51

This past weekend, I read the following article in the NY Times:

51. The median age of viewers of the big four broadcast networks, Fox, CBS, NBC, and ABC, according to a study by Baseline, Incs. A New York Times Company that tracks data on the film and television industries. The audience has aged at twice the rate of the general population, according to Baseline, a trend that is changing the waybroadcasters are approaching their business. The younger demographic once sought by the networks has increasingly migrated to cable and the Web, leaving the broadcasters to court older viewers , an adjustment that some in the industry welcome. “Don’t discount people who are in their 50’s and 60’s...,” one executive told the Associated Press. “The reality is that these are the people with the money.”

What does this tell us? That we should seek the money, and to do so we should target certain media groups? Or is it impossible to think that someone could come in and genuinely ask a question like, "what media content would really benefit this group?". Or..."How could we create programming that allows this generation to share the stories of their life with a younger generation (and perhaps vice versa?)" Where are the creatives who are asking these questions, and not simply, where is the money?