TiVo has proof: Republicans don't watch Olbermann, not even for a second By Frank Michael Russell San Jose Mercury News
Posted: 10/06/2009 12:00:00 AM PDT http://www.siliconvalley.com/latestheadlines/ci_13492411?source=email Republicans don't watch MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" and it would be a complete waste of time to advertise the Toyota Prius on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor." News of this blue-state/red-state divide on TV comes courtesy of TiVo, the pioneering San Jose maker of digital video recorders. Although not a surprise, TiVo says the information from its PowerWatch ratings service could be seriously useful to advertisers. "Imagine you are a media planner charged with building a schedule starting in September to reach either Democrats or Republicans," Todd Juenger, TiVo's vice president and general manager of audience research and measurement, noted in a statement Monday. Targeting viewers ages 25 to 54, for example, "is meaningless," Juenger continued, "because it tells nothing about the kind of people you are trying to reach." The PowerWatch service, though, includes anonymous data from 35,000 households that provided demographic information and volunteered to let TiVo track their television viewing second-by-second. TiVo found absolutely no Republicans watching Olbermann in July, not even for one second, and no motorists, not a one, who intend to buy an alternative-fuel vehicle within the next two years watching Bill O'Reilly. Prime-time shows more popular with Republicans than the general public included "Army Wives," "America's Got Talent," "The Bachelorette" and "The Closer," a TNT crime drama starring Kyra Sedgwick as a detective who moves from Georgia to lead a special Los Angeles police homicide unit. Democrats, meanwhile, enjoyed Bravo's "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List" and "Top Chef Masters" and, in a sign that common ground among the two parties is possible in our lifetime, "The Closer." ================================================= George Antunes Voice (713) 743-3923 Associate Professor Fax (713) 743-3927 Political Science Internet: antunes at uh dot edu University of Houston Houston, TX 77204-3011 *********************************** * POST TO MEDIANEWS@ETSKYWARN.NET * *********************************** Medianews mailing list Medianews@etskywarn.net http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
