgets”, “Featured Widgets”, “New Widgets”, and “All Time Favorites”. Finding widgets is not the only thing you can do on this site, you can even create your own widget! This simple format lays out the entire process as to how to create your very own widget.

After exploring around on this widgetbox site I found a widget that is helpful to not only me but to everyone else who finds my topic on television demographics interesting. The name of it is called Advertising Age, with an emphasis on MediaWorks. The word advertising may seem like it does not have anything to with television demographics but in fact it does. The television networks rely a vast amount of their revenue on the participation of different advertisers. This widget covers the latest media news, analysis and data, and is focused on educating media planners, buyers and owners. The advertising is all types that include magazine, broadcast, print, television, and marketing.

The step-by-step process of how this application works is to first click on the Advertising Age widget application. It will take you to a page where you can post a comment or read comments about the application. You are able to choose from a number of different color backgrounds for the widget, and read a summary on what the application is about. It also shows you what other widgets you might be interested in as well. Once you explore through this page you click on the green “Get Widget” button, and it will take you to a page with just the widget where you follow the directions on how to add the widget to your Facebook, MySpace, Blogger or any other application that you want your new widget to be accessable at. In order to add it to your blog or webpage it provides you with a code to paste on to your page. The only problem that I experienced is trying to get it onto your Facebook page. I tried several times and I could not get it to show up on my page. Fortunatley Widgetbox does a great job at providing a “Help” link to click on along with “About”, and “Share”.

This widget is great because I will be able to see and read about up to minute news on how advertising is changing in this digital world. This is also something that will help my viewers become more knowledgeable about this changing industry.

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.

Finally!

I have finally decided on a topic for my paper #3! It is focusing on why networks are ignoring the baby boomers when creating television shows when they seem to be the most reliable, and instead are developing their shows around the demographics of 18 to 34 year olds.

I find it interesting how much the entertainment industry is changing in this day and age. From the moment that the television set was created it has been able to captivate the world. Other than the radio it was the only way to obtain an outside source of entertainment with out leaving the house. Much has changed since the early days of television with the ability to find entertainment with many other devices that make us look like the Jetsons. With all of the other products that are available, television networks have to constantly stay on their toes to make their shows the latest and greatest, with the newest ways to stay connected. With first things first they have to decide who their important demographics are to use as their basis for their television shows.

The reason for the networks focusing on the younger, 18 to 34 year olds, is because they are faster to embrace new media like video games, the Internet, and cell phone propaganda. The advertisers are also willing to pay premium to these networks to have their products aired toward this demographic. They find them to be the ones purchasing their products and engaging in their sales. Life styles are continuously changing to allow for a more diverse group of viewers during the prime time slots, so finding that key demographic leads to the success of the television show and without it results with it being canceled. I have found out that in the 1960's demographics were focused on different strategies than age groups, the networks focus was to find the right people in general. This concept did not last long when they decided to focuse on finding the right age group that would help them to make the most money and increase their ratings. Online sites seem to be their largest source of promotion that the different networks use for their shows. The online sites that are developed allow for the young audience to find other ways to connect with the show which eventually creates loyal fans. They can engage in different ways that most likely result in longer term fans. This young demographic is a positive for both the network and advertisers, while the network makes the money from the advertisers the advertisers do in return.

My focus has changed dramatically as I watch television today. The characters problems do not seem to captivate me as much as how the networks are promoting other products through out the show and what key words the actors are saying or cars they are driving. One of the first shows that I noticed this in was "Gossip Girl". Cell phones prove to be a main prop that is used in almost every scene in the hour episode, and every time that it is referenced to the audience has the ability to take a glace at the name of the phone and wireless provider's logo, Verizon. Both of these allow for Verizon to show the "Gossip Girl" audience that the phones that are constantly being used are the new hot item that they too should have. At the end of each episode they tell the audience to log on to the CW website to check out the music that was played throughout the episode. I decided to log on and see what their site has to say to their audience, they provide them with the ability to all things related to the show, from reading postcards from the characters trips, to shopping for clothes that they wore on the show. This site has created the ability for their fans to look and act just as the characters do, and ultimately sucks them into buying in to their products. Not only does "Gossip Girl" use outside sources and product placement to connect their audience but they are also formulated to attract the demographic of the 18 to 34 year olds.

This invigorating demographic transformation keeps me enthralled as the networks continuously work on their ways to keep them connected while the demographics 50 and older are left in the dust.

The Topoi Tactic

As the television industry is continuously changing the topic for my paper # 3 continues to as well. I used the Topoi tool to help me to brain storm my thoughts on television demographics, to figure out how I should go about writing my paper. The first Topoi tool that I used was contrast. I came up with magazines, and books, then I had to figure out television’s values. I realized that their views can be unethical at times because it is easily able to persuade people into believing certain things. It reflects a change in the way that we receive news, entertainment and way we spend our time, and how the networks structure their format for their shows. Television has affected how networks structure the format for their shows. Television has affected the way that society functions by showing how to act, and what to wear.

Next was cause and effect, this allows for the networks to have a focus on and organization for each one of their shows and how hey create and grow there audience this allows for a better understanding with the networks and what their audiences want. Change is the third step that I took in forming my thoughts. I realized that television networks have had to change the ways they create an audience, they have to develop outside sources to keep their viewers connected at all times. Throughout the years more networks have developed on cable that have created a niche market that allows them to have a focus on who is watching their shows. My final step that I took was to figure out the form/structure. I concluded that more networks are forming which creates more options for the viewers to choose what they want to watch and ultimately makes the networks work harder to attract their viewers to get the ratings. The different television shows attract different demographics, and each network also ahs different ways that they use to create strong fan bases, with websites being the most popular.

After using this tool to look at my topic more closely I have created a new approach on how to format my essay. I have decided to focus on why 18 to 34 year olds are so important on television and how are the different networks changing to create that stronger fan base.

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Pageflakes

I welcome you to my TV Demographics pageflake site by clicking on the link provided. There you will find sites related to all things that involve demographics in the television industry. The first flake you will find under RSS Flakes is Flypaper.tv, this site offers stories and information on the “fast-evolving online media climate”. This site allows me to stay updated with everything that is happening in the entertainment and television industry by having the access to stories about Nielsen ratings, and the buzz that is surrounding the online world of network’s attempt at branching out their shows to different markets. Next is TRAC media services, here I am able to gain a better understanding about the public television audience, membership, trends, and community. This particular article explains why demographics are so important in television. A table of this demographic information is also given to allow for a better understanding of who is watching the most television during the day.

Below that is MediaPost News Online, this particular article explains how much the younger generations have shaped the way networks feature their television shows. It explains how many of their fans use their online sites to catch up on missed shows during the week. Along with news this site also had different blog categories and the TV Board in particular has been very helpful. WIRED blog network is next which contains news on entertainment changes and improvements. Freepress, right below WIRED, is beneficial to me as I try to understand why and how different media sources are connected. The “Big Six” link shows me all of the 6 major corporations and how they control what it is that we watch, and read.

USA Today is also another site that is more readily available to the public with information on television show’s changes and advancements. Next you will find The New York Times Media and Advertising, TV Decoder blog by a contributor to the Times. He frequently writes about different tv shows, demographic changes, and the entertainment industry. Fancast provides episodes, movies, trailers and clips from recent Hollywood events, and not to mention all of these viewings are free. Blogging on this site is also available to those that want to voice their opinions about the site and different shows that are aired here. MSN TV contains recent news on all kinds of television information from tv picks, to tv news; there’s no excuse for a popular show to go unnoticed. The final pageflake under my RSS Flakes is CNET News, this site has access to Digital Media news articles.

