Yes, the CW’s Average Viewer Is Actually 58 — Here’s How the Rest of Broadcast Stacks Up

variety.com:

The CW was only founded 16 years ago, and throughout that short life, it’s been known as both the youngest broadcaster and the broadcaster with the youngest audience.

That’s why when Nexstar COO and president Tom Carter stated during a conference call Monday that the average viewer of the network, which is being acquired by the TV station group giant, is 58 years old, the internet had a hard time swallowing the stat.How is it possible that the average viewer of the home of YA-centric content like “Riverdale,” “All American,” “Walker” and “The Flash” is in their late 50s?But as Variety has independently confirmed with measurements from Nielsen, the Nexstar exec was correct: the median age for the CW’s primetime viewer throughout the 2021 calendar year was 57.4, according to Live + 7 Day data.

That counts initial linear viewership and a week’s worth of delayed (mostly DVR) viewing where available. When looking at total day numbers, which includes not just broadcast primetime content, but everything viewed on a network outside of the primetime window as well, the CW’s average viewer ages up to 58.4.

And those numbers make the CW audience not just older than some expected, but also no longer the broadcast network with the youngest audience.Surprisingly, that title goes to Fox, which in the year of 2021 had a broadcast primetime median age of 56.6 and a total day median age of 56.2 based on Live + 7 data.More recent data also points to Fox having the youngest audience.