Over on Broadcasting and Cable, John Consoli tracked down the numbers for the median age of most of cable’s highest rated shows. The numbers are kind of shocking. We all knew that network audiences skewed older: CBS’s audience averages 55.6 years of age; ABC, 52.3; NBC, 49.3; and Fox, 46.2. What I didn’t realize, however, was how old the average audience is for cable networks. Below are the five shows with the oldest average age, youngest average age, and the average age from some of Warming Glow’s favorite shows.
But first, here’s the median age of the most popular cable networks.
MTV has a median age of 23.4. ABC Family, has a median age of 27.4; E!, 34.4; FX, 38; TBS, 38.6; Bravo, 41.6; TLC, 42.7; Discovery, 43; Food Network, 46.3; WE tv, 46.4; A&E, 46.5; Syfy, 46.8; TNT, 49.2; History, 49.4; AMC, 49.5; Lifetime, 49.5; and USA, 52.1.
The 5 Shows Whose Viewers Have the Oldest Median Age
The Closer, 59
Rizzoli & Isles, 58;
Dallas, 57;
Fairly Legal, 56
In Plain Sight, 55
The 5 Shows Whose Viewers Have the Youngest Median Age
Pretty Little Liars, 20
The Secret Life of the American Teenager, 22
Jersey Shore, 23
Switched at Birth, 24
16 and Pregnant, 24
The Median Age of Viewers of WarmingGlow’s Favorite Cable Shows
Franklin & Bash, 52
The Walking Dead, 36
Breaking Bad, 45
The Killing, 53
Mad Men, 54
Suits, 50
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 30
Archer, 31
American Horror Story, 32
Louie, 35
Wilfred, 35
Sons of Anarchy, 39
Justified, 46
So, what do these numbers REALLY tell us. Could it be true that the average median age of Mad Men is actually 54?
Unlikely.
Again, these numbers are from Nielsen, and therefore, they’re the average age of viewers being tracked by Nielsen, which as we’ve discussed on several occasions, is a broken ratings service. These numbers do not account for the huge numbers of viewers that watch these shows on their iPads or other mobile devices, on their laptops, on iTunes, or illegal downloads. However, it is an accurate reflection of those who watch these shows in the living rooms, on their old-school television sets, while sitting with their cats.
I do think it’s hilarious, however, that viewers of Franklink & Bash — the bro-iest bro show on television — is 52.
(Source: Broadcasting and Cable)
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Franklin and Bash is what 50 year olds must think being 30 is like. Much like Two and a Half Men. I bet their audience is like 60.
What are the oldest and youngest viewers for network shows? And I assume this didn’t include the Hallmark Channel? The average viewer there is dead.
Presumably, 24 year olds are watching 16 & Pregnant with their 8 year old kids.
“Look, LaFunyon. Dis wat it be lyke when mommy wuz a teenagers.”
Too bad I’ve been “snipped” cuz my next kid would have been LaFunyon.
This comment wins everything ever.
I applaud you
Tomlinson Mannning, Quarterback, Tennessee.
LaFunyon Cromartie. Wide Receiver. My Dad’s Penis.
LaFunyon. YES.
I lol’d.
Give them some credit though, they’d be “imaginative”and spell it La’Phunyeuon.
and as you’ve been remonstrated equally as many times, the nielsen ratings aren’t broken. the neilsen company also tracks all that other shit in different sets of ratings. however, the traditional nielsen ratings are still worth more money to advertisers than the other kinds of data. and since sponsors still pay for most of the costs of broadcast television, they get the most attention in the media. but because the numbers don’t jibe with your solipsistic notion for what they “should” be, you invent the narrative that their must be something wrong with the nielsens. your addled brain can not reconcile the cognitive dissonance, and so you try and shoot the messenger.
The Slav is right…but I’m still shaking my head in awe at “LaFunyon.”
I like that dude uses “remonstrated” and “solipsistic” correctly, but couldn’t get the right “there”.
The median age of CNN viewes: Deceased.
median age of honey boo boo child: pre-cum
Don’t underestimate the sex appeal of Wolf Blitzer to dead people.
i absolutely the average age for mad men viewers is 54 old people love that show. its a good show but not as riveting as ppl say it is. i watch it but its always my appetizer to game of thrones or walking dead or whatever else comes on that same sunday.
Yeah my grandmother is 80 and loves the shit out of Mad Men. Older people watch Mad Men with the same sense of nostalgia that we watch American Reunion and Can’t Hardly Wait for.
Why you little shit-stain – I’ll have you know I was reading “Game of Thrones” before you were urping up your Similac! And MY generation first embraced the zombie genre!
Gawddamned snot-nosed punks, think they’re the first to discover anything…
It’s nice to know that our generation knows how use to the Internet for more than porn.
I mean, that’s still what we mostly use it for, but we’re trying to branch out.
Wasn’t “Branchin’ Out” Belladonna’s first interracial gang bang flick?
Or was it “Belladonna Likes It Big, Black, and Stuffed Up Her Butt Two At a Time”?
Median is not average. It’s the middle.
Median is an average, along with mean and mode.
Oh and remember when you stuffed me in a locker every day in high school? Fuck you; you’re fired.
Median is the number in the middle of a sample. Mean is the average. Mode is the number that occurs the most frequently.
Yes. I was wondering when someone was going to point this out.
NastyEmu’s right. Don’t confuse median and mean (or average). If 4 people watch a show and 2 of them are 10, one is 50 and one is 90 the median age is 50 (there are as many data points above 50 as below) and the mean (or average) is 10+10+50+90=160 / 4 = 40
In this case, we can’t figure out the mean because we don’t know how many people of a given age watch the show. We can only figure out the median (middle data point.)
Wrongo.
If you have an even number of data points, the median is actually the average of the two “middle” points. In your example, the median would be 30.
If you have an odd number of data points, the median is the (single) “middle” point–where there are an equal number of data points above and below.
A better example would be adding a 15 year-old to your sample. Then you’d have a median of 15, with a mean of 35.
For most distributions, the median is a better descriptor of the sample than the mean. In the sample above, with 2 10 year-olds, a 15 year-old, a 50 year-old and a 90 year-old, the best way to sum up the sample is “more young than old,” and the median (of 15) does a better job saying that than the mean (of 35).
This makes me think Danger is 86
Oh SHIT, Blanche! Brenda Lee’s got one humdinger of a brain teaser this week.
Did anyone else shout MATLOCK when reading the list of show with the older median viewers?
I fall into CBS’s 55.6 every morning at 9:00AM and I’m 30. I have to get my Price Is Right fix before work.
I think the median age of Franklin and Bash is 54 because most of the old people that were watching the lesbian cop show fell asleep during it, so their Nielsen boxes registered them as watching Attorneys at Brah.
the neilsen company also tracks all that other shit in different sets of ratings. however, the traditional nielsen ratings are still worth more money to advertisers than the other kinds of data. and since sponsors still pay for most of the costs of broadcast television, they get the most attention in the media. I am beautiful woman and I love good man…..inter racial romance is my dream… so I joined —blackwhitеPlanet.С0M—–it’s where to- connect with beautiful and excellent people! but because the numbers don’t jibe with your solipsistic notion for what they “should” be, you invent the narrative that their must be something wrong with the nielsens.
“WarmingGlow’s Favorite Cable Shows” “The Killing”
O RLY
Good thing they didn’t post median ages for a few animes.
would make you lose more than a little faith.