Majority Of Americans Believe Television Programming Is Getting Worse, Yet They’re Watching More Than Ever

AOL Television / AP Poll Reveals What Viewers Will be Tuning In and Tuning Out This Fall

September 13, 2007

With the networks slated to premiere their highly-anticipated fall television lineups in the coming weeks, a new poll by AOL Television (television.aol.com) and The Associated Press reveals that an overwhelming number of Americans (62%) believe that the quality of the programming is getting worse, yet they are spending more time in front of the tube than ever before. According to the findings, over a quarter (27%) are watching at least 21 hours of television a week, with 13% saying they tune in more than 30 hours, an increase of 5 percentage points from when the same question was asked in 2005. Ironically, there was no difference in opinion that programming quality is getting worse from those who watch television a lot and those who watch very little. “These findings indicate that Americans will continue to watch television despite a declining quality in the overall programming,” said Scott Robson, editor in chief of AOL Television. When examining television programming by genre, Americans are clearly tired of reality TV, with a majority (71%) stating there’s too much of the genre currently on the air. Nearly half (49%) say that there are too many crime shows and talk shows. More than a quarter (28%) believe there are not enough news programs in rotation, while 24% stated there are not enough comedies. Signaling the growing popularity of cable programming, when asked which one channel they would choose to watch, almost half (45%) named a cable network with Discovery, ESPN and The History Channel leading with 4% each. When examining the top four broadcast networks, CBS and ABC both received 9% of the vote, while NBC and Fox garnered 8% and 7%, respectively. A majority of men (52%) selected a cable channel, while a stronger majority of women (55%) selected a broadcast network. When it comes to returning shows this fall, nearly half (47%) of all Americans are looking forward to seeing new episodes CBS’s “CSI,” followed by Fox’s “House” (32%), NBC’s “Deal or No Deal” (29%) and ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Desperate Housewives” who each garnered 28% of the vote. When asked which television show they’d most like to see get cancelled, almost one in ten (9%) said CBS’s “Survivor.” Despite a slew of highly publicized series premieres this fall, including “Bionic Woman,” “Pushing Daisies,” and “Cavemen,” none seem to have resonated with television viewers. When asked which of the new shows they were looking forward to seeing, no program received more than 1%. * Methodology: The AP-AOL Television poll of 1,204 adults between the ages of 18-65+ was conducted from August 24-26 by Ipsos, an international public opinion company. The margin of error for all adults is +2.8 percentage points.

Read More: