• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, December 27, 2006

Newspapers Are the Preferred Medium for Affluent Empty Nesters

The seventeen million empty nesters in the 87 markets surveyed regularly by The Media Audit are 45 or older and very affluent, indexing about 100 points above the market average of 100 in almost every income category beyond $50,000.

Annual household income categories and indexes are:

• $50,000 - $74,999, index 221
• $75,000 - $99,999, index 202
• $100,000 - $149,999, index 196
• $150,000 or more, index 179

Bob Jordan, president of International Demographics, Inc., notes that "The media habits of the affluent empty nesters are dominated by newspapers and the Internet." According to the report, more than 27 percent spend an hour or more each day reading a newspaper (index 159) and 38.7 percent spend 430 minutes or more each week on the Internet (index 107). Radio, television and direct mail all index at less than 100 with the affluent empty nesters.

Almost one fifth of the people who plan on spending more than $30,000 for their next automobile are affluent empty nesters, 50% more than the average. And those who ate out at least four times during the last two weeks (at a sit-down restaurant) also index at 152.

Other findings from the report include:

• 35% (index 123) of the affluent empty nesters plan to take an ocean cruise during the next 2-3 years
• 33.9% (index 130) visited a gambling casino at least once during the past year
• More than 37% (index 114) made five or more purchases on the Internet during the past year
• 20.1% (index 114) made 12 or more purchases on the Internet.
• Approximately 62.8% (index 104) spend $100 or more weekly at the supermarket
• 33.6 percent (index 100) spend $150 or more there.

"The empty nesters are another example of the enormous impact the presence or absence of children has on almost all household expenditures," says Jordan.

The number of affluent empty nesters varies greatly within the 87 markets surveyed by The Media Audit.

The average number of affluent empty nesters for all markets surveyed is 12.5%, though individual markets vary widely... from almost 19% of the households in the Fort Myers-Naples market to 8.9% in Buffalo. Just 24%vof affluent empty nesters are 65 years old or older, 38.7% are between 45 and 54 and 37.3% are between 55 and 64.

For more information from The Media Audit, please visit this site.