When did FOX become BET all of a sudden?

I work in the media biz as well and around when Empire came out there was a big article that i read saying that network local TV(the big 4) has shifted more to minorities and thats why you saw a huge increase in minority shows like Fresh of the boat, blackish, etc.

They said the traditional mid/upper income white viewer has migrated over to premium channels like FX, AMC, HBO, and things like Netflix and Amazon Prime. It was interesting but it made sense.

I've heard that same reasoning for why ESPN has taken a hard left bend and promoting the likes of Jemele Hill more. Because they need new audiences with the cord cutting so they think pandering to minorities with left wing personalities and programming is the way to go.

The problem is that ratings for a lot of these shows suck. Blackish is by far the worst performing show on that ABC Wednesday Night Block. Fresh Off the Boat did good at first but has kind of evened out. Empire is 100% carried by black audiences so markets with low black populations have to suffer.

The problem with CBS is that too many advertisers want to reach millenials and younger audiences these days, and while CBS is the #1 network, most of its audience is old. The same can be said for basically all of broadcast outside of FOX. FOX is the youngest skewing network, perhaps this also explains why they are putting out so many of these shows

Don't get why advertisers are so gung ho on advertising to millenials however. I was working on a project at work the other day where the buyer was insisting on targetting the Millenial Demographic. The client was a fricking RV dealer. I told them you can target millenials all you want but it doesn't make any sense. It's not a demographic who is in the market for an RV.

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They said the traditional mid/upper income white viewer has migrated over to premium channels like FX, AMC, HBO, and things like Netflix and Amazon Prime. It was interesting but it made sense.

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I would guess a lot of that is because the premium channels are pumping out very high quality programming that is intelligent and well acted. FOX wants to pump out cheap shows and for the most part those aren't catching on like they used to. Look at CBS in the same light, most of their cheap shows are established where people are kind of "pot committed" to the show at this point but they don't pick up a lot of new viewers (looking at Big Bang and Two Broke Girls).

I think advertisers are still so hung up on the old trope that "young people buy things." Do they not understand that everybody under 30 basically still lives at home and mooch off their parents now. I used to work at a University... The overwhelming majority are absolutely clueless about how anything in th real world actually works. If they need anything, they have to call their parents first and usually they get them to do it for them.

They use their HBO passwords and their Netflix acct. They use parents credit cards, etc etc

Nobody in their 20s makes any money... Especially enough to be buying leisure products like RVs and houses and motorcycles or boats.

Old people have money, young people don't... That's always been so, but now even more than ever.

Outside of technology and gadgets "millenials" (Damn I hate that term) don't have consumer habits like anyone of the last 100 yrs... They'd rather stay in their room and watch YouTube videos and tweet than go out and watch a movie in a theater or go to a ball game. Some still do, but it's vastly smaller than previous generations.

Doyle is killing it with Empire.

FOX always had shows that appealed to urban audiences... Back in the day Martin, Living Singles,In Living Color, Etc...

I guess no one watched Fox in its' early years. Shows like In Living Color and Martin helped keep the network afloat,along with the Simpsons and BH90210.

Empire is 100% carried by black audiences so markets with low black populations have to suffer.



This is the kind of hyperbole which just makes you look ridiculous. So white audiences are "suffering" because there is a show on a network which they don't have to watch. Holy shite...we are fricked.

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I think advertisers are still so hung up on the old trope that "young people buy things." Do they not understand that everybody under 30 basically still lives at home and mooch off their parents now. I used to work at a University... The overwhelming majority are absolutely clueless about how anything in th real world actually works. If they need anything, they have to call their parents first and usually they get them to do it for them.

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You're right. I heard Rush Limbaugh I think say the reason advertisers want Adults 25-54 or younger demos opposed to older ones isn't because they have the money, but because their minds aren't made up. Old people already have their minds made up and preferred brands, so advertising to them may not be effective.

I see his point but at the same time I get frustrated at work when we get projects for advertisers who want to target demos that make no sense. RV dealer wanting to target millenials and a charity wanting to target Adults 18-29 made no sense to me. We even gave them research showing the most likely demo to give to charity is Adults 50+ and Adults 18-29 are the LEAST likely demo to give to charity, but no, they were stubborn. It's like these advertisers go to listen to some motivational speaker who gets up there and brainwashes them about how they need to target millenials no matter what you are selling