Cooper Is “Younging-Down The Hour”

In TV Week today, Marianne Paskowski criticizes Jon Klein‘s decision to appeal to younger viewers by placing Anderson Cooper in primetime. This afternoon an industry observer, not affiliated with any network, responded in an e-mail:

“Paskowski’s column is pretty hysterical because Cooper’s gains are ALL in the younger demos. I’ve seen the numbers. In the 10p ET hour, 360’s total viewers have risen just 2%. But what’s happening is that Aaron Brown’s older viewers are fleeing and being replaced by 18-49s. Whether it’s worth all the hype is a separate question, but Cooper is absolutely younging-down that hour.”

That’s why the Anderson-bashing is pretty much irrelevant: If older viewers are being replaced by younger viewers, the programming change is a success for CNN…