At the top of the right hand column is Diigo Bookmark Flake, this flake is for all of the websites that I have found interest in as I have surfed through the web. The majority of them are focused around my central topic, television demographics. Next are my Search Flakes, the Universal News Search, Universal Blog Search, and a Google search. The key words that I have used in the search bar are television demographics, this links me to all things that relate to television and the networks demographics. Below that is a Bibliography Flake that contains the Citeline site, where all of my information is for the sites that I will be using in my paper number three. The sites consist of four web articles, and two book sites. Many of the articles that I found help me to understand why the demographic age of 18 to 34 is so vital in the television industry. Their young impressionable personalities allow the networks to test out their market strategies to strengthen their numbers. One of the articles Will Hollywood Act its Age provides me with the latest technique that networks are using to provide their viewers with alternative ways to view their television shows; they are taking advantage of the Internet and cell phones. The final flake on my pageflake site is my Soulmate Flake. My assignment to find someone who has common interests as me was a challenge I overcame. Fortunately I was able to find one, his name is Matt Kramer. He and I share many common interests, with television being the major one.

My pageflake site seems that it will be extremely useful to me by allowing me to constantly be updated with changes in television. It is also easily available for others to see and navigate themselves through. Who knows maybe I’ll be able to convince more people to get involved in the world of television demographics!

Check it out!

More Annotations

Crafty TV Writing

Depending on the time slot depends on the type of demographic. It is obvious that a television show is going to want the highest ratings that it can achieve so they do all that they can in order to create shows that will attract the largest range of demographics. An example of this is The OC this show was considered a “co-viewing” show. It was able to gain both teenagers and adults there were both teenager problems and parent problems that continuously engaged their audience in each week to create a strong demographic. Different networks also have their own types of demographics. There are some for younger adult audiences, older adults, kids, African Americans, and women. The different networks and television shows also change with the advertisements that are shown. Each commercial reflects somewhat what the content on the show is about.


WILL H'WOOD ACT ITS AGE?

Today networks and studios seem to have mixed feelings about which demographic they should gear their television shows toward. The networks think that younger audiences watch less TV, they are not the ones with the most money or power, and they are taking longer to grow up. On the other hand they are faster to embrace new media like video games, the Internet and cell phones. They are also more likely to buy an advertisement that they see during a commercial. The young audiences also take advantage of the different connections that the networks have created for them to interact while the show is not on. They are trying to find ways that they can engage a wider range of demographics that will ultimately increase their ratings and fan base.

Thinking Outside the Box:

Rose, Brian G. Thinking Outside the Box. Ed. Gary R. Edgerton. Vol. 1. Lexington: The UP of Kentucky, 2005.

Big 6 networks show their ages

Annotations

TV starts to notice others in the room; The 18-to-49 age 'demo' may be overrated. Future programming could change greatly

For the last 20 years, the television industry has been all about young-adult demographic groups, or "demos" in the slang of Madison Avenue, because marketers have believed that young people are most likely to develop lifelong loyalties to certain brands. Today networks find it smarter to widen their demo to 18-49 year olds. This article is arguing that the young 20s and 30s demo is not that important for different networks. They talk about the fact that many of the prime time shows are watched by families that consist of a wide range of demographics. CBS is the first network to focus the majority of their shows on this concept. This source will be useful because I can use it as a point of reference and an example of how the different networks functioned in the past compared to how they are now. The networks in the 90s were basically focused on gaining the young 20s and 30s views with “Friends” and “Seinfeld”.


Why won't television grow up?

Many network television executives and advertisers do not like the fact that their audiences are growing older by the day. As a result, programming and advertisements that appeal to a huge audience of mature viewers are often viewed as unimportant, even though Americans aged 45 and older are the largest television viewing audience. One of the reasons that the networks are obsessed with pleasing young adults is that advertisers are still willing to pay a premium to reach this less affluent and shrinking group. The broadcast industry's ignorance about aging may stem from the way it chooses to receive its information. To find out about their markets, television advertisers and agencies must rely on Nielsen ratings, which are the only comprehensive source of information about television audiences. In markets where older adults are a potent and growing force, the standard Nielsen numbers do not describe viewers or their buying habits. Many of the networks are becoming concerned with the fact that their 18-49 demo is not going to be growing in the near future and the 50 and older demographic will increase more than 60 percent in the next 10 years.

