Premiere week ratings show TV networks still have a youth problem

It's a new TV season, but the first week's ratings indicate that the networks will be facing what has become the same old problem with younger viewers. During premiere week for the 2016-17 season, overall prime-time TV usage was off around 7% among the 18-to-34 age group compared with a year ago, based on Nielsen data. The number has been on a downward trend over the last few years, reflecting the emergence of online video streaming and video on demand. "They are watching," Jeff Bader, president of program planning, strategy and research for NBC, said of the increasingly elusive younger demographic. "They are just watching in different places. That audience watches where they want, when they want."