• by Ken Liebeskind , October 12, 2001

Advertisers strive to reach the 18 to 49 year old market, but there's another one that's highly lucrative--50 plus.

Seventy-six million Americans over 50 earn almost $2 trillion annually. They're active seniors, who continue to work, earn and spend and should be an advertiser's dream.

Surprisingly, there is little media that specifically reaches them. With the exception of AARP magazine Modern Maturity there are almost none. Which is why Golden Age Entertainment seems like such a find.

The Pittsford, NY company, founded in 1999 and a subsidiary of Networx Corp., operates a satellite radio network that brings advertising to senior centers, where active seniors attend classes and programs on weekdays. The network plays oldies seniors enjoy from 8 am to 5 pm weekdays. The advertising comes in three two-minute pods per hour, plus a one-minute segment at the top of the hour, which can have a billboard ad.

"It's not like regular radio, more like a national public radio feel," says Ken Unger, Golden Age president. There's no news or weather, just half hour segments of music from famed artists of the past, such as Frank Sinatra and Tommy Dorsey. The music plays on reproductions of 1944 radios provided free to senior centers.

The programming goes out to 104,000 daily listeners at 1,000 senior centers across the country. At first, the top markets were covered, but the company is expanding to smaller markets, such as Prescott, AZ and Sarasota, FL, according to Terry Kollman, president of Charter Media, the New York media rep firm that sells advertising for Golden Age.

Kollman says it's an easy sell. "I cold called a company after seeing their ad in USA Weekend and they were really excited," he says.

Kollman doesn't just sell radio ads, but packages that include radio and many other elements, from banners, posters and product samples to special events, such as a dermatologist's appearance at senior centers to discuss Cetaphil, a moisturizer from Galderma Pharmaceuticals, an advertiser.

"Not only do I have the right target, but I have the ability to do added value with these other elements," he says.

Kollman offers 60 second spots for $500, a rate he compares to Modern Maturity's $110,000 for a full-page color ad. But he says he tends not to sell individual spots, but packages that include some of the other elements. His goal is to get advertisers to spend $10,000 per month.

Among the current advertisers are The Wall Street Journal, 1800flowers.com, Liberty Medical, the Mayo Clinic Health Letter and Time-Life Music, a combination of health and publication marketers. Kollman hopes to sell to travel advertisers. "We'll help them out," he says, referring to the travel slump that has occurred since the terrorist attacks.

"A lot of clients have been looking for something targeted to this demographic," Kollman says. "The value of Golden Age for advertisers is that there's no waste, the only ones who hear it are adults 50 plus."

And this is a group that is becoming more valuable. "I think the demographic is coming to us," Kollman says. "As the population of the U.S. grows older, they want to be active. I used to buy 18 to 49, but now the bulk of the market is 35 plus and 50 plus is a big percent of that. It's a boomer market."