Key Deomgraphics

I choose this blog by Brian Stelter on Harsh News for Networks, as Well as for People Over 50 as my topic of interest for my paper because I find it very interesting how people 50 and over are no longer key viewers. It makes me wonder why networks rule out there 50 and over population when they seem to contribute to a large part of their ratings. I am also curious as to what the networks are doing that keeps their viewers in tune with their shows.

There does seem to be one network that holds their 18 to 49 age demographic to be true except for,

“The CW who continues their median age as being 34”.

It makes me wonder if the networks think that these 18 to 49 year olds are more willing to contribute to all of the different aspects that are provided to enthrall their viewer in their shows.

Many of the other networks such as ABC and CBS have their median viewers ages range at 50 and 54. CBS is able to make up for this older demographic because they are the parent station to CW whom is taking care of their younger demographic. All of the viewers contribute something different to each station as key viewers whom help to increase their ratings.

My "Perfect Soulmate"

With Valentines Day soon approaching I though that I would get into the holiday spirit and find my social bookmarking soulmate. With the amount of people that are on the web there is bound to be at least one person who shares the same interest as me. Much time and consideration went into the process of choosing my perfect match I finally found my soulmate on diigo.com, Matt Kramer. I found him by going on to the New York Times’ blog site and then opened on the diigo side bar to see whom else from diigo goes on that site. His name along with many other peoples’ names came up, so I proceeded to go to other sites that I have used and I noticed that his name continued to come up. So I looked on his page and noticed that we have not only have television and media in common but many other things.

The different tags that we have in common consist of NYC, movies, sports, entertainment, advertising, pop culture, food, arts, and video. His tags are all organized very well so that when people log onto his page they are able to easily identify which topics he finds to be of interest, there is also a number that appears next to each category to tell how many articles he has on it. I found interest in all of the articles and blogs that he has posted on his site. As I looked through his bookmarks and found some gems that will be very useful to me for my blogs.

Matt has almost one thousand pages bookmarked, the majority of his pages are bookmarks for the Boston Globe and the New York Times. I think that his profile will be very helpful for me to refer to it for different articles that I can use for my own blogs. He does not seem to have commented on any of the articles that he has bookmarked but he has many useful ones for me.

Blogorama #4

These three blogs have already been posted, but I have taken the time to go back and do some revision. Check them out!

TV Decoder Voice Critique

With The New York Times being my favorite newspaper and source I use to find out the latest events that are happening in the country and world I was fortunate to find out that Brian Stelter’s, a contributor to the New York Times as a media reporter, has a blog. His articles in the Times are focused on media and advertising, but he has also developed a blog called "TV Decoder", which provides insight to all things that involve the television industry. His writing is extremely professional and credible, as he represents the New York Times. Stelter’s reports on television station developments, and is able to provide quick daily stories.

First of all one of his blog's titled, “Harsh News for Networks, as Well as for People Over 50” provides information on the age demographics for each television network’s shows. He quotes many major agencies and news sources to allow his information to be creditable. This blog is proof that Brian is extremely educated, which shows his viewers that he knows what he is talking about when he quotes different media buying agencies.

He has proven to have done his research to support his claim that the majority of the networks have a significantly older fan base, even though the younger demographics tend to be the main goal that networks gear their television shows at. They also prove to be the ones that take advantage of the different ways networks have created for viewers become connected with the show and experience the way each network markets their TV shows.

In another one of Brian's blogs, “A Pirated Fount of Free TV” he talks about how accessible it is to get a hold of a bootlegged movies or television shows just by searching for it online. He states that,

“‘Heroes’ is one of the shows with the highest rated shows downloaded”.

He states that this is based on research from TorrentFreak.com, a Web site based in Germany.

Brian's blog style is presented as a report, which makes sense beceause he is a journalist. Most of his blogs are based on outside research that he has done about specific topics related to television industry. He provides quotes when they are necessary to give the researchers credit for their work that he is using. Brian’s voice is constant and does not to change from one post to another; it continues to stay factual and true to its topic in all of his work. His voice has become evident that he reports the facts and does not show any emotion or opinion of how he feels about the different subjects.

