April 02, 2004
will you remind us about this, thinky? I would really love to do this. I think if enough people get involved then someone might notice. Why not go for a tv turn off month and then perhaps we can work our way up to year.
Posted by: catherine at April 5, 2004 03:58 AMI'll do my best!
Posted by: Thinky at April 6, 2004 04:49 PMCame across this slightly-related article from the Sydney paper:
The big TV turn-off
The television networks have suspected all year that Australians were watching less TV. They thought their problem was younger viewers distracted by computer games and the internet.
Now they know the truth. Viewing by Australians aged 16 to 24 is up 4.4 per cent on last year.
Australians aged 25 to 54 have been turning off the most, and the distraction seems to be the family's new DVD player.
In the first eight weeks of the ratings year, total prime time viewing of broadcast and pay TV was down 1.5 per cent on the same period last year. But with viewers aged 25 to 54, it was down 5.6 per cent.
According to OzTAM data released yesterday, the biggest losers have been pay TV (down 8.1 per cent), SBS (down 14 per cent) and Channel Seven (down 6 per cent).
Ten and Nine are averaging the same audience as last year, and the ABC is up 8.4 per cent.
Pay TV did particularly badly with viewers aged 16-39 (down 11.2 per cent) and only gained with viewers over 55 (up 8 per cent). This may explain why the pay providers are spending so much to promote the introduction of digital television, which may bring back younger viewers.
The ABC scored surprising growth with viewers aged 16 to 24 (up 10 per cent), but is down 6.3 per cent with people 25-54.
Seven's only good news was a 16.7 per cent gain with viewers 16-24, but it is down 8.7 per cent with the 25-54s.
Releasing the data yesterday, a Ten spokeswoman speculated that the drop in total viewing was most likely due to the popularity of DVDs.
This time last year 24 per cent of households had players. Now 51 per cent of households have them.
The change in prime time viewing, 2003 to 2004 ...
Pay TV: down 11 % with people 16-39; up 8 per cent with people over 55.
SBS: down 29 % with 16-39s; down 2.5 % with over 55s.
ABC: down 5 % with 16-39s; up 21 % with over 55s.
Ten: down 1 % with 16-39s; up 3 % with over 55s.
Seven: up 2 % with 16-39s; down 10 % with over 55s.
Nine: up 1 % with 16-39s; up 1 % with over 55s.
All TV: down 2 % with 16-39s; up 4 % with over 55s.
Posted by: Thinky at April 6, 2004 11:34 PM