Violence persists on television because advertising demographics, not audience demand, drive programming

Evidence

If violence does not sell, what accounts for its prevalence in televised fare? People’s television preferences are constrained by what they are given to choose from. Research during the early phase of television showed a marked discrepancy between what people would have liked to see on television and what they were shown. The offerings that are broadcast are determined mainly by commercial considerations. Programs that capture large audiences are discontinued if the people they attract do not fit the age or income categories that advertisers wish to influence. Popular programs that deliver the wrong kinds of viewers from a commercial standpoint are retired due to unfavorable “demographics” despite their wide acceptance because they fetch low advertising rates (Brown, 1971). — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 943

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: the “demographics” logic that kills popular shows with the wrong audience — a media-economics explainer on why what you like isn’t what you get.