My fear that my conclusions were too predictable to be insightful was knifed by one particularly enthusiastic letter writer last week, who insisted on trading in his discernment and independent thinking for nachos and a beer. As much as this heartily encouraged me that the need for cognizance of cultural messages in sports broadcasting remains at a record high, I want to go beyond that and take a look at why men are pursued as an audience the way Fox and other networks pursue them. They'll even stick around for the commercials. Men, however, are much harder to reach. We should be getting the picture by now of the dream television product in the minds of advertisers.
Sports are a gem.
Sporting events are about all that male viewers in the jackpot 18-34 age group will watch regularly, intently and with little channel surfing. And this is a television gold mine. Even though ratings for sports on television, even the World Series and Monday Night Football, are sinking, advertisers know it's a predominately male audience, and they'll keep paying big bucks. Stay the course. The issue of advertising demographics is no peripheral matter for those of us trying to bring some discernment to how we watch television.