Wednesday, August 5, 2009

For Boomers, Integrated Media Strategies Are Necessary

Earlier this year, Forrester Research released its five year advertising forecast which found that marketers were shifting substantial advertising dollars out of traditional media and into interactive channels such as mobile marketing, display ads, search, social media and email.

Yet, marketers who rely too heavily on interactive channels, at the expense of traditional channels, risk losing out on the lucrative Boomer segment that are avid multi-media consumers. In fact, unlike other age groups, Boomers consume a daily, balanced diet of media from multiple traditional and interactive sources with traditional media -- television, radio, and newspapers -- providing their daily "squares."

Consider these statistics:

Television

  • Boomers spend, on average, 9.5 hours a day on "screen" time activities -- e.g., television, computer, mobile phones, video games -- with the largest percentage of time spent on television.
  • 77% of Boomer's daily viewing occurs between 7:30 pm and 11 pm, when they are most likely to watch The Discovery Channel, A&E, the Food Network, ESPN and Fox News.

Radio

  • 76% listen to the radio -- more than any other demographic -- with half listening during morning drive-time and their programming preferences vary from oldies to country to talk shows.
Read more at MediaPost.com