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why, 'Joe Millionaire'
Talk about surprises. Big earners were fans.
By Kevin Downey
Media buyers zeroing in on affluent television audiences in this summer’s $8 billion network TV upfront may be surprised to find themselves giving Fox’s reality series “Joe Millionaire” a second look.
The reality show about a regular guy who dupes 20 wannabe brides into thinking he’s loaded pulled in huge numbers – 40 million people watched its Feb. 17 finale – but neither its home network, Fox, nor the reality genre are typically top of mind when advertisers are trying to reach TV’s most affluent viewers.
The first version of “Joe Millionaire,” however, had an audience 19 percent more likely than average to have a household income of more than $100,000 and 19 percent more likely to have a household income of more than $150,000, according to an analysis of Nielsen Media Research data by MindShare.
It ranked No. 9 and No. 7 on those measures, respectively, among all shows, which puts it in the company of seemingly more prestigious programs like NBC’s “Law & Order” and CBS’s “60 Minutes.”
Moreover, from a ratings standpoint, “Joe” ranked No. 7 among people in households with an income of more than $100,000 and No. 4 among people in households with incomes of more than $150,000.
“You could probably make a joke that the millionaires were watching,” says Debbie Solomon, senior partner and group research director at MindShare.
“The idea here is to get a better understanding of the upscale audience and have a better understanding of which shows to put in a package.”
While Fox has a second version of “Joe” in the works, albeit without the surprise ending that he’s not rich, media buyers may find it comforting to know many of the shows people expect to have an upscale audience still do.
Among people living in households with incomes more than $100,000, for example, the highest-rated shows include CBS’s “CSI,” although its concentration of upscale viewers is equivalent to the national average and all of NBC’s Wednesday and Thursday lineups.
Each of NBC’s regularly scheduled shows on those nights, including “West Wing” and “Friends,” are among the highest-rated shows in affluent homes and have a higher-than-average concentration of those viewers.
The network programs with the highest concentration of affluent viewers are NBC’s “West Wing,” which has an audience 49 percent more likely than average to have incomes more than $100,000, and Fox’s “24,” which has an audience 43 percent more likely to be affluent.
Fox’s “24” has the highest concentration of people in homes with incomes more than $150,000. Its audience is 68 percent more likely than the overall population to fall into that demographic, while No. 2-ranked “West Wing’s” audience is 36 percent more likely to fall into that group.
Of the more than 100 shows MindShare included in its analysis, which was based on a total of eight weeks of Nielsen ratings from last fall and winter, less than one-third had an index above 100, meaning a higher concentration of people in homes with incomes over $100,000.
“Upscale people are still using the same media that everybody else is using,” says Solomon. “They are more selective, but you’ll still find them.”
While Fox has a few affluent-skewing programs, it also has several shows with the least affluent audiences, including “Cops.”
The WB and UPN also have several shows with below-average concentrations of affluent viewers.
The WB’s “Jamie Kennedy Experiment” and “Everwood,” however, were among the 29 shows with above average concentrations of those viewers.
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AFFLUENT AUDIENCES - NETWORK
TV SHOWS |
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|
Network |
Program |
Rating % |
Rank - Rating % |
Index |
Rank - Index |
|
NBC |
WEST WING |
9.6 |
6 |
149 |
1 |
|
FOX |
24 |
6.3 |
23 |
143 |
2 |
|
NBC |
WILL & GRACE |
10.3 |
4 |
134 |
3 |
|
NBC |
ED |
6.6 |
20 |
131 |
4 |
|
ABC |
NYPD BLUE |
6.8 |
19 |
131 |
5 |
|
NBC |
GOOD MORNING MIAMI |
7.6 |
13 |
129 |
6 |
|
NBC |
FRASIER |
7.2 |
17 |
121 |
7 |
|
NBC |
SCRUBS |
8.9 |
8 |
121 |
8 |
|
FOX |
JOE MILLIONAIRE |
9.2 |
7 |
119 |
9 |
|
NBC |
LAW AND ORDER |
9.7 |
5 |
119 |
10 |
|
NBC |
FRIENDS |
11.8 |
2 |
117 |
11 |
|
NBC |
MR STERLING |
6.0 |
25 |
117 |
12 |
|
NBC |
HIDDEN HILLS |
4.7 |
34 |
116 |
13 |
|
ABC |
NFL MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL |
8.4 |
10 |
112 |
14 |
|
NBC |
E.R. |
10.5 |
3 |
111 |
15 |
|
ABC |
NFL MONDAY SHOWCASE |
6.3 |
24 |
110 |
16 |
|
ABC |
BACHELORETTE, THE |
6.9 |
18 |
109 |
17 |
|
ABC |
PRACTICE, THE |
4.8 |
31 |
109 |
18 |
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CBS |
60 MINUTES |
7.6 |
14 |
107 |
19 |
|
NBC |
LAW AND ORDER:SVU |
7.8 |
12 |
105 |
20 |
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WB |
JAMIE KENNEDY - WB |
1.0 |
93 |
105 |
21 |
|
ABC |
ALIAS |
4.0 |
44 |
104 |
22 |
|
NBC |
LAW AND ORDER:CRIM INTENT |
7.4 |
15 |
104 |
23 |
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CBS |
EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND |
8.4 |
9 |
103 |
24 |
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CBS |
STILL STANDING |
6.5 |
21 |
102 |
25 |
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Source: MindShare, based on data from Nielsen Media Research |
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April 15, 2003© 2003 Media Life
-Kevin Downey is a staff writer for Media Life.
