ABC viewing statistics indicate TV’s direction of travel

Figures from Australia’s national public broadcaster ABC show a skew of older viewers toward flagship news programmes, a trend reflected across the country’s TV industry.

Why it matters

The demographic contours of print appear to be hitting TV. While broadcasters’ competitive sets have expanded over the last 20 years into one big melee where everybody is now a digital publisher seeking the youth, brands can take some confidence in the 80% of over-55s watching the news. It’s also worth remembering who has the wealth in Australia, a trend echoed around the world.

While the long-term trends suggest that TV’s importance is diminishing, at a tactical level for brands these figures show how TV makes sense, especially for high-value brands seeking wealthy buyers.

What’s going on

Internal documents from the corporation, seen by the Australian Financial Review, suggest that less than 8% of viewers for ABC’s main 7pm news bulletin are under 40. What’s more, around two-thirds of viewers are over 65.

• According to the report, some senior managers at the corporation have described it as the “grey-BC”.
• In response – but amid big job cuts – the corporation is pivoting heavily toward more digital output and slimming down some of its more local broadcasting in favour of a national broadcast.

Deeper ironies

Around the world, there is a significant mismatch between who TV ads think they’re speaking to versus who they actually speak to.

By age, TV ads come top for all groups, though it is among older segments where they are seen most positively, according to GWI data.

Sourced from the Australian Financial Review, WARC, McCrindle