The long tail, bell curve edge

I realized at school that I was not in the highest part of the social bell curve I was in the part where it tapers off. My tastes are very geeky, but I've often felt that I could see trends a little ahead of the curve. I was the first student in my high school with a computer, I was the first person in my office with a DVR, the first person in my office with a ROKU.

So when I read an article on the New York Times yesterday that people under 35 are watching less cable/broadcast TV and people older than 35 are watching more. It surprised me. A few years ago I stopped watching TV except when I was spending time with my wife. I'm a lot older than 35. Broadcast/cable TV even a DVR just seems like such an inefficient way to get what I wanted to watch. My viewing experience is much more like going into a library where I choose what I want when I want it rather than the old broadcast model where you choose.

So the question for broadcasters is am I an outlier or am I ahead of the curve. In ten years will television view drop of 50% or will a small part of the population stop watching cable.

Only time will tell. Or is Nielsen data used to source the NY times article not completely factual. Is the TV on and we are really doing something else and the new metric for TV watching be not that the TV is on but what percentage of the time are we focused on it.