• by Wayne Friedman , March 4, 2016

Nielsen says the traditional TV audience continues to get older.

While most demographics are relatively flat in the Nielsen Universe Estimate Report for 2016 versus the same period a year ago, those 65 and older witnessed an increase. Those 65 and older now account for 40 persons out of 100 TV homes -- up from 38 out of 100 a year ago.

Nielsen says the 2016 data comes from estimates as of November 2015.

Nielsen says there are 116.4 million TV homes in 2016 -- the same as 2015. TV viewers 50 years and older are the only demographic group to see a gain year-over-year-- now 106.8 million, up from 105.4 million in 2015.

The biggest TV demographic is viewers 18-49, which dropped from 127 million to 126.8 million in 2015. Kids 2-11 inched down from 39.2 million to 39 million, while teens 12-17 slipped to 24.3 million from 24.5 million.

Looking at gender, women 18 years and older comprised 120.8 million -- up from 120.3 million -- while men 18 years and older are now up to 112.7 million from 112.0 million.

In 2015, CBS had the oldest median age of 60, followed by ABC at 57.2, NBC with 57.0 and Fox at 48.6, according to Nielsen and MoffettNathanson Research analysis. 

Cable network groups are generally lower than the broadcast networks: Fox cable networks have a median age of 54.5; Scripps Networks Interactive, 53.4; A+E Networks, 51.7; NBCU, 51.6; Discovery Communications, 50.1; AMC Networks, 50; Time Warner, 35.7; Viacom, 26.6; and Disney, 24.7.