CNN reaches the most viewers in well-to-do households, while the highest household incomes on cable belong to Bloomberg TV.
Those were among the findings of the 35th annual Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey released today. The study put the cable news network at the top of its list among channels reaching the most upscale households, followed by ESPN and History.
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For its part, Bloomberg TV at $147,400 and Golf Channel, where the median income is $147,100, topped that survey's measure.
The most popular program genres among affluent viewers were local news, feature films, action / adventure, comedy and national news.
On the broadcast side, Mendelsohn found that ABC reaches the most viewers per week in well-off homes, according
Affluent ABC households have a median income of $141,700. NBC has the second most viewers in affluent households, and those households have a median income of $141,400. Spanish-language broadcast networks reach fewer viewers in affluent households, but the households they do reach have high median incomes: $144,300 for Telemundo and $142,700 for Univision.
Reaching consumers with money is important to advertisers and the new survey found that affluent viewers see more advertising on TV than in other media and more of them are receptive to commercials than to other forms of advertising .
Affluent households -- defined by Ipsos Mendelsohn as those with annual incomes of more than $100,000 -- represent just 21% of all U.S. households, yet receive 60% of U.S. household income and hold 70% of U.S. net worth. They are twice as likely to purchase in more than 150 product categories measured in the survey, and spend 3.2 more in those categories.
The survey found that 98% of viewers in affluent households watched TV in the past week, 94% have cable or satellite, and 69% have a DVR.
