The table illustrates the proportion of viewers from three age groups who preferred various types of television programmes in a European country in 2012.Overall, cartoons were overwhelmingly preferred by the youngest group, whereas news programmes were far more popular among adults. Moreover, while the preference for cartoons decreased markedly with age, interest in news and TV dramas increased.
In terms of the youngest viewers aged 11-15, cartoons were the most popular programme, accounting for 29%. This was followed by sports and feature films, with respective figures of 22% and 18%. By contrast, only 6% of this age group watched news, making it the least preferred programme.
A clear upward trend can be observed in the proportion of people watching news and TV dramas as age increases. While only 6% of the youngest group watched news, the figure rose to 19% among those aged 15-20 and peaked at 23% for viewers aged 21-25. In contrast, the popularity of cartoons declined significantly from 29% in the youngest group to 18% among teenagers and just 4% among the oldest viewers. Meanwhile, the percentage of people watching sports remained relatively stable at 22%, 18%, and 21% for the three age groups respectively.
Feature films were particularly popular among viewers aged 15-20, accounting for 23%, compared with 18% among the youngest group and 20% in the oldest category. Soap operas showed a fluctuating pattern, declining from 17% among 11-15 year-olds to 12% in the middle group before rising to 19% among those aged 21-25.