The New Old: Baby Boomers and Beyond

According to a recently released study, 938 newspaper articles were written last year about Alias star Jennifer Garner, while 92 articles were written about JAG star David James Elliott. Yet four times as many newspaper readers watch the older-skewing, solid JAG than watch the younger-skewing, sexy Alias. That sort of media misrepresentation of the nation’s older population was one of the topics discussed during the Television Academy program "The New Old: Boomers & Beyond; Television’s Up and Coming Demographic," held October 16 at the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre. Panelists included David Poltrack, executive vice-president of research and planning for CBS; Fernando Torres-Gil, Ph. D, associate dean of the UCLA School of Public Policy and Social Research; eleven-time Emmy Award-winning producer Marian Rees; David Ernst, executive vice-president and director, futures and technologies at Initiative and Lynette Rice, senior writer for Entertainment Weekly magazine. Ann Reed, executive communications volunteer for the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), moderated. Among other points made: Television programmers focus on the younger generations out of the belief that those viewers have the greatest buying power, but in truth, viewers aged 40 through 74 earn more money. Less than ten per cent of all commercials are aimed at viewers aged 50 and up, though they account for more than half of all disposable income; Pepsi, Volkswagen and The Gap are among those targeting multi-generational TV watchers. There has been some shift away from the coveted 18-49 demographic, David Poltrack noted. "In the early 1990s, advertisers began to adjust their sights" to include a 25-54 demo, and more recently, a 35-64 demo has appeared. "And now, according to a study, for the first time the 25-54 group has surpassed the 18-49 in requests for targeting by advertisers," he said. The industry has been so focused on demographics because they are the Nielsen viewing measuring stick, but other factors such as lifestyle, mindset and geographic location are beginning to be taken into account as well. "We’ve had a stereotypical exaggeration of whom advertisers are trying to reach," said David Ernst, who develops methods of consumer brand marketing and sales planning. "In society in general, we tend to have an image of 60-year-old people, but that description has changed. We’re much more health conscious. People with health challenges fit that image, but there’s a vital, active group who defy it." Madison Avenue has caught on, but the media has yet to catch up, panelists agreed. Shows such as Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood continue to cater to the interests of younger viewers, while Lynette Rice acknowledged that it’s doubtful Entertainment Weekly will ever feature an older actress on its cover. Marian Rees put in a plea for diversity in programming for older audiences. And, indeed, said Dr. Torres-Gil, "What will save the economy is going after that older generation, and the ethnic generations that are replacing Caucasians within the population." Teri Koenig, Nanci Linke-Ellis and Mary-Ann Neri produced the event. Conrad Bachmann and Bryan Byrd co-chair the activities committee. Robert O’Donnell is director of activities for the Academy.