|
BY JONATHAN BLUM, KAGAN
The eerie feeling that kids are being overprogrammed is not confined to cable. Broadcast is leaking viewers as well. We took a look at gross weekly audience averages for several top ad-supported cable services and kids broadcast dayparts via data supplied by Nielsen and Turner Broadcasting's research department. Of the roughly dozen programmers listed, all but one took it on the chin in 2002. The Cartoon Network and ABC Family skidded by 18 and 15 points, respectively, in index share; and Fox's afternoon kids programming block got out of the business entirely.
The only clear winner was Kids WB (Call it the Yu-Gi-Oh! effect ? ask your children.) This broadcaster was up by about 22 index points year over year based on this phenomenon.
The data also shows the power of non-ad-supported services such as the Disney Channel to draw away viewers. Lizzie McGuire, for example, came in 30th with a 2.7 over the last month of 2002, which is partially responsible for the drop in overall viewers.
There might be a silver lining here. The industry may be looking at a bit of a run-up in pricing for kids eyeballs in order to capture the viewers who remain. It will be interesting to see how the kids upfront shapes up in a few weeks.
AD-SUPPORTED CHILDREN'S PROGRAMMING WEEKLY VIEWERSHIP (2/03 VS. 1/02 SEASON-TO-DATE)
|
Kids 2-11 |
Kids 9-14 |
| NETWORK |
02/03TD AWG (mil.) |
02/03TD % of Total |
01/02TD AWG (mil.) |
01/02TD % of Total |
AWG Index |
02/03TD AWG (mil.) |
02/03TD % of Total |
01/02TD AWG (mil.) |
01/02TD % of Total |
AWG Index |
| All Syndication (No Disney) |
0.030 |
0% |
0.006 |
0% |
? |
0.021 |
0% |
0.004 |
0% |
? |
| Discovery Kids on NBC* |
0.048 |
0% |
? |
? |
? |
0.034 |
1% |
? |
? |
? |
| Fox Box |
0.112 |
1% |
0.339 |
2% |
33 |
0.082 |
1% |
0.192 |
3% |
43 |
| CBS |
0.117 |
1% |
0.120 |
1% |
98 |
0.032 |
0% |
0.018 |
0% |
174 |
| ABC |
0.182 |
1% |
0.207 |
1% |
88 |
0.129 |
2% |
0.124 |
2% |
105 |
| Disney Kids (UPN) |
0.277 |
2% |
0.317 |
2% |
88 |
0.162 |
2% |
0.171 |
3% |
95 |
| ABC Family Channel |
0.439 |
3% |
0.518 |
3% |
85 |
0.271 |
4% |
0.353 |
5% |
77 |
| Toon Disney |
0.726 |
5% |
0.673 |
4% |
108 |
0.227 |
3% |
0.272 |
4% |
83 |
| Kids WB |
0.834 |
5% |
0.685 |
4% |
122 |
0.563 |
9% |
0.369 |
5% |
153 |
| Cartoon Network |
5.035 |
32% |
6.131 |
36% |
82 |
2.109 |
32% |
2.313 |
34% |
91 |
| Nickelodeon |
8.043 |
51% |
8.252 |
48% |
97 |
2.869 |
44% |
2.983 |
44% |
96 |
| TOTAL |
15.843 |
100% |
17.248 |
100% |
92 |
6.499 |
100% |
6.799 |
100% |
96 |
| NOTE: AWG ? AVERAGE WEEKLY GROSS *DISCOVERY KIDS ON NBC BEGAN WEEK OF 9/30/02 |
| SOURCE: KAGAN WORLD MEDIA COMPILATION OF NIELSEN MEDIA RESEARCH AND TURNER BROADCASTING DATA |
AVERAGE RATING AND HOURS PER WEEK SPENT BY KIDS WATCHING KIDS PROGRAMMING (SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER 2002)
|
Kids 2-11 |
Kids 9-14 |
|
Hours |
Rating |
Hours |
Rating |
| Broadcast Network |
0.66 |
1.65 |
0.68 |
1.69 |
| Ad-Supported Cable |
7.66 |
1.26 |
5.29 |
0.87 |
| Syndication (2 programs) |
0.01 |
0.89 |
0.01 |
1.02 |
| Total Hours |
8.33 |
|
5.98 |
|
| SOURCE: KAGAN WORLD MEDIA COMPILATION OF MAGNA GLOBAL USA ANALYSIS OF COPYRIGHTED NIELSEN MEDIA RESEARCH DATA |
Back to this issue
|