I know tht Brian’s blogs will be great amount of help for me as I continue to write my blogs. His factual information will be extremely reliable as I learn more about this television industry. I will also be able to refer to his findings in order to make my blogs just as creditable as I find his to be. Who knows maybe I'll be the next blogger for The New York Times!


Profile a Blog

The title of the blog that I will be profiling is called “Young Americans Driving Online Video Surge” by Erika Sass. This blog profiles the amount of people in between the ages of 18 and 34 who download videos online instead of watching the shows on television. The article is located in Media Post News, and is a part of their Online Media Daily section. Here their blogs are posted everyday about media related subjects.

This blog relates to my work in many ways. This blog talks about a new form of technology that the younger generations are using for their advantage. Their ability to access television shows online and to not be pressured to watch it at the time it is aired is a tactic that networks have to focus their strategy on so that they do not risk losing their viewers. This professional site and article is valuable to many network executives as they form their marketing strategies for their different shows. Many of the executives are older, and do not know what their younger audience is doing in terms of taking advantage of the different media techniques that are available to them. This blog proves from recent studies that the young population is slowly growing and showing networks that they are looking for different places to access their shows. This blog talks about the cable networks job to form websites to keep their viewers connected when it is not on. Many sites have caught on to this Internet generation and have provided their fan base with sites that allow them to interact with the shows, to make them to feel as though they have formed a bond.

This post is not significantly detailed but it has the amount of information that would be needed for networks to read to understand how the demographics all over the nation are changing. Erika Sass bloged,

“Americans ages 18-34 are roughly twice as likely to have downloaded television programs from the Web”.

This age group is extremely influential and has quickly caught on to the advancement of technology in the media. There are many positive aspects that come along with the ability to download the television programs from the Web such as having the option to watch it at viewer’s own leisure. They also do not have to go through and watch the three minute commercials during the show and have the luxury of only having to watch thirty seconds of advertisements every seven minutes.

My blogs will be different from this particular one because it will focus more on the television networks and their ability to attract this 18-34 demographic through the means of different media sources. Since all of the networks are constantly in competition with one another about who has the highest ratings the ability to find that special niche improves their viewer content which ultimately will help to lead their network to the top.


Hello

Hi my name is Jenna I am a junior transfer student from the University of Arizona, and I am now a Cinema-Television Critical Studies major at the best university in southern California, USC. Growing up I was always interested in movies and television shows and how the whole industry works. I attended Mater Dei High School, and it was there where I was first introduced to the with the opportunity to make my own short shows and have a taste of what it is like to run a morning television show. Being in that class inspired me to want to further my education in the movie and television business.

I have decided to focus my blogs on television demographics for different television network, and how the different networks use outside resources to keep them connected. I have found it very interesting that in TV shows today offer a variety of different products are exposed to their viewer in attempt to convince them to buy their product. These different stations also form websites that allow their viewers to stay connected once their show is over, which allows a relationship between the audience and the show to form a greater fan base.

In my blogs I am going to explore different television shows and their attempts at influencing their viewers through their product placement and outside material. For example the CW network has had the ability to attract a young audience, and whether they realize it or not, they are being pushed by advertisers to want their product. Different genres and age categories have the ability of being attracted through different methods; which ultimately result in the same thing, and the station reaches their rating and revenue goal. I'm excited to explore the television industry and the networks shows through different genres and age demographics with their ability to use cross promotion, product placement and outside sources to influence to attract their viewers.

Reddit Social Networking

After spending hours surfing the web and exploring different social bookmarking sites to figure what site would be most valuable to me and my readers I decided on this one called Reddit. I came across this site by Googling “television social bookmarking sites” and found a page titled “Top 10 Social Bookmarking Sites”. Here I was able to read quick descriptions of each one, then searched the different sites and saw what they had to offer.

Reddit has 1.2 million visitors in the United States with the ability to attract mostly male in between the ages of 35 and 44 with their income being very high. Another thing that caught my eye is that it said that business and entertainment do well with their audience.

