What Are Old People Worth



March 17, 2001



BROOKE GLADSTONE: Steven Battaglio is the senior TV correspondent for Inside.com. Steven, welcome to On the Media!

STEVEN BATTAGLIO: Thanks!

BROOKE GLADSTONE: So what I'd like to know is how much is an old person worth if you're a TV advertiser or a radio advertiser. I think the TV numbers are a little easier to crunch here. Is an old person worth half as much as a young person?

STEVEN BATTAGLIO: Take a show like The Simpson's on Fox which has an overall audience of about 15 million viewers this season, but half of those viewers are under the age of 28. For that reason the show gets about 335,000 dollars for a 30 second spot. 60 Minutes, which is one of the top-rated shows on television, actually has more viewers than The Simpsons; about 16 and a half million watch 60 Minutes every week. Yet that show only gets 180,000 dollars -- in that range --for a 30 second spot. That's because many of the viewers are old. The median age for the program is 57.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: So in this case it's about 2 and a half old people are equal to one young person.

STEVEN BATTAGLIO: I would think if you wanted to use some type of formula, that would certainly be representative.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Are advertisers right to be paying these premiums for younger viewers?

STEVEN BATTAGLIO:Well they have their reasons for doing it. Older people watch more television, so there are a lot more places to reach them, and the advertising community has always seen older viewers as people who are pretty set in their ways in terms of their brand loyalties whereas younger people are still developing their brand loyalties. They're also just more likely in general to try something new.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Well, Steve Battaglio, thank you very much!

STEVEN BATTAGLIO: My pleasure.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Steve Battaglio is the senior TV correspondent for Inside.com.