Older consumers impervious to marketing

[Maureen Carney]

My point is this. It's not that anyone 50+ doesn't buy anything. They're the ones with the disposable incomes, moreso than the 20 and 30 somethings who are purchasing their first houses and raising families. We actually have retained some auto advertisers because they want to go after a slightly older audience with more disposable income to purchase cars and trucks. On the other hand we do a lot of new movie business because Boston is a college town and most movies (at least those with a promotional budget) are geared at the under-25 crowd.

It seems that younger generation doesn't like direct advertising. They would rather have Oprah mention a product on her show than see a commercial for that product during the show. I think the change towards I-pods is more because of the content of the music rather than the actual lenghts of spot breaks. They want to avoid the music they don't like. The result, at least in TV, is more "snipes" (animated logos) and more live mentions in sports events. Many advertisers are looking for space on station web pages as part of the package.