On Tuesday, I enter my final year in the 18-to-49 demographic deemed most important by TV advertisers, we've been repeatedly told.

        Which explains why my 9-year-old son and 86-year-old father can't find much to watch on the major broadcast networks.

        It wasn't always an 18-to-49 world. When I was 9, back in the early 1960s, nobody cared about demographics. The goal was to put on the best show, and draw the most viewers of all ages.

        Of course, we only had four channels. The Andy Griffith Show, and many prime-time programs, were in black-and-white.

        Back then, NBC's Daniel Boone only worried about hunting Indians, not capturing a certain age group.

        “It was a show for the entire family,” says actor-singer Ed Ames, 74. He played “Mingo.” Today we would call him the Native American pal of Daniel Boone (Fess Parker).

        I met Mr. Ames at NBC's 75th anniversary party during the press tour last month. NBC had invited lots of old stars — Gary Owens (Laugh-In), Barbara Eden (I Dream of Jeannie), Norman Lloyd (St. Elsewhere) — who are part of the demographic group that NBC flagrantly ignores.

        “We are primarily an 18-49 network,” NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker said earlier that day. “That's what we sell. That's who we are.”

        That's why NBC airs Friends at 8 p.m., when children are watching. That's why NBC will debut two more adult comedies at 8:30 p.m. this week, Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Watching Ellie (Tuesday) and Leap of Faith from Sex and the City writer Jenny Bicks (Thursday).

        So much has changed since my four-channel childhood. By the late 1960s, as baby boomers became adults, networks and advertisers started using the 18-49 demographic to reach this huge population bulge, says David F. Poltrack, CBS executive vice president for research and planning.
       

Fragmented audience

        Demographics became more of a factor about 20 years ago, when the Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC) networks began losing audience share to cable channels — and later to Fox, WB and UPN.

        As the audience fragmented, networks stopped trying to be all things to all people. Programmers aimed for the economic group that advertisers wanted most, the younger adults who supposedly haven't developed a brand loyalty to a certain soap, soda, cell phone, snack food, sports utility vehicle or stockbroker.

        “That's when they actually started programming to demographics,” Mr. Poltrack says.

        In today's 400-channel universe, most networks go after a narrow niche, parsing the pie into tiny slivers. They churn out releases boasting about ratings with men or women in the 12-34, 18-34, 18-49 or 25-54 age groups.

        “WB ranks No. 3 for week in Women 12-34!” that network announced last week. “Smallville scores Top-20 finish in Persons 12-34 and Men 18-34!”

        Countered UPN: ""UPN Ranks Fourth in February Sweeps among Persons 12-34, Adults 18-34 and Teens! UPN Ties ABC for Third among Men 18-34 during Olympic week!”

        Lost in the “demo-gogy” is the fact that there are still some broad-based hits on the big networks. (That's why they're called broadcasters.)

        Survivor has attracted viewers of all ages and helped lower CBS' median age to under 50, Mr. Poltrack says. Networks need a broad-based hit, such as Survivor or the first season of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, to become the No. 1 network.
       

Some shows skew older

        Do the networks still need me? Should I toss out The Simpsons beer mugs and buy the complete collection of Murder, She Wrote?

        Not yet, Mr. Poltrack says.

        The CBS researcher points out that while NBC likes to talk about being the hip 18-to-49 network, some of its strongest shows — The West Wing and Law & Order — skew 50-plus.

        “I find it ironic that NBC is more and more focused on telling people about its young audience and young comedies — when in fact the NBC of 2000-01 is the NBC of West Wing and Law & Order, which is not a young network,” Mr. Poltrack says.

        Despite the obsession with 18-49, it's not the only currency in the media world, he says.

        “As much (advertising) money is placed on the 25-54 demo as on the 18-49 demo,” Mr. Poltrack says.

        “All you hear about is 18-49 because . . . the trade press has decided it's too boring and complicated to write articles with dual sets of statistics. But if you wanted to give the economic value of network television programming, you should report all the performances in 18-49 and 25-54,” he says.

        On the local level, the 25-54 demographic is more important than 18-49, station managers say. Most Cincinnati TV (and many radio) stations primarily sell advertising based on the 25-54 audience.

        “Adults 25-54 remain the key demo for TV advertisers, with the skew toward women 25-54,” says Chris Sehring, WKRC-TV (Channel 12) general manager.

        “Adults 18-49 are still relatively important,” Mr. Sehring says, “but this demo may be losing a bit of ground to Adults 35-54. An effort, perhaps, to target aging baby boomers?”

        An aging baby boomer? That's me. And I'm happy to have five more years of economic relevance, at least in Cincinnati. Maybe by 2008, I'll be living in a 35-64 world.

       Contact John Kiesewetter by phone: 768-8519; fax: 768-8330; e-mail: jkiesewetter@enquirer.com.
       

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