medialifemagazine.com
For teens, Grammys are about dipping
By Toni Fitzgerald
Feb 15, 2008 - 1:10:16 AM
Ratings for the Grammys have been falling for years, but with teen viewers the awards show hit a particularly sour note this year.
Since 2004, the show’s average among viewers 12-17 has dipped 61 percent, from a 9.7 rating to a 3.8 for this past Sunday’s broadcast on CBS.
That’s a steeper decline than for any other age group. Among adults 18-49, the Grammys averaged a 6.2 rating, off 45 percent from an 11.6 in 2004, according to live Nielsen ratings analyzed by Carat.
Among total viewers, the Grammys slipped 37 percent, from 26.3 million viewers to 16.7 million. Even among adults 18-34, the decline was 55 percent, from an 11.9 to a 5.4.
The teen viewership slide really goes to reflect the changes in how young people will watch awards shows in the years to come. Though there was interest in who won and who wore what fashion, teens didn’t feel compelled to sit through the ceremony to see that stuff.
Instead, many turned to YouTube and fashion blogs in the hours and days after the event. The same thing happened for last year’s Oscar ceremony, which slipped 39 percent among teens compared with 2004 after several fairly steady years.
“I think it’s a larger trend of how young people consume television. It’s much more on-demand,” says Anastasia Goodstein, founder and editor of Ypulse.com, a site about Generation Y aimed at media people.
“Performances that would have been appealing to teens, like Alicia Keys performing her hit and Kanye [West] and things like that were seen by young people, but they were not seen on television at the time the Grammys aired.”
Goodstein says she saw lots of commentary posted by teens about these performances on YouTube, where they were available in four- to six-minute snippets. Teens also headed to fashion blogs like gofugyourself.com to see pictures of what the stars wore before the show had even ended.
“There’s just less sort of ‘let’s gather around the TV and watch it together’ appeal for teenagers,” says Goodstein of awards shows.
Too, this year’s ceremony had a high quotient of older acts. Tributes to the Beatles and Tina Turner held little appeal for teens, nor did Keys’ other performance of the night, a duet with a video image of the late Frank Sinatra.
In fact, the country’s hottest teen singer, Miley Cyrus, made only a brief appearance as a presenter at the Grammys.
But she did appear extensively on ABC’s competing “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” Sunday night, which outdrew the Grammys among teens in its final half hour at 9:30 p.m., with an above-average 4.4 to the awards show’s 4.2.
Meanwhile, in other younger viewer ratings for the week ending Feb. 10:
Among teens 12-17, Fox led with a 3.4 rating and 12 share, followed by ABC at 1.5/5, CBS at 1.3/5, NBC at 1.2/4, CW at 1.2/4, Univision at 0.9/3, Telemundo at 0.2/1, Telefutura at 0.1/1, and Azteca at 0.0/0.
Among kids 2-11, Fox was first with a 2.2/8, followed by Univision and ABC at 1.4/6, NBC at 0.0/4, CBS at 0.7/3, the CW at 0.6/2, Telemundo at 0.3/1, Telefutura at 0.2/1 and Azteca at 0.0/0.
The top five shows among kids 2-5: 1. Nickelodeon’s “Dora the Explorer” (Tuesday 10 a.m.); 2. Nickelodeon’s “Dora the Explorer” (Monday 10 a.m.); 3. Nickelodeon’s “SpongeBob SquarePants” (Friday 4:30 p.m.); 4. Nickelodeon’s “Wonder Pets” (Wednesday 10:30 a.m.); 5. Nickelodeon’s “Dora the Explorer” (Wednesday 10 a.m.)
The top five shows among kids 6-11: 1. Disney’s Chicken Little” (Friday 8:15 p.m.); 2. Fox’s “American Idol” (Wednesday 8 p.m.); 3. Fox’s “American Idol” (Tuesday 8 p.m.); 4. Nickelodeon’s “iCarly 2008” (Saturday 7:30 p.m.); 5. Disney’s “Phineas and Ferb” (Friday 8:15 p.m.)
The top five shows among kids 9-14: 1. Fox’s “American Idol” (Tuesday 8 p.m.); 2. Fox’s “American Idol” (Wednesday 8 p.m.); 3. Disney’s “Wizards of Waverly Place” (Monday 6 p.m.); 4. Nickelodeon’s “iCarly 2008” (Saturday 7:30 p.m.); 5. Nickelodeon’s “Zoey 101” (Sunday 8 p.m.)
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TOP 10 PROGRAMS – BROADCAST & CABLE
Kids 2-5
Week Ended Feb. 10 |
|
|
Program |
Net |
Rtg% |
(000) |
|
1
|
DORA THE EXPLORER-02/05/2008
|
NICK
|
6.4
|
1028
|
|
2
|
DORA THE EXPLORER-02/04/2008
|
NICK
|
6.3
|
1010
|
|
3
|
SPONGEBOB-02/08/2008
|
NICK
|
6.3
|
1003
|
|
4
|
WONDER PETS-02/06/2008
|
NICK
|
6.2
|
985
|
|
5
|
DORA THE EXPLORER-02/06/2008
|
NICK
|
6.1
|
981
|
|
6
|
MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE-02/09/2008
|
DSNY
|
6.1
|
981
|
|
7
|
WONDER PETS-02/05/2008
|
NICK
|
6.1
|
979
|
|
8
|
SPONGEBOB-02/08/2008
|
NICK
|
5.7
|
909
|
|
9
|
SPONGEBOB-02/08/2008
|
NICK
|
5.7
|
909
|
|
10
|
SPONGEBOB-02/05/2008
|
NICK
|
5.6
|
897
|
|
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 Feb. 10 |
|
|
Program |
Net |
Rtg% |
(000) |
|
1
|
CHICKEN LITTLE-02/08/2008
|
DSNY
|
7.5
|
1830
|
|
2
|
AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY-02/06/2008
|
FOX
|
7.1
|
1719
|
|
3
|
AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY-02/05/2008
|
FOX
|
6.6
|
1613
|
|
4
|
ICARLY-02/10/2008
|
NICK
|
6.6
|
1613
|
|
5
|
PHINEAS AND FERB-02/08/2008
|
DSNY
|
6.6
|
1611
|
|
6
|
ZOEY 101-02/10/2008
|
NICK
|
6.6
|
1596
|
|
7
|
PHINEAS AND FERB-02/07/2008
|
DSNY
|
6.3
|
1529
|
|
8
|
WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE-02/04/2008
|
DSNY
|
6.2
|
1509
|
|
9
|
HANNAH MONTANA-02/08/2008
|
DSNY
|
6.1
|
1476
|
|
10
|
PHINEAS AND FERB-02/04/2008
|
DSNY
|
6
|
1461
|
|
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 Feb. 10 |
|
Rank |
Program |
Net |
Rtg% |
(000) |
|
1
|
AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY-02/05/2008
|
FOX
|
8.8
|
2153
|
|
2
|
AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY-02/06/2008
|
FOX
|
8.1
|
1979
|
|
3
|
WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE-02/04/2008
|
DSNY
|
6.4
|
1572
|
|
4
|
ZOEY 101-02/10/2008
|
NICK
|
6
|
1472
|
|
5
|
SUITE LIFE OF ZACK & CODY-02/04/2008
|
DSNY
|
5.7
|
1401
|
|
6
|
SUITE LIFE OF ZACK & CODY-02/04/2008
|
DSNY
|
5.6
|
1363
|
|
7
|
MOMENT OF TRUTH-02/06/2008
|
FOX
|
5.5
|
1353
|
|
8
|
WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE-02/06/2008
|
DSNY
|
5.5
|
1342
|
|
9
|
WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE-02/06/2008
|
DSNY
|
5.4
|
1321
|
|
10
|
ICARLY-02/10/2008
|
NICK
|
5.4
|
1314
|
|
Source: Disney-ABC Television Group, based on data from Nielsen Media Research
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