WB, UPN’s Black Viewers Scatter to Other Nets

When the WB and UPN merged, media buyers wondered whether the African American audience that used to be targeted via those two networks would switch allegiance to the newly formed CW, or whether they would stop watching television altogether.

CW, it seems, is actually only drawing about half the black audience that used to watch UPN and the WB, while the other half has switched to other networks, writes Media Life.

According to new stats from Nielsen Media Research, the number of African Americans watching network TV is nearly identical to last season, while the CW has lost about 1 million of the young viewers the WB and UPN used to get, presumably because it has reduced the amount of black-skewing shows on the net.

Interestingly, it doesn’t look as though any of those black viewers are migrating to cable, but are rather sticking with network TV.

Ratings among black viewers are beginning to pick up for black-oriented programs on the CW, however, says Sam Armando, senior vp and director of video research at Starcom. The network fumbled the ball when it began the season with shows like Everybody Hates Chris airing on Sundays against tough competition. They now air on Mondays and ratings have gone up, according to Armando.