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Adweek

Advertisers Find Millennials in an Unexpected Place

Nov 10, 2015  •  Post A Comment

As the search for younger viewers in the television universe becomes increasingly challenging, marketers are “leaving no platform unturned,” Adweek reports. And they appear to have found what they’re looking for, turning up millennials — typically a “linear-TV-phobic” group — in an unexpected place: syndicated TV.

“TV syndication studio Twentieth Television, which is home to eight of the top 10 syndicated shows among adults ages 18-34 — including ‘Family Guy’ (No. 1 with a 1.7 rating), ‘Modern Family,’ ‘Family Feud,’ ‘The Cleveland Show’ and ‘Bob’s Burgers’ — has spent the last two years meeting with clients to emphasize syndication’s overlooked success in reaching those oh-so-prized millennial viewers,” Adweek reports.

A big selling point has been median age, as Twentieth works on changing the perception of syndication as an older-skewing venue defined by shows along the lines of “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy!” The report notes that the median ages of both syndie stalwarts exceeds 65.

“‘The Cleveland Show’ and ‘King of the Hill’ boast a median syndication-viewer age of 26. ‘Bob’s Burgers’ is 30 and ‘Family Guy’ is 32,” Adweek notes. “Another selling point: Viewers’ median ages are even lower for episodes in syndication than they are for prime-time broadcast airings. ‘Bob’s Burgers’ falls from a 38 in prime time to 30 in syndication, while ‘Family Guy’ tumbles from 36 in prime time to 32 in syndication.”

Advertisers have noticed, with Twentieth reporting that new marketers are signing on while spending is increasing in a number of categories, “including games like Activation, movies, quick-service restaurants (QSRs) including Burger King, and government-affiliated services like the U.S. Navy and the anti-smoking Truth campaign from Legacy,” the story reports.

cleveland show

3 Comments

  1. Then why do so many advertisers have these same animated shows hit-listed?

  2. Because, as we know, only kids watch animation. Any adults in the audience are sitting passively by while their kids control the set. 🙂
    Even in Late Fringe.

  3. These shows are extremely popular with teens – 30-year-olds. The reason they do so well in syndication with younger people is time shifting. My kids watch the syndication series a lot with their friends. But Sunday nights are not a good time for them as they have other activities to manage. and they aren’t going to take up the limited memory on my DVR with shows they can see multiple times a day.

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