Baby Boomers, those over 60, are among the wealthiest generation in the world. Their media behaviour is changing, they are spending much more time online, but brands are not yet able to reflect this in their communications. This is according to the latest report "Baby Boomers big digital shift" by Warc.
Adults born between 1946 and 1964 may not spend much time on social media, but they are often moving from offline media to digital versions - from print newspapers to online news sites or magazines, from traditional TV to CTV.
"Brands are obsessed with Generation Z, while the secure Baby Boomers are undergoing a media revolution. This requires advertisers to rethink their entrenched perceptions and ensure that digital media plans are tailored to the new habits of older consumers," notes Alex Brownsell, head of content at Warc Media.
People over 55 will spend more than half of their time with media (54.4%) online this year, including digital extensions of traditional media such as CTV, digital audio and online versions of print newspapers. This is up 7.4pc from four years ago. Whereas 10 years ago, consumers born between 1959 and 1970 spent less than a third (31.6%) of their media time with digital channels, this is now 53%.
Online and offline media consumption among people born between 1959 and 1970; Source: warcSocial networks are growing slowly compared to streaming
Even so, among Baby Boomers social networks are more likely to be marginal media channels. Facebook is still the most popular among them - for example, it even accounts for the largest share (29%) of weekly users in the US, with TikTok accounting for only 9%.
By next year, people aged 55-64 in the US are projected to spend an average of 93 minutes a day on social networks, up 43.1% from 10 years ago. However, other digital channels are growing much faster in terms of time spent - for example, watching streaming platforms grew by 195% over the same period, with Baby Boomers switching to Netflix on their TV screens and watching videos on YouTube.
In the UK, social media consumption among the over-55s has largely plateaued, but the average daily time spent on them has fallen from 58.3 minutes in 2015 to 52.2 minutes last year. A similar downward trend can be seen among Baby Boomers in China.
Baby Boomers don't hear much advertising
Compared to other generations, Baby Boomers are less receptive to advertising. Only 12% of them globally say they view it positively, well below the 47% average. Their dislike of advertising is shown, for example, by their disinterest in cheaper SVOD subscription services on Netflix or Disney+ with advertising - only 4.5% of Baby Boomers have switched to them, compared to 28.4% of Gen Z users.
Source: mediaguru.cz
