Mele’s Musings

Seniors Are Increasingly Active Online

The conventional wisdom that digital is for the young is going out the window.  More than half of those ages 62 to 71 are online, and they are active.
 

photo: flickr.com

Article excerpt:  Is Granny gaming? More than one-third of US consumers born before 1946 use the Internet, according to Pew Internet and American Life Project data cited in an April 2008 Focalyst study. Pew also said that more than half of the younger members of this group (ages 62 to 71) are online.  These connected consumers ages 62 to 71 are an attractive demographic, according to Focalyst, which is a venture of the American Association of Retired Persons and Millward Brown.  Focalyst conducted the study with Dynamic Logic MarketNorms, and found that US Internet users ages 62 and over were generally better-educated and had higher incomes than non-Internet users the same age.
the rest: emarketer.com

Musing:  A few really interesting pieces came out in the article, although admittedly nothing ground breaking.  The first is that seniors online are pretty active, and do activities that we would not consider.  For instance, 21% reported gaming, and 41% did trip planning and reservations online.  From my perspective, they do the same activities as everyone else, but with a lower frequency (or likelihood).  The second is that this audience is online quite a bit, has money, and shops online.  They are clearly an audience to be reckoned with when it comes to marketing products and services online.