Everything we hear says watching too much TV is bad for kids, causing everything from obesity to autism. No wonder parents say they are cracking down on their kids’ TV viewing.
Whether that’s actually so is another matter, and one hugely important to marketers of products aimed at children, such as toymakers.
A new study from the U.S. Census Bureau says parents are putting more restrictions on TV watching than a decade ago.
“What we found interesting was that it seemed parents were more involved in kids’ lives than 10 years ago,” says Jane Dye, a family demographer at the Census Bureau who worked on the study, which compared kids' TV viewing in 2004 to 1994.
“Children are more likely to be read to, and they’re more likely to have limits placed on their TV viewing.”
The Census Bureau found that 47 percent of parents said they restricted their teenagers’ TV viewing in 2004, compared with 40 percent in 1994. Some 68 percent of parents of kids 3-5 set rules, compared with 54 percent in 1994, while 71 percent of 6-11s have restrictions, versus 60 percent in 1994.
They are monitoring how much, when and how their kids watch, according to the study.
Yet Nielsen data says kids these days are watching more TV.
TV viewing among kids 2-11 and teenagers 12-17 rose during the 2005-’06 season, the year after the study, and it remains at a high level. Among teens it was up 3 percent, to nearly 3.5 hours per day, with viewing seeing the sharpest increase among teenage girls, up 6 percent.
Among kids 2-11, it rose year-to-year by 4 percent, also to about 3.5 hours a day, including 6 percent in late-night.
It continues to rise this season. TV usage for nearly every other demographic is flat or slightly down, but it’s up 1 percent among 12-17s and 2-11s.
What gives? Several things, it appears.
Parents are certainly more aware of, and concerned with, the ill effects of too much TV-watching on the part of their children. Parents these days are also more active in the lives of their children than their parents were, as Dye points out.
And indeed parents may actually think they are restricting TV watching.
But the reality is that they're not in as much control as they believe, a reality affirmed by studies of internet usage by kids.
So many more families have both parents working, and TV sets are now ubiquitous in the average American home. More than two-thirds of kids 8-18 have TVs in their bedrooms, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey.
The fact is, TV remains a reliable babysitter, even if parents would prefer to believe otherwise.
Meanwhile, in other younger viewer ratings for the week ending Oct. 28:
Among teens 12-17, Fox led the six English-language broadcasters with a 2.4 rating and 9 share, followed by the CW at 1.6/5, ABC at 1.4/5, CBS at 1.3/5, NBC at 1.2/4 and MyNetworkTV at 0.3/1.
The top five shows among kids 2-5: 1. “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” (Disney, Sunday 9:30 a.m.); 2. “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” (Disney, Sunday 9 a.m.); 3. “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” (Disney, Saturday 9:30 a.m.); 4. “Dora the Explorer” (Nickelodeon, Wednesday 10 a.m.); 5. “Wonder Pets” (Nickelodeon, Tuesday 10:30 a.m.)
The top five shows among kids 6-11: 1. “Wizards of Waverly Place” (Disney, Friday 8:30 p.m.); 2. “SpongeBob SquarePants” (Nickelodeon, Saturday 9:30 a.m.); 3. “Back at the Barnyard” (Nickelodon, Saturday 10 a.m.); 4. “Suite Life of Zack & Cody” (Disney, Friday 6 p.m.); 5. “Suite Life of Zack & Cody” (Disney, Monday 7:30 p.m.)
The top five shows among kids 9-14: 1. “Suite Life of Zack & Cody” (Disney, Saturday 8 p.m.); 2. “Suite Life of Zack & Cody” (Disney, Monday 7:30 p.m.); 3. “Wizards of Waverly Place” (Disney, Friday 8:30 p.m.); 4. “Hannah Montana” (Disney, Friday 5:30 p.m.); 5. “Suite Life of Zack & Cody” (Disney, Friday 6 p.m.)