On this site you are able to type in the search bar any specific type of post that you are looking for. Then a long list of different blog sites that have blogs that relate to what you are looking for. Reddit is great because you do not have to install anything in order to search around on their site. You can also create your own reddit, and post your own blogs and have the ability vote on which blogs you think are “hot or not”. There’s also a variety of other categories to choose from such as economics, science, programming, business, comics, gaming. Each of these categories are divided into different types of stories such as “hot”, “new”, “most controversial”, and “top stories”. This site is full of fun and educational blogs and has something for everyone.

This site will allow me to stay current with the information that is going on and I will be able to choose from a variety of different sites to look on. I found a blog on MGM posting movies and TV shows on YouTube, blogs like this will allow me to stay updated with changes in the entertainment business.

TV Decoder Voice Critique

I really enjoy Brian Stelter’s blogs on media and advertising; his blogs are featured on the New York Times website as a media reporter, and has also developed TV Decoder which provides insight to all things that involve the television industry. His writing is extremely professional and is creditable, being that he represents the New York Times. Stelter’s reports on television station developments, and is able to prove that his information is reliable.

First of all his blog titled, “Harsh News for Networks, as Well as for People Over 50” provides information on the age demographics for each television network’s shows. He quotes many major agencies and news sources to allow his information to be creditable. This blog shows that Brian is extremely educated, and is able to prove that he knows what he is talking about when he quotes the media buying agency, Magna Global. They say that “average age for the five broadcast stations combine to be 50 years old”. He has proven to have done his research to support his claim that the majority of the networks have a significantly older fan base. I have noticed that it is the networks goal to have a larger young demographic rather than an older one since they are not going to be taking advantage of all of their ways to become connected with the show and experience the way each network markets their television shows.

In Brian’s other blog on “A Pirated Fount of Free TV” he talks about how accessible it is to get a hold of a bootlegged movies or television shows just by searching for it online. He states that “’Heroes’ is one of the shows with the highest rated shows downloaded”, which is based on research from TorrentFreak.com, a Web site based in Germany.

It is hard to understand Brian’s voice as being anything else other than educational, and creditable. He posts most of his blogs based on outside research that he has done about a specific topic. He provides quotes when they are necessary to give the researchers credit for their work that he is using. Brian’s voice does not seem to change from one post to another; it continues to stay factual and true to its topic in all of his work. His voice has become evident that he reports the facts and does not show any emotion to how he feels about the different subjects.

Brian’s blogs have proven to me that they will be a great amount of help as I continue to write my blogs. His factual information will be extremely reliable as I learn more about this television industry. I will be able to refer to his findings in order to make my blogs just as creditable as I find his to be. Since he is associated with the New York Times it makes reading his blogs that much more enjoyable because I find the New York Times to be my favorite newspapers because it is full of so much interesting and exciting news.

Similar Blogs Commentary

As I have been searching around for other people’s blogs that relate to my topic on Television Demographics in this media generation I have come across many that have become of interest. These have provided more insight for me as I learn more about the different demographics with other networks.

One blog that caught my attention is titled “CBS: Online and TV Age Demographics”. Although this is not about the CW network I found it interesting to compare the two networks. CBS’s age demographic of 36 year olds for their online site and 53 year olds watching on television is significantly older than that of the CW. I find it interesting that CBS has such an older fan base, which makes it difficult to make the transition for them to notice their online marketing. The blog does say that the ones on their online site are between the ages of 18 and 25 but less than half of the group watch their shows when the air on the network. I find this blog site to be very interesting and helpful with providing me with ideas and guidelines for my own blogs.

This next blog talks about the ability to someday soon have the option to choose what TV shows that they can subscribe to create their own channel line up. This site is titled “The Internet and the Future of TV”; the future of TV is defiantly on its way to be something that people would never imagine would happen. The ability to have television shows to on the Internet viewed on television screens will change the way networks air their shows. Since their viewers will not be as limited to choose whether they want to watch their show on a big screen on a PC. This blog is very informative and seems to have knowledge of the new wave of technology that could soon change households all over.

