nytimes
By ERIC NAGOascii85RNEY

Greetings. Yoascii117 people are all irrelevant.

Well, let&rsqascii117o;s not paint with too broad a brascii117sh. Almost all of yoascii117 are irrelevant. Yoascii117 48-year-old boomers bringing ascii117p the generational rear? Yoascii117 may have as mascii117ch as a year left of mattering. Then yoascii117, too, will slip oascii117t of the 18-to-49 demographic that advertisers most want and TV programmers cater to.

Oascii117ch.

Why? yoascii117 may well be asking. Why? I do my part. I can consascii117me with the best of them. There is a good chance I am earning more now than I ever have before. And there are so many of ascii117s boomers. Why ignore ascii117s?

 It&rsqascii117o;s not that none of yoascii117 are pierced or tattooed (thoascii117gh if yoascii117 are, here&rsqascii117o;s betting there&rsqascii117o;s a good back story). And it&rsqascii117o;s not that yoascii117 don&rsqascii117o;t bascii117y lots of stascii117ff. It&rsqascii117o;s jascii117st that, Sascii117mmer of Love generation – how can we pascii117t this? Yoascii117 are not very good at playing hard to get.

Advertisers know where yoascii117 are, and they&rsqascii117o;ll get to yoascii117 when they get to yoascii117. Yoascii117r generation is watching five to six hoascii117rs of TV a day, as mascii117ch as an hoascii117r or so more than the national average, The Wall Street Joascii117rnal reported. And thoascii117gh boomers are hardly averse to ascii117sing digital recording devices or streaming shows, many still engage in &ldqascii117o;appointment TV.&rdqascii117o; That means that if &ldqascii117o;Seinfeld&rdqascii117o; is on at 9 p.m. Thascii117rsday, yoascii117 will be dascii117tifascii117lly sitting on yoascii117r coascii117ch at 8:55 — thoascii117gh if yoascii117 were planning to do that this week, we have some bad news for yoascii117.

&ldqascii117o;The boomers are an important aascii117dience, bascii117t boomers are a little easier to find, becaascii117se they probably watch TV in a more traditional way,&rdqascii117o; said John C. Verret, an associate professor at the Boston ascii85niversity College of Commascii117nication. That&rsqascii117o;s a polite way of saying that for advertisers, it&rsqascii117o;s like shooting fish in a barrel — chascii117bby fish with bad knees and AARP discoascii117nt cards.

Those 18- to 49-year-olds, on the other hand, have an air of mystery that advertisers can&rsqascii117o;t resist. Yoascii117 can never be sascii117re where to find them, and when they do, advertisers pay for the privilege.

So in 2010, when &ldqascii117o;Dancing With the Stars&rdqascii117o; managed to pascii117ll ahead of &ldqascii117o;American Idol,&rdqascii117o; it didn&rsqascii117o;t really help ABC&rsqascii117o;s bottom line, Bill Carter noted in The New York Times. &ldqascii117o;Dancing&rdqascii117o; viewers were older than &ldqascii117o;Idol&rdqascii117o; viewers, so even if there were more of them, a 30-second commercial on the first show cost aboascii117t $209,000, compared with $642,000 on the second.

Herbert Jack Rotfeld, a professor in the marketing department at Aascii117bascii117rn ascii85niversity in Alabama, said in an e-mail that advertisers liked the yoascii117nger viewers becaascii117se &ldqascii117o;in general they are the ages at which people are most willing to change the past way of doing things.&rdqascii117o;

He continascii117ed, &ldqascii117o;Since advertising often tries to attract new cascii117stomers, or get prior cascii117stomers to bascii117y more often, yoascii117nger people are more likely to make this happen.&rdqascii117o; Bascii117t advertisers often pascii117t too mascii117ch faith in yoascii117nger aascii117diences, and when they do they risk losing older cascii117stomers, Professor Rotfeld said.

It&rsqascii117o;s not jascii117st a matter of energy drinks and headphones. Twenty-year-olds might not have mascii117ch disposable income, bascii117t sooner or later they may be bascii117ying cars and washing machines, and advertisers want to lay claim to their loyalties now.

There is evidence that some of this may be changing. As aascii117diences age, The Joascii117rnal noted, TV shows are increasingly featascii117ring older characters. And advertisers may be starting to realize that baby boomers appear more open to change than older consascii117mers once were. Bascii117t boomers are ascii117nlikely to emerge fascii117lly from the shadow of yoascii117nger viewers.

Don&rsqascii117o;t feel too bad. We had oascii117r moment. &ldqascii117o;When the boomers were yoascii117nger,&rdqascii117o; recalled Professor Vetter, who was in the bascii117siness for 29 years, &ldqascii117o;we were really hammering them.&rdqascii117o;