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TOP 10 PROGRAMS – BROADCAST & CABLE
Kids 2-5
Week Ended Oct. 28 |
|
|
Program |
Net |
Rtg% |
(000) |
|
1
|
MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE-10/28/2007
|
DSNY
|
6.6
|
1055
|
|
2
|
MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE-10/28/2007
|
DSNY
|
6.4
|
1031
|
|
3
|
MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE-10/27/2007
|
DSNY
|
6.1
|
982
|
|
4
|
DORA THE EXPLORER-10/24/2007
|
NICK
|
6.1
|
970
|
|
5
|
WONDER PETS-10/23/2007
|
NICK
|
6
|
964
|
|
6
|
DORA THE EXPLORER-10/26/2007
|
NICK
|
6
|
961
|
|
7
|
MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE-10/27/2007
|
DSNY
|
6
|
961
|
|
8
|
WONDER PETS-10/24/2007
|
NICK
|
5.9
|
950
|
|
9
|
DORA THE EXPLORER-10/26/2007
|
NICK
|
5.8
|
931
|
|
10
|
WONDER PETS-10/26/2007
|
NICK
|
5.8
|
929
|
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Source: Disney-ABC Television Group, based on data from Nielsen Media Research
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TOP 10 PROGRAMS – BROADCAST & CABLE
Kids 6-11
Week Ended Oct. 28 |
|
|
Program |
Net |
Rtg% |
(000) |
|
1
|
WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE-10/26/2007
|
DSNY
|
7
|
1703
|
|
2
|
SPONGEBOB-10/27/2007
|
NICK
|
6.7
|
1616
|
|
3
|
BACK AT THE BARNYARD-10/27/2007
|
NICK
|
6.4
|
1546
|
|
4
|
SUITE LIFE OF ZACK & CODY-10/26/2007
|
DSNY
|
6.3
|
1526
|
|
5
|
SUITE LIFE OF ZACK & CODY-10/22/2007
|
DSNY
|
6.2
|
1510
|
|
6
|
SUITE LIFE OF ZACK & CODY-10/26/2007
|
DSNY
|
6.1
|
1484
|
|
7
|
SUITE LIFE OF ZACK & CODY-10/27/2007
|
DSNY
|
6.1
|
1478
|
|
8
|
HANNAH MONTANA-10/26/2007
|
DSNY
|
6.1
|
1473
|
|
9
|
SPONGEBOB-10/27/2007
|
NICK
|
6
|
1446
|
|
10
|
HANNAH MONTANA-10/26/2007
|
DSNY
|
5.9
|
1429
|
|
Source: Disney-ABC Television Group, based on data from Nielsen Media Research
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TOP 10 PROGRAMS – CABLE
Kids 9-14
Week Ended Oct. 28 |
|
Rank |
Program |
Net |
Rtg% |
(000) |
|
1
|
SUITE LIFE OF ZACK & CODY-10/27/2007
|
DSNY
|
5.4
|
1328
|
|
2
|
SUITE LIFE OF ZACK & CODY-10/22/2007
|
DSNY
|
5.1
|
1257
|
|
3
|
WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE-10/26/2007
|
DSNY
|
5.1
|
1257
|
|
4
|
HANNAH MONTANA-10/26/2007
|
DSNY
|
5
|
1231
|
|
5
|
SUITE LIFE OF ZACK & CODY-10/26/2007
|
DSNY
|
5
|
1230
|
|
6
|
SUITE LIFE OF ZACK & CODY-10/25/2007
|
DSNY
|
5
|
1220
|
|
7
|
HANNAH MONTANA-10/26/2007
|
DSNY
|
5
|
1213
|
|
8
|
DRAKE & JOSH-10/23/2007
|
NICK
|
4.9
|
1193
|
|
9
|
S HANNAH MONTANA-10/28/2007
|
DSNY
|
4.9
|
1190
|
|
10
|
HANNAH MONTANA-10/25/2007
|
DSNY
|
4.8
|
1184
|
|
Source: Disney-ABC Television Group, based on data from Nielsen Media Research
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