This story is the beginning of a personal mission. A mission that I know many of you will want to join me on. In 50 days I will turn 50. And when I do, I will be kicked out of one of the most coveted clubs in America, solely because of my age. I’m determined not to let this happen. But I need your help. We need each other’s help.
“THE DEMO”
The club I’m about to be kicked out of is a club I was made a member of at the age of 18. My membership has lasted 31 years. It ends in December. I’m told I can’t renew my membership in what we, in the business, call “the demo.”
There are many demos – or demographics – ways to measure the audience that determine the value of that audience to advertisers. