In the world of media, age has always been a key variable in how we create content and then market it to the advertising community.
In radio, it’s always a matter of demographics – who your brand appeals to versus a desired target audience. On numerous occasions, I’ve used this blog to discuss the “demographic cliff” and what it means when your radio station’s audience tips 55+.
In radio, that generally means certain death – no pun intended. Our business model simply cannot accommodate or account for an audience that reaches 55 (or that falls below 25), even though the average listener according to our Techsurveys and Nielsen data continues to climb into “cliff range.”
And yet in television, the trend is just the opposite. As MediaPost‘s Adam Buck calls it, “Old Coot TV” is a new trend.
We’ve come a long way since a grizzled senior – Clint Eastwood – sat on his front porch in Gran Torino and snarled a line that’s become a famous meme:
“GET OFF MY LAWN!”
That was in 2008. The movement featuring old guys has blossomed in the years since. And these days, when you turn on TV – the commercial networks as well as the streaming platforms – you’re likely to see famous AARP members in the lead role.
Maybe this comeback of the coots started in force with ABC-TV’s wildly successful reality TV show, The Golden Bachelor from last year. The show turned out to be a winner on many levels – viewership, buzz, and as a pop culture milestone.
This brilliantly written trailer showcases the nicely aging single elder, Gerry Turner, embracing the show’s attitude:
Since then, there’s been a torrent of old guy TV. Netflix, in particular, has showcased these aged dudes. There was The Kominsky Effect, starring Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin.
And right now, one of their hottest shows is headed up by 76 year-old Ted Danson, who’s come a long way since playing Sam on Cheers. This new series – Man On the Inside – features Danson, a retiree who ends up going undercover in a…(wait for it) high-rise retirement community. You might be wondering how a show about old people could fare well in our modern hi-tech world. Danson and Man On the Inside have already been renewed for a second season.
Others oldies in Danson’s building include Sally Struthers (77), Veronica Cartwright (75), and Susan Ruttan (76). If you don’t remember these stars from other TV shows, it might be time to pop a couple Prevagens.
Over on Hulu, one of their biggest shows has been Murders in the Building starring oldsters Steve Martin and Martin Short. While Selena Gomez has the enviable task of making fun of these elder gents, the laughs on the show are generated by these senior stars. Murders… has celebrated four seasons with a fifth one coming next year.
Not to be left out of the geriatric game, Apple-TV’s Shrinking has become another huge multi-season hit. Set in Pasadena, the show revolves around profanity-laced humor generated by a group of crazy psychotherapists. The leader of the clinic is 80 year-old Harrison Ford who gets – and delivers – the best one-liners on the show.
(You know, if you added all their ages together…it would be a BIG number!)
If you ask Netflix, Hulu, or Apple TV execs if this long in the tooth group is getting a little too ancient to be competitive, they’d point you to all those subscription dollars that just keep pouring in and the impressive audiences that keep watching these shows.
And some of these platforms have lower-priced advertising tiers that carry limited numbers of commercials (like Netflix and Hulu), so that represents another base of revenue generated by this over the hill gang.
And when shows like The Golden Bachelor and its spin-off, The Golden Bachelorette, rack up impressive ratings and revenue for ABC-TV (yes, Disney), you’re looking at a broadcast network run by a group of savvy network executives that don’t abide many losers in their lineup. They also are well aware their core audience is aging, so why not lean into the trend rather than try to run away from it?
Over on cable news, spot breaks are dominated by pharma ads and other commercials targeted to seniors. It turns out their money spends just like everybody else’s.
When is broadcast radio going to crack the “old coot code” and carve out a path of fiscal stability by
embracing this demographic sweet spot? Why not embrace the demographic that’s still listening to AM/FM radio?
This is not a new argument, but it will fall on the same deaf ears. It is apparently easier to right-size and “flatten out” companies than it is to stake out new demographic territory that requires actual selling on the front end to establish a beachhead and over time, a reliable track record of performance and results.
And strategically, the first station that “owns” the audience they have – 50+ – and aggressively sells it will have this position all to themselves, versus dealing with ratings compression and fighting for a tenth of a rating point.
Maybe I’ve been doing this too long, but every time a higher-up attempts to explain to me why “there are no dollars over 54” in radio, I turn on the TV and discover what American adults are watching in droves – along with all those advertisers paying billions for the privilege of having their spots run next to all this blue-haired content.
And I just want to scream,
“GET OFF MY LAWN!”
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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And don’t forget Matlock.
Which one? (You’re right!)
If radio really wants to do this, it needs to hire some Enterprise level senior sales people to meet with all the cable news advertisers, learn their challenges and present solutions that could work.
Bob, I’ve learned (mostly the hard way) over the years that sales is harder than most people think it is.
STILL…
Wouldn’t a commitment to a new audience marketing effort be a better choice than firing half the staff or trying to train those still left over skills they just don’t have? As radio ages, it keep running away from its natural sweet spot. Crazy.
