South Korean TV watchers aged over 40 prefer traditional territorial networks, while young people like to watch cable networks, recent research showed Sunday.

The "2016 TV Viewing Trend" data by the research firm Nielsen was published in a paper by the Korea Broadcast Advertising Corp.

According to the study, people aged over 60 prefer terrestrial networks to cable TV by 53 percent to 30 percent.

The ratio was 50 to 35 among those in their 50s and 50 to 40 in their 40s.

In contrast, people in their 30s prefer cable channels to terrestrial ones by a margin of 48 to 42. The number is similar with people in their 20s: 46 to 44.
The preference for cable channels vis-a-vis terrestrial TV grew stronger with younger viewers.

TV watchers aged below 10 prefer cable TV to terrestrial networks by 54 to 42 and teenagers also like to watch cable channels more than terrestrial ones by 53 to 43, the report showed.

Meanwhile, the four new all-program cable channels --- MBN, JTBC, TV Chosun and Channel A -- were popular among TV viewers aged over 50. (Yonhap)