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Over 55 - Television Viewing Habits
The vast majority of Baby Boomers (80%) watch television on a traditional TV. Our research found that Baby Boomers, as a whole, have a diverse range of television channel/content preferences. However, two television-content preferences that are quite popular among Baby Boomers are local news and cable programming.
U.S. Baby Boomers' Television Viewing Habits
- Among U.S. baby boomers ages 65+, 57% "often get their news from local TV."
- Cable television programming is very popular among Baby Boomers, as just 18% of U.S. baby boomers between the ages of 54 and 72 said they have "never subscribed to pay TV" (meaning 82% have). On a related noted, Baby Boomers spend $106.80 on pay-TV per month (on average).
- A June 2015 survey of U.S. Baby Boomers asked what TV networks/channels they watch. The following are the percentages of Baby Boomers who watch the respective TV networks/channels: CBS (12%); ABC (10.5%); NBC (9.6%); Fox 5.9%; Fox News 4.5% (separate from the previous Fox); ESPN (5.4%); TNT (5%); History Channel (4.7%); USA channel (4.3%); and Netflix (7.9%). A screenshot of the graph that illustrates the aforementioned data is included in this Google Doc.
- In 2018, Baby Boomers between the ages of 55 and 64 spent an average of 305 minutes watching TV each day, which equates to 5.08 hours per day (305 / 60; rounded to the nearest hundredth).
- In 2018, Baby Boomers ages 65+ spent an average of 353 minutes watching TV each day, which equates to 5.88 hours per day (353 / 60; rounded to the nearest hundredth).
- The average number of networks that Baby Boomers watch on TV is 12.
- Thirty-one percent of Baby Boomers ages 65+ expressed either a somewhat or very favorable view of the horror TV show genre.
- With regard to the 2019 Oscars award show specifically, 18% "of Baby Boomers" said that they would likely watch.
Research Strategy
We identified the television viewing habits of U.S. Baby Boomers through a combination of research reports and media articles directly pertaining to this topic. Statista was a key source we used for research reports that published survey findings. We included the 2015 survey results because that was by far the most-comprehensive channel/genre information we found about U.S. Baby Boomers' television preferences. In addition to Statista, we also reviewed media articles that discussed survey findings on this topic. Examples of those sources we consulted include Forbes, eMarketer, and Market Watch. Our findings are specific to Baby Boomers in the U.S., as was requested.