Television: Survivor: Age Takes Atoll

On Pulau Tiga, and in the Nielsens, CBS's hit voyeur series shows that demographics still rule

If you were dumped on a desert island with few supplies and 15 contentious comrades, a few questions would present themselves. Are you a people person? Would you eat rats? Could you start a fire with your eyeglasses? But the ultimate question would be, Are you in the demo?

The demo, or demographic, is the elite consumer group, 18 to 49 years old--or better, 18 to 34--that advertisers pay most to reach. (The oft-disputed reasoning is that older people have set spending habits and, because they watch more TV than young'uns, are better reached with ads on cheaper programs.) Last...

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