The dog days of summer may be upon
us, but the world of marketing to Baby Boomers
hasn't slowed down.
Here is this month's update on the best and worst of
Boomer marketing.
Network TV's Addiction
to 18-49
A year ago CBS announced that they were dumping
five TV shows that skewed older in favor of shows
that would appeal to the younger end (18-34) of
the "coveted" 18-49 demographic.
We took them to task and suggested that they
would drive more Boomers to other TV
options, like cable, since they were offering precious
little to hold our attention.
We recently came across some data about this past
TV season that has illuminated us to the continuing
addiction Network TV has for 18-to-49 year olds. It
is, in fact, disheartening.
A company called Magna Global tracks the median
age of TV viewers, which is the age where half the
audience is older and half is younger. Since the
median age for the U.S. population is 36.2 (Census
data) and just about everyone in America watches
TV, one might expect the median age of TV viewers
to be about the same.
It isn't.
It's much older. And it helps us understand what CBS
is up to. Let's explain.
First, here are the figures for this past TV season:
| Network |
Median
Age |
| ABC |
46 |
| CBS |
52 |
| NBC |
49 |
| FOX |
39 |
| WB |
37 |
| UPN |
31 |
Source: Magna Global USA
So relative to the population, and to their
competition, CBS is indeed the old people network.
One can now see why they might be ditching shows
for Boomers for shows for younger audiences in an
attempt to lower their median age figure.
It gets more interesting (or troubling) when you see
quotes like this, from the Magna Global expert who
tracks median age information:
"We don't really see any of the
broadcast networks lowering their median age next
year. But interestingly, CBS may still get younger.
Sometimes just looking at average median ages can
be misleading. CBS has reduced its percentage of
age 65+ viewers and increased the percentage of its
50-64 audience. As a result, its average median age
remained at 52, but clearly CBS has gotten younger."
Yet according to Nielsen ratings, CBS "won" the
overall season by attracting the
greatest number of total viewers, ages 18 and older.
Who might these viewers be?
Further, looking at the median age for individual
shows helps us
understand why some shows get cancelled and
others survive despite poor ratings. For example, this
past season ABC's "Commander in Chief" with Gina
Davis generated good ratings but had a median age
viewer of 55. Ratings-challenged "What About
Brian" had a median age of 40. Guess which one got
renewed for this Fall's season? (Hint: Not Gina's)
The network's fascination with the 18-49 demo
continues unabated, despite the fact that the
population as a whole is aging. The median age
nationally has gone from 28 in 1970 to 30 in 1980 to
32.8 in 1990 to 35.3 in 2000
to now 36.2 in 2004, according to the Census.
The bottom line is that all of us trying to market
effectively to Boomers have work to do to educate
advertisers that Boomers have and want to spend
money on their products, and they can more easily
be reached by advertising on shows like "Commander
in Chief" and not "What About Brian."
As for me, I'm downloading shows to watch on my
iPod. Without commercials.
Right Hand, Meet Left Hand
So we can't figure out the Network TV execs who
keep fiddling with the line-up in attempts to lure
younger viewers (see above).
But we also can't figure out the Network TV
executives who keep fiddling with the talent in said
shows either.
Read this piece in the Chicago
Tribune about the graying and wrinkling of TV,
then email us here at the Boomer Project and help us
figure this out.
Because we can't.
Young People Don't Watch the Boob Tube
They Watch YouTube
In the not-too-distant future, traditional TV shows
will be for those Boomers and beyond and younger
people will consume different entertainment
elsewhere.
That's why some in the television and advertising
world already know the next thing is YouTube.
Or at least, user-generated content delivered on
demand.
Think about it, isn't that what "reality TV" has been
all about -- content generated by the performers,
not by some writers back in Hollywood? And isn't
iPod's popularity with video because one can view it
on their own terms, at a time or place of their
choosing?
YouTube is just on demand reality TV on steroids.
Every day some 70 million videos are viewed on
YouTube. There isn't a TV show with that pull.
NBC already senses something is afoot, given this
news of their relationship with YouTube.
Next we'll see smart marketers seizing the
opportunity, bypassing the networks to get their
products on YouTube.
Leaving the Boob Tube for Boomers.
Music for Your Mind
Recently, NPR featured a story about
New Horizons, an
organization that teaches "adults" how to play
musical instruments.
New Horizons puts together bands and other musical
groups to practice and perform in their local
communities.
This organization is well poised to capitalize on the
life-long learning so important to aging Boomers. As
more and more research comes out about how
important it is to teach an aging brain new things,
like how to play a musical instrument or how to speak
another language, we anticipate other organizations
to form.
The question for marketers is how can you tap into
these initiatives? Can you move early and get
sponsorship tie-ins at early stage rates?
Before you know it, supporting a group like New
Horizons might be a great way to reach older
Boomers.
Movies for "Old" People?
Summer blockbusters are all over the news,
with "Pirates of the Caribbean" setting new box office
records.
Leave it to The New York Times to provide
some
perspective on the movie business in this article about movies for "old"
people, those over 25!
One movie they left out was "Something's Gotta
Give", with Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson. It
grossed $124
million. Not bad for a movie that showed two
60-year-olds as sexually active beings (without any
little blue pills, mind you).
Hiring the Boomer Project
Companies and organizations hire the Boomer Project
to provide on-site training about marketing to
Boomers, give presentations and seminars to internal
and external audiences, conduct marketing research
or provide marketing consulting services.
Contact Matt
Thornhill to learn more.
Also, if you have any comments or questions
about any of the information presented here, please
let us know at commen
ts@boomerproject.com.
Matt Thornhill
The Boomer Project
