Digital Ads Turn Boomers off

Boomers See Mobile Ads As Turn-Off. While a significant amount of ad dollars are being reallocated to digital, marketers looking to reach Baby Boomers may be wise to stick with radio. A new report from eMarketer shows Boomers do not respond well to mobile advertising on their smartphones. According to the numbers, less than 8% of the Boomer generation said they would likely purchase a product advertised on their mobile phone, and only 5% want to receive ads on their smartphones. Also, only 13.4% said they regularly used a mobile device to hunt for deals while shopping. While advertisers face an uphill climb to reach Baby Boomers on mobile devices, the demographic is easily accessible via broadcast radio. According to Nielsen’s Q2 Total Audience Report, radio users age 50-64 spend a staggering 68 hours, 46 minutes per month using radio—and likely hear plenty of spots. Even if Boomers are generally accustomed to listening to terrestrial radio, having grown up with the medium, they actually have embraced smartphone technology. EMarketer estimates 59.3% of Americans have a smartphone and, among Boomers, 64.4% of mobile phone users have a smartphone. In contrast, 90.2% of mobile users ages 25-34—a.k.a., Millennials—own a smartphone. While Millennials may be more likely to embrace digital technology, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re an easy target for advertisers. New research shows many adults 25-34 are using ad-blocking technology when viewing digital content—63% of Millennials use ad-blocking software, according to a Moz and Fractl survey from July 2015. Globally, 31% of Millennials blocked ads online, according to Q2 2015 data from GlobalWebIndex. Respondents to the Fractl/Moz poll said they found some digital ads were relevant, including retargeted ads, social media advertising and paid search ads. Mobile ads, however, fared poorly, the report said.