The average child between the ages of 2 and 11 watched 312 1/2 hours of children’s programing during the 1996-97 TV season, according to a new survey.
That’s up from an average of 295 hours for the same age group during the 1995-96 season, according to “Television Viewing Among Kids,” a report by BJK&E Media, a media buying company.
Children age 6 through 11 watched slightly less, clocking in at 282.3 hours last season, which is up from 277.8 hours in the 1995-96 season.
According to Steve Sternberg, a senior partner at BJK&E, ratings for kiddie fare on the broadcast networks and in syndication are down, while cable has recorded moderate increases.
“There is 10 times as much cable programing for kids, so a small increase in the rating on average accounts for a hell of a lot of viewing,” Sternberg said.
“It’s not all Saturday morning. Ten years ago, Saturday morning was it,” Sternberg continued. “Saturday morning has gone down, the network stuff has gone down, Nickelodeon has started to make an impact. . . . Kids are growing up in this multichannel environment; they don’t care whether it’s Channel 73 or Channel 2.”
Based on the survey, boys 2 to 11 on average watched 337.7 hours of kids’ programing last year, while girls the same age clocked in with 284.6 hours for the year. During the 1995-96 season, boys 2 to 11 watched 316.8 hours of kids’ programs, while girls tuned in for 275.9 hours.
To add some perspective, the average household watched 174.6 hours of kids’ fare during the 1996-97 season, up from 167.9 hours the previous year.
No surprise, with cable offering kiddie-targeted programing on such channels as Nickelodeon, the Cartoon Network, TBS and elsewhere, cable accounts for 77 percent of the total hours viewed by kids. According to the survey, cable provides 83 percent of all of the kids’ programing available on television.
Network television gets 15 percent of the kiddie viewing (while delivering 9 percent of the material). Syndicated shows get 8 percent, equaling the 8 percent of all children’s shows it delivers.
During the 1995-96 season, cable notched 71 percent of the hours viewed by kids, while delivering 81 percent of all kids programming. Network TV the same year got 18 percent of the audience, while delivering 9 percent of the kiddie shows.