Broadcast Nets Cater To Slightly Older Demos

After one week of the new season, TV viewers are skewing slightly older for the broadcast networks versus a year ago. The median age for the five English-language broadcast networks is now 53.4 years -- up from 53 years. Two networks were in the 50+ territory a year ago -- CBS (57.9) and ABC (54.7). Now -- a year later -- three networks fall into that range: CBS at 57.8, ABC at 53.3, and NBC at 50.8.

A year ago, NBC was at a median age of 48.4. Fox has also moved up. Last year, it was just about tied with CW for the lowest median age -- with Fox at 43.8 and CW at 43.6. Now Fox has added on 2.3 years to reach 46.1 years. So far, CW has declined by a full year -- now at 42.6. For the second straight year, NBC is leading in the first week among 18-49 viewers with a Nielsen 3.13 average rating -- slightly up from a 3.08.