Male Television Viewership Shifting From Young to Old

Following the reaction to the exodus of men 18-34 from television, a new study from Carat Insight finds, while young male viewership is, in fact, down, viewership among men 34-49 has gone up.

The explanation for this finding is simple. While most programming is developed for younger audiences because, well, it's hip to be young, that same young audience sees that attempt to be hip as lame and has left the building for the Internet. On the other hand, the older male demo is making one last attempt to vicariously prop up their waning youth by watching more TV where they can see hot young things prance around and fantasize about getting with oh, say, Mischa Barton or Rachel Bilson from The O.C. Simple human nature.