1967, the science of divining from demographic statistics; see demography + -ics. Originally in reference to TV audiences and advertisers.
Entries linking to demographics
demography n.
"that branch of anthropology which studies life-conditions of a people by its vital and social statistics," 1880, from Greek dēmos "people" (see demotic) + -graphy.
-ics
in the names of sciences or disciplines (acoustics, aerobics, economics, etc.), a 16c. revival of the classical custom of using the neuter plural of adjectives with Greek -ikos "pertaining to" (see -ic) to mean "matters relevant to" and also as the titles of treatises about them. Subject matters that acquired their English names before c. 1500, however, tend to be singular in form (arithmetic, logic, magic, music, rhetoric). The grammatical number of words in -ics (mathematics is/mathematics are) is a confused question.