What would they market and to whom? Moving advertiser money requires more than marketing spray and there’s no real shortcut
A sensible argument. I heard the final hour of Dave Ross anchoring mornings on KIRO/Seattle yesterday. Charlie Harger, KIRO ND and and excellent journalist, will take over. Charlie may have the chops, but not Dave’s relationship with audience. I am not certain who made the call that Dave should leave. But many of the talents that left their perch in 2024 took a lot of audience with them in a time when radio needs fans.
So many of those decisions had more to do with legacy talent salaries than they did with other factors. But you’re correct, Smokey, that when they left, they took a lot of those relationships with them. And you are correct, at a time when the industry needs it more than ever.
First order of business: FORGET ABOUT AGENCY BUYS. Madison Avenue (and their regional counterparts) remain stuck in the mindset that you cannot use radio to sell 55+ers. If you’re going to own that demographic, it’s got to be through local sales 100%.
This actually works to our advantage, since it is much easier to show a local business owner the benefits of including the older listener in their ads. They already see seniors come in as customers — they frequent coffee shops, both national and local brands, as much as younger listeners, to use one example — and they are much more easily convinced that there is discretionary income available if they market the right products.
I see this as much doing Classic Hits as you do in Classic Rock, Fred. There isn’t a lot of effort to implement a sales philosophy for this; you just need to identify which local businesses have the highest potential for 55+ customers and tailor the sales pitch accordingly.
K.M., it’s Saturday morning – early – and I was driving to Starbucks, I was listening to a financial advisor on the local all-news station, WWJ. It’s a brokered hour, aimed at retirees or people who will reach that milestone in the next 5 years. We can only imagine how successfull he is with this media plan, leaning into the strength of this radio station. And you’re right – he’s a local guy – not some big national agency account. How are there not hundreds of these businesses in a metro the size of Detroit – and most others.
1000% correct K.M. You can’t do large mass CPM or GRP etc type buys for agencies and expect to get anything more than what a young buyer is going to think your numbers are worth. And if they’re older, that’ll be ‘not much’. You absolutely need to go to the store owner, or larger company’s marketing principals and make your case why your older, monied, not old thinking, audience will put cash on their bottom line. Killing decent size local sales departments in return for being able to lower the over sales commission rate via lower commission mass agency deals was a huge mistake. Short term gain, long term death knell. Sales is tough. It’s a daily battle zone to get what you deserve. And it’s a losing battle overall if you have national or market reps selling multiple stations who can make their budget and their bonus simply by leaning hard into the easy sells (demos/ratings etc stations) and not fighting for more on the others. No real skin in the game.
A-freaking-men!
I have been saying this for 25 years now. The 50 plus demo matters!
To date, though I have had ONE agency person agree with me and that was just in past couple of months.
The music of the 50 and older crowd CAN entertain audiences down to age 35.
Now tell me 35-70 isn’t salable.
It is mystyifying, Kevin. And now that most radio operators find themselves hurting in an increasingly competitive marketing space, having more audience to sell would most certainly be an asset.
This new, old fogey “trend” in US media is simply what the UK has been practicing for, like, forever. Why? The multiple reasons seem obvious. So I move on.
As per usual in the Jacob blogosphere, a lot of smarts from commenters in this conversation. Unfortunately, I don’t feel the same way about the top, decision-makers and trend “influencers” in general business. And to some tech competitors with no solid products or self-invented, proprietary wares, follow/adopt the latest trend after trend to try to show the industry how relevant they are. Phooey! A solid service benefitting clients & continually innovating and improving year upon year is good enough until something totally mind-blowingly better pops up. But that hasn’t happened in the 3 decades I’ve been doing this.
I have found out, however, that when a few crooked people in our industry views your innovation & success as desirable, the unethical among us will try to illegally steal it. And when they fail at that, will try to take you down. Even more unfortunate, a persons’ lies, and purposely exaggerated, miss-information and rumors, as well as the use of digital warfare tools is *not* illegal.
On top of that, a fully, documented & officially reported, illegally stolen IP case isn’t large enough for the government authorities to prioritize. At least it’s filed.
This world is becoming a place that I no longer recognize.
100%
Why does the oldies phenomenon work so well on tv but not on the radio? Oh, let me count the ways. Short playlists, voice tracking, implementing the death penalty for any D.J. who dares to display any personality over the airwaves and also administering the death penalty to any D.J. who gives out information about the music they are playing. Ever notice that those people who are opposed to giving out information about the oldies being played are people who know little if anything about the music themselves? And boy do they hate the D.J.’s who do know. The ultimate spit in the face is when there are no air personalities to begin with. In that case you are left with nothing more than a glorified juke box. Programming an oldies format is not rocket science. But if you don’t know who Joey Dee is, you don’t belong.