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gap on broadcast TV
More shows are ranked high by blacks and whites
Kevin Downey
When it comes to TV watching in America, the great racial divide is narrowing, with more blacks and whites watching the same shows.
The gap between black and white viewing has shrunk over the same period in which the number of programs with multi-ethnic casts has increased, to a 12-year high of 51 shows in fourth quarter 2002.
That's a threefold increase since 1995.
A study by Initiative Media found that nine programs ranked in the top 20 among both African-American and white households in fourth quarter, accounting for the highest level of crossover in 10 years.
CBS had the most shows in the top 20 among both groups with five programs, four of which have multi-ethnic casts, including “CSI,” “Without a Trace” and “Judging Amy.”
“It’s a combination of the major broadcast networks doing more programming that is very ethnically focused, in addition to a commitment to having more programs with ethnic casting,” says Stacey Lynn Koerner, executive vice president and director of global research integration at Initiative Media.
“The combination is bringing different seers of life together.”
Although African-Americans still favor shows with predominantly black actors, the broadcast networks may benefit most by focusing on multi-ethnic casts.
African-Americans can fuel ratings for certain shows, particularly those with a multi-ethnic cast, like NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” which has a comparable rating among African-American and white households, and CBS’s “Without a Trace,” which does slightly better in African-American homes than it does white homes.
On the other hand, shows with a predominantly black cast tend to do well among African-Americans but poorly among other ethnic groups.
Roughly 80 percent of UPN’s audience for its African-American sitcoms, for example, are black. The shows rank in the top five in that demographic, but fall below No. 100 among white viewers.
Fox’s “Cedric the Entertainer Presents” similarly ranks No. 1 among African-Americans but No. 93 among white audiences.
Moreover, African-Americans can boost ratings simply because they watch far more television than most other ethnic groups.
The average African-American watches almost 77 hours of TV during an average week, or about 24 hours more than non-blacks.
African-Americans also watch more TV throughout the day and fuel ratings for certain types of shows, like animation and daytime soap operas, which black people watch at nearly twice the rate of white people.
African-Americans also tend to watch more cable TV than their non-black counterparts.
Cable accounts for 51 percent of TV viewing among African-Americans but only 42 percent among whites.
Moreover, some cable networks have twice the rating in African-American homes as they do in white homes, notably Nickelodeon, Lifetime and ESPN.
As the broadcast networks have added more African-American oriented programming, like ABC’s “My Wife & Kids,” and will add even more next season, advertising dollars have followed.
Ad spending on TV shows targeting African-Americans, including those on network, cable and syndication, rose 33 percent in fourth quarter 2002 compared to the same time a year earlier and 17 percent over fourth quarter 2000, to $168 million.
“I think a couple of things are going on, including BET becoming part of Viacom, which I think helped them attract more advertisers,” says Koerner.
She also notes that more multi-ethnic shows are popping up on the Big Four broadcast networks, which tend to have higher ad rates than the smaller broadcast and cable networks.
|
African-American TV Viewers |
|||
|
Daypart |
Households |
% Difference |
|
|
Black |
Non-Black |
||
|
Early Morning |
5.6 |
3.7 |
48 |
|
Daytime |
11.7 |
7.6 |
54 |
|
Early Fringe |
9.4 |
7.5 |
25 |
|
Prime Access |
1.6 |
1.4 |
13 |
|
Primetime |
15.1 |
13.5 |
12 |
|
Late Night |
5.5 |
3.2 |
74 |
|
Saturday AM |
2.2 |
1.5 |
51 |
|
Weekend PM |
6.3 |
5.1 |
25 |
|
Overnight 1-6A |
11.2 |
4.4 |
151 |
|
Other |
8.1 |
5.2 |
57 |
|
Total Day |
76.8 |
53.1 |
45 |
|
Source: Initiative Media North America, April 2003, based on Nielsen Media Research data from Nov. 2002. |
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|
African-American TV Viewers |
|||||
|
Network |
Program |
Black |
White |
||
|
Rank |
Rating % |
Rank |
Rating % |
||
|
FOX |
Cedric the Entertainer: Presents |
1 |
20.4 |
93 |
2.5 |
|
UPN |
One on One |
2 |
19.4 |
112 |
0.6 |
|
UPN |
Girlfriends |
3 |
19.2 |
112 |
0.6 |
|
UPN |
Half & Half |
4 |
17.3 |
114 |
0.5 |
|
UPN |
The Parkers |
5 |
16.5 |
111 |
0.7 |
|
ABC |
My Wife & Kids |
6 |
15.9 |
46 |
6.8 |
|
FOX |
Bernie Mac |
7 |
15.6 |
84 |
3.2 |
|
ABC |
NFL Monday Night Football |
8 |
14.5 |
10 |
11.3 |
|
FOX |
Fastlane |
9 |
14.0 |
85 |
3.1 |
|
CBS |
CSI |
10 |
13.7 |
1 |
18.4 |
|
NBC |
Law And Order |
11 |
10.9 |
6 |
13.0 |
|
CBS |
Without A Trace |
12 |
10.8 |
17 |
10.3 |
|
ABC |
George Lopez |
12 |
10.8 |
49 |
6.5 |
|
NBC |
Law And Order: SVU |
14 |
10.7 |
15 |
10.8 |
|
NBC |
E.R. |
15 |
10.1 |
3 |
15.7 |
|
ABC |
The Practice |
15 |
10.1 |
31 |
7.9 |
|
FOX |
Simpsons |
17 |
9.7 |
39 |
7.3 |
|
CBS |
CSI: Miami |
18 |
9.6 |
8 |
12.5 |
|
CBS |
60 Minutes |
18 |
9.6 |
20 |
10.2 |
|
CBS |
Judging Amy |
20 |
9.2 |
14 |
10.9 |
|
Source: Initiative Media North America, April 2003, based on Nielsen Media Research data from 4th quarter 2002. |
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|
African-American TV Viewers |
|||||
|
TV Type |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
|
Syndication |
$46,564 (5) |
$21,081 (9) |
$62,388 (10) |
$33,572 (6) |
$29,639 (4) |
|
Cable (BET) |
$36,711 |
$46,663 |
$42,896 |
$36,310 |
$54,684 |
|
Network |
$56,748 (6) |
$29,561 (8) |
$38,430 (10) |
$56,752 (7) |
$84,089 (7) |
|
Total Dollars |
$140,024 |
$147,980 |
$143,715 |
$126,635 |
$168,413 |
|
% Change Prior Year |
n/a |
6% |
-3% |
-12% |
33% |
|
Source: Initiative Media North America, April 2003, based on data from CMR. |
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April 17, 2003© 2003 Media Life
-Kevin Downey is a staff writer for Media Life.
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