The ratings race among broadcast news operations has taken a turn this fall, with figures for the season that began in late September showing ABC slightly ahead of perennial leader NBC in evening news.
Citing Nielsen data, the AP reports that ABC’s “World News Tonight,” anchored by David Muir, has averaged 8.25 million viewers a night so far this season, to 8.12 million for NBC’s “Nightly News,” anchored by Lester Holt. The numbers are essentially a reversal of where things stood a year ago.
“NBC counters that its lead among viewers aged 25-to-54, the demographic measurement used most often to sell news advertising, has essentially doubled since last fall,” the AP reports. “In other words, NBC says Muir’s rally is built upon older, less valuable viewers.”
As an “older” viewer, I object to being called less valuable. Most of us older viewers have more disposable income than the average person under 35. I rarely see anyone under 35 driving a Lexus or Cadillac. Yes they do spend more money on cell phones and video games, but who do you think is giving them the opportunity to do so? The “older” viewers who are letting them continue to live in our houses rent free, use our internet, and watch their news on our cable television system.
Yeah that’s something we all have to get used to in the advertising world. The day you turn 55 you become of less valuable to brands and I agree to your objection. Then on the other side as someone who reps brands there’s no going back to thinking we are a target demo they want to reach. It’s either 18 to 49 year old women or 25 to 54 adults. The rest of us are meaningless.