The age of television viewers is increasing as prime-time is becoming the increasing domain of news, dramas and reality TV. For the first time in history, the four major networks all have a median age of 40 or over. This reveals an abandoning of television by younger audiences, as the overall population age has remained about the same in the U.S.
Fox (NWS-A) has the lowest median age, finishing the season which ended in May with 42 as the average. Even being the lowest, it was still a huge jump from the 35-year-old average the network enjoyed in the 2002-03 season.
The network with the oldest viewing audience was CBS (CBS-A), which draws an average age of 53. Next in line is NBC (GE) which used to be the top network for 
young people, but now draws an average age of 49. ABC (DIS) draws an average age of 48, up by two years over the past 12 months.
The upstart network CW draws a much younger crowd of a median age of 32, but their viewership is so small that it doesn't figure into the mix at this time.
When it's broken down, news draws by far the oldest audiences, with dramas next and most comedy and reality shows skewing the youngest. Series viewers also tend to increase in age as they remain faithful to the show over a period of years.
One reason why Fox finished at a higher media age than in the past is its introduction of dramas, which draw an older demographic than past fare. Even American Idol only had growth in the 55 or older age group.
For syndicated talk shows, the youngest audiences belonged to Maury Povich and Tyra Banks who had those with an average age of 40 watching them.
The reason for aging network audiences isn't only abandoning of television by younger people, although there's some truth in that, but it's also determined by the what types of shows the networks are offering. It's interesting that they're putting shows on that will draw older viewers on average when advertisers are lookig for shows audiences in the key demo 18-49 more than anything else.
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