Where have all the 16-24 year old males gone?

ITV is one of the UK’s commercial TV channels and it has lost over 17% of its young male audience in the past year. As anybody seen a very large group of surly looking males roaming around?

Poor old ITV not only has it lost its young bucks but it now has a higher share among older viewers.

Apparently, young males make up one of the most coveted demographic groups and advertisers, particularly automotive manufacturers and sportswear labels, are willing to pay premium rates to reach them. Sportswear I can understand, but cars??

I am afraid that radio, TV and all other forms of media are going to have to get into the habit of seeing less young people. Still its not all bad news as ITV’s interim results reveal ad revenue is up 4% across its portfolio of channels and pre-tax profit has risen by 59% to £132m.

What is so depressing is that the solution that is being proposed to ITV’s falling youth popularity is to broadcast more football. From the voracious appetite for watching football that most of my 50+ friends have I don’t think that is going to change the balance. Dick Stroud www.20plus30.com