Grow Up, TV Advertisers

You find them in surf shops, golf shops, sporting goods stores: ball caps bearing the legend “Old Guys Rule.” For women, “Fifty is the new 40.” Once an oxymoron, “Adventure Cruise” is now a successful marketing ploy. Universities compete to land the “life learning” travel market.

So why are television advertisers spurning this demographic gold mine? Last week, CBS announced the cancellation of four prime-time shows simply because they appealed to a just-over-50 crowd. CBS is fighting its reputation as the geezer network by dumping the baby-boomer demographic bulge, though these graying heads will be alive and spending accumulated wealth for decades to come.

Network programming is driven by advertisers, who are driven by marketing experts. Are these marketers just clinging to received wisdom? The 18-49 category was more or less invented to capture the boomers, those born from 1946 to 1964. As the boomers age, their demographic bulge goes with them. The over-50 crowd is still buying property, still changing jobs, still surfing. AARP’s magazine focuses on CEOs and rock ‘n’ roll, not rocking chairs. The fast-growing Slow Food movement, with its $120 air-shipped heritage bronze turkeys, is the empty-nesters’ new luxury.

Television networks’ 50-plus audience is stable even as the 18-to-49ers desert for special-interest cable and the Internet. Their response is to offer up ever-grosser reality programming (worms for dinner, casually cruel dating competition).

While the networks follow youth, no one seems to be following the money. The latest census updates, for 2002, have householders aged 45 to 54 as the biggest-spending group ($48,748 a year on average), with those 55 to 64 in the No. 3 spot ($44,330). These preelders spend more on their cars, more on travel, more on entertainment than most other age groups. If TV advertisers don’t want their money, the travel agent and the sport car dealer will be delighted to oblige.