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Tech marketers' next opportunity: Boomers

MediaPost Publications, 1/9/09

Abstract:

Increasingly savvy baby boomers — who are 100 million strong in the U.S. and control billions in disposable income — could be the target for tech marketers during the next few years, according to a joint study by TNS Compete and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).

These consumers have become more comfortable with searching online, buying from Web sites, and purchasing high-definition televisions (HD TVs), fancy smartphones and near-pocket-size PC computers, states the study, "Greying Gadgets: How Older Americans Shop for and Use Consumer Electronics."

Boomer consumers ages 50 and older are as likely to own--or plan to purchase — a HDTV, as those ages 49 and younger. And 80 percent of 60-somethings used a cell phone in the past week — a rate nearly similar to those ages 18 to 34. About 71 percent of 60-somethings and 52 percent of 70-somethings used a search engine in the past week, compared with 77 percent of those ages 18 to 34.

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