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Young men are notoriously hard for brands to reach, and that’s truer for millennials than it was for GenX or Y, who faced fewer distractions such as video games and streaming video-on-demand.
What this demographic has always watched, however, is sitcoms, particularly animated ones, and Twentieth Television has those in spades.
According to Twentieth’s research, this summer the syndicator delivered an average of 48.3 gross ratings points each week among men 18-34. By comparison, ABC, which aired the NBA Finals in June, averaged 30.4 GRPs this summer, while Adult Swim, a popular destination for young men, averaged 24 GRPs. TBS averaged 13.2, while USA, with summer hit Mr. Robot and WWE wrestling, averaged 11.4.
Twentieth distributes the top-rated male 18-34 show in all of television, Family Guy, which airs both in off-network syndication and on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, as well as on Fox in original episodes during the network’s Sunday night animation block. This summer, Family Guy averaged a 1.7 rating among young men, according to Nielsen Media Research.
Family Guy is followed by USA’s WWE at a 1.6, Warner Bros.’ The Big Bang Theory at a 1.4 in syndication and on TBS, and NBC’s America’s Got Talent at a 1.3. That ties Twentieth’s Modern Family, which airs in off-network syndication and on USA Network. Tied for sixth at a 1.2 are Twentieth’s animated sitcom The Cleveland Show, a spin-off of Family Guy; and the Steve Harvey-starrer Family Feud, for which Twentieth sells ads while FremantleMedia produces and Debmar-Mercury distributes.
To take advantage of its strong position among young men, Twentieth is pitching advertisers on moving just a small amount of their budgets from live sports over to some of their shows.
“If you substitute or take a little bit of money and reallocate it to our young-skewing male programming, you dramatically grow your reach among young men while bringing down the cost of your overall CPM [cost-per-thousand],” says Michael Teicher, executive VP of Twentieth’s media sales.
While Family Guy long has been a favorite of young men, Twentieth has been surprised to see how well broadcast hit and Emmy darling Modern Family does with this demographic as well.
“It plays younger than we anticipated and it’s multicultural,” says Teicher. “This program has this incredible ability to strike a chord because it resonates with America today.”
