LAT: Over 50 and Out of Favor: Advertisers, TV Networks Fixated on 18-49

[DeepModem Mom]

Over 50 and Out of Favor
Advertisers and thus TV networks are fixated on 18- to 49-year-olds, but aging baby boomers say they shouldn't be taken for granted.

By Meg James, Times Staff Writer


Brad Adgate turned 50 today and, just like that, he became irrelevant to the TV industry.

You might think marketers would want to court Adgate. The New York advertising executive makes a six-figure salary, and he and his wife enjoy spending it. Last year, they spent $35,000 remodeling their kitchen with all new appliances. They splurge at the supermarket — he likes microbrew beers — and at the sporting goods store. Recent purchases include new bikes for the family ($1,300) and a pair of running shoes for Adgate ($115)....

***

Such subtleties, however, are lost on most advertisers. Madison Avenue has focused for decades on reaching the demographic group that Adgate just grew out of: the 18-to-49-year-old consumer. The result: TV networks are fixated on the under-50 "demo" as well....

***

This year, like every year, the broadcast networks, including ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, will be using the same bait: shows aimed at people in their 20s, 30s and 40s.

Catering almost exclusively to the young might seem counterproductive. More than half the nation's wealth is in the hands of people over 50, who spend an estimated $2 trillion a year on products and services....


http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fifty10may10,0,1745275.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[meganmonkey]

1. Well, it's all crap anyway

...commercials and TV shows, that is (aside from some a very few exceptions). I can't stand seeing commercials and shows that are so clearly aimed at my 'demographic' and fail so miserably. I'd be glad if they gave up on me :P
I don't watch much TV.

[Nay]

6. Exactly my feeling, who gives a shit?? The stuff they make

for the 18-49 year olds sucks big time, so I'm supposed to be upset that they don't spew out crap for my age group??

[Mizmoon]

2. I found this to be horribly ironic

"But some warn that unless advertisers change their tune, they eventually will face the wrath of a group that knows how to make its voice heard. After all, it was these same baby boomers who came of age protesting the Vietnam War."

THIS is what boomers are supposedly going to use their protest power on?

[AndyTiedye]

12. No, We Just Don't Buy Their $#!%

Protest? We've BEEN protesting ever since the Warmonger-in-Thief
started talking about Iraq.

We put it on the back burner last year to work the election.

Still trying to recover from getting robbed again....

But we're not buying their $#!%.
Walmart has had 2 successive bad quarters since the sElection.
http://www.buyblue.com

[dkofos]

3. It's difficult to market to people who think.

[TalkingDog]

11. I'll give you a big AMEN to that brother. (or sister) n/t

[triguy46]

14. Amen from here too, sister.

[tmooses]

4. I thought the media caters to the 16 year olds-as far as the

"entertainment" they bring to TV.

[MindPilot]

5. I hate watching a TV show

and discovering which target demo I'm in. I can count on one hand the number of times I've bought something based on a TV ad.

I knew marketing had gone completely to hell when they started using Led Zepplin to sell geriatric cars.

[KurtNYC]

7. The worst of both worlds

The "television industry" is one that sell eyeballs (audiences) to marketers. They exist to please their customers -- advertisers. I pay $50 month for cable but none of that goes to the networks. It is like paying to have junk mail delivered to yourself.

[rinsd]

8. Poor baby boomers....

...no longer the fixation of manipulation and they're mad about it!

[losdiablosgato]

10. This makes a kind of sense if you look at it this way

You want to market to the young because they mostlikely have not made up their brand preferences yet. That is why cola companies pay to put machines in high schools. I, for example drink diet dr pepper, why my mother did. When you are 50 if you drive a ford chances are you will keep driving a ford. It may not be right how they market but this is why they do it.

[MaineDem]

9. I disagree with this to a point

I really think a lot of advertising is directed at me, a member of the over 50 babyboomer generation. I ignore it but it's there.

The ads for meds are a perfect example. Not that I need or can even use them but I'm subjected to advertising for incontinence, erectile disfunction, arthritis, high cholesterol, and many others that I can't remember right now (they must have a drug for that, too.) There's Mickey Rooney pushing insurance, too.

I don't watch a lot of the network shows so I'm not sure to whom the programming is directed but the commercials I see are certainly relevant to many of the "older folks".

[triguy46]

13. Network TV and their advertisers

are irrelevant. As a 52 yo, I couldn't care less who they advertise to, who they focus programming on, because I'm not there. Network "programming" is basically now down to "reality" based adventures, formulaic sitcoms, and CIS fill in the blank (toledo, tulsa, overland park, menlo park, estes park, etc). Really who gives a rats ass?

The people who sit in front of the freakin tube each nite are brain dead anyway, so it is just an exercise to get them to transfer their in debtedness from one fast food chain to another.

this ain't news, its their nightmare, and they just don't see it.

[tjdee]

15. No, they cater to the 13-25 range.

They couldn't give a shit about 30 year olds and 40 year olds.
Unless they're talking about cleaning the house or getting divorced (and/or, desperate, LOL).

[SoCalDem]

16. Unfortunately advertisers look for "long-term" relationships..

If they can hook you at 18, thy know they have you for a long time..
We Boomers are used kleenex to advertisers.. they had us, they used us, and they think that pretty soon, we will be 'downsizing'( I alredy have), so they don;t want to waste money aiming at us..

What they miss is THIS..

The younger population is "housing-poor".. they have little 'extra' money. Lots of them have a McMansion and an SUV, but they eat fast food and macaroni & cheese.. They have tons of college-debt...Their "vacations" are to Grandma & Grandpa's house..They shop on plastic until the limit kicks in..They are likeley to shop at 98cent stores for their day-to-day stuff, and Walmart for the rest..

The ones with money to burn are the older people who are lucky enough to still have their jobs..