Since the early days of television, the U.S. broadcast networks have aired nightly newscasts to inform viewers of the events of the day. With the advent of cable television and all-news channels like CNN and MSNBC, viewers no longer had to wait for the network newscast to find out about newsworthy events. The addition of numerous cable channels resulted in viewer fragmentation for all network programming, including newscasts. In addition, the rise of the Internet allowed people to find news instantly. As a result, viewership of network newscasts has eroded.
According to the website Journalism.org, ratings for network newscasts have been declining steadily since 1980, when combined ratings for the evening newscasts broadcast by the three major U.S. networks -- ABC, CBS and NBC -- was a 42 share, meaning that 42 percent of all televisions being watched were tuned to these broadcasts. By 2005, this had shrunk to less than a 19 share. By early 2011, the newscasts of NBC and ABC were each averaging about a 2 share in the demographic of adults 25 to 54 years of age. CBS fared even worse; during the week of April 4, 2011, the CBS newscast was only attracting a 1.3 share in that key demographic.
According to a 2005 article by pundit George Will, the median age of the viewers of network newscasts at that time was 60. This, he wrote, is apparent in the commercials that sponsor these broadcasts, featuring such products as Metamucil (a laxative) and Fixodent (a denture cream). Furthermore, Will made the observation that younger people may be "voracious consumers of media," but little of the media they consume consists of news and journalism. When people in a younger demographic do look for news, they're more likely to turn to new media than broadcast television.
The prevailing wisdom is that older viewers who continue to watch network newscasts do so out of habit. When these viewers eventually die, presumably network newscasts will die as well. This trend became impossible to ignore when the TV Critics Association (TCA), a 200-plus member group of television journalists and critics from throughout North America, voted Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" as the winner in the category of outstanding news and information programming in the organization's 2004 TCA Awards. Although "The Daily Show" is ostensibly a comedy show that mocks a newscast, the show is a dominant source of news for those in the 18- to 34-year-old demographic.