In its end-of-year review, Turner Broadcasting makes the interesting claim that its audience is getting younger while other media companies are getting older.
Turner says its audience is 2.8 years younger than a year ago, while Disney is up 0.6 years, Viacom and 21st Century Fox are 1.4 years older and Comcast/NBCUniversal is 2.2 years older.
The millennial audience has become a key target for Turner, which pegs that generation’s spending power at $2 trillion.
Turner says its portfolio, which includes TV, digital and mobile platforms, reaches an average of 68% of adults 18-34 per month so far this year.
Two of its cable networks—Adult Swim and TBS—are among the top four cable channels in terms of reaching millennials. Plus Turner says CNN dominates targeted media like Vice, Buzzfeed and Vox among millennials in total time spent and time spent per person across platforms.
In its data stack, Turner also lists this year’s top basic cable programs. While sports in general—and football in particular—is usually held up as the biggest draw on TV, on cable 23 of the top 50 were part of AMC’s Walking Dead zombie franchise.
After the College Football Championship, which appeared on ESPN, the next 13 highest rated programs among adults 18 to 49 were all Walking Dead episodes. Also on the list were episodes of Fear the Walking Dead and one edition of Talking Dead. AMC also benefited from The Walking Dead because it catapulted the premieres of Better Call Saul and Into the Badlands onto the list. Other than football, the only other programs in the top 50 were Republican presidential debates on Fox News Channel and CNN and FX’s American Horror Story.
