Seniors Outnumber Youths But Underrepresented On TV

Every 40 seconds another American turns 50. Every day, more than 5,000 turn 65. Americans 65 and older have outnumbered teenagers since 1983.

Yet TV programmers and sponsors continue to target viewers age 18 to 49. That demographic segment is shrinking by 7 million in the 1990s, according to Vicki Thomas of Thomas & Partners of Westport, Conn., consultants for companies aiming for the mature market.

That’s not the only reason television viewership is continuing to drop. In the past three seasons, Thomas reports, audiences for the three big networks (NBC, CBS, ABC) have decreased by 22 percent.

“Television - thanks to national advertisers and their advertising agencies - seems hopelessly stuck on airing programs that appeal to shrinking youth markets,” Thomas writes in Aging Today, the American Society on Aging’s bimonthly paper.

“Television is losing its largest viewing audience,” says Frank Conaway, president of Primelife Advisory Network. “Americans over the age of 50 are beginning to tune out because programming is too violent, vulgar, boring, youth-oriented and insulting to their intelligence.”

Last year, the American Association of Retired Persons published a status report titled, “Virtually Invisible: The Image of Midlife and Older Women on Prime Time TV.” The report noted that TV dramatic fare has “always underrepresented middle-aged and older persons in general and aging women in particular.”

In the coming fall season, Bob Newhart and Judd Hirsch will be seen in “George and Leo” as fathers-in-law, with the mild Newhart contending with Hirsch’s shtick as ex-Las Vegas hood.

Another show with an older star will have Danny Aiello as “Dellaventura,” a retired cop now working as a private eye. Dick Van Dyke’s “Diagnosis Murder” and Ossie Davis’ “Promised Land” will return for another season.