The blog titled “A Pirated Fount of Free TV” provided insight to the way that networks are suffering with their television shows streaming online. They are loosing out on a lot of money with the people who are illegally downloading them online for others to view. These bootleg versions of their shows are available for people all over the world to watch which takes away the viewers from watching the shows on the network or on their own website. This blog site will be very useful for me since there is a category on the site is on media and advertising, they also seem to be very knowledgeable about their information.

The CW’s blog is extremely useful since this is the network that I am focusing most of my topics on. This specific blog, “Gossip Girl Chase Crawford Stars in PSA Campaign for Teens for Jeans”, talks about Aeropostale using the “Gossip Girl” star for a non-profit organization which will not only benefit the organization but will benefit the CW as well. This idea of allowing their star to be marketed a positive way helps the CW to gain respect and higher ratings in efforts to gain more viewers.

These blog sites contain many different authors that express their knowledge about television and its demographics. They will all be very useful for me as I continue to express my knowledge in television and its demographics.

Profile a Blog

The title of the blog that I will be profiling is called “Young Americans Driving Online Video Surge” by Erika Sass. This blog profiles the amount of people in between the ages of 18 and 34 who download videos online instead of watching the shows on the television. The article is located in Media Post News, and is apart of their Online Media Daily section. Their blogs are posted everyday about media related subjects.

This blog relates to my work in many ways, it talks about a new form of technology that the younger generation is taking advantage of. Their ability to access television shows online and to not be pressured to watch it at the time it is aired is a tactic that networks have to focus on so that they do not risk loosing their viewers. This professional site, and article is valuable to many network executives as they form their marketing strategies for their different shows. Many of the executives are older, and they do not know what their younger audience is doing in terms of taking advantage of the different media techniques that are available. This blog proves from recent studies that the young population is slowly growing to show that they look for different places to access their shows. This blog talks about the cable networks job to form sites to keep their viewers connected when it is not on. Many sites have caught on to this Internet generation and have provided their fan base with sites that allow them to interact with the shows, which makes them to feel as if they have formed a bond.

This posts is not significantly detailed but it has the amount of information that would be needed for networks to read to understand how the demographics all over the nation are changing. Erika Sass said that “Americans ages 18-34 are roughly twice as likely to have downloaded television programs from the Web”. This age group is extremely influential and has quickly caught on to the advancement of technology in the media. There are many positive aspects that come along with the ability to download the television programs from the Web such as having the option to watch it at the viewer’s own leisure. They also do not have to go through and watch all of the commercials during the show and most likely will only see thirty seconds of advertisements every seven minutes.

My site is going to be different from this because it will focus more on the CW network and their ability to attract this demographic through the means of different media sources. Although the CW does have a large amount of their viewers in between the ages of 18 and 34, they have to constantly keep up with the rising factor that they need more ways to stay connected with the show than just their once a week streaming on their network television station.

Hello

Hi my name is Jenna and I am a junior transfer student from the University of Arizona, and I am now a Critical Studies major at the best university in southern California. Growing up I have always been interested in movies and television shows and how the whole industry works. I attended Mater Dei High School and there was I first introduced to the ability to make my own short shows and have a taste of what it is like to run a morning show. Being in that class inspired me even more to want to further my education in the movie and television business. 

I have decided to focus my blogs on television demographics on the CW network, and the different shows use outside resources and keep them connected. I have found it very interesting that how in TV shows today a variety of different products are exposed toward the viewer in attempt to convince them to buy their product. The different stations also form websites that allow their viewers to stay connected once their show is over, which allows a connection between the audience and the show to form a greater fan base. 

In my blogs I am going to explore different television shows and their attempts at influencing their viewers through their product placement and outside material. The CW network has the ability to attract a young audience and whether they realizes the advertisers push with the product or not they subconsciously are being pushed toward wanting their product. Different genres and age categories have the ability of being attracted through different methods; which ultimately result in the same thing, and the station reaches their goal. My blogs will focus on the CW shows different genres and age demographics and their ability to use cross promotion, product placement and outside sources to influence and attract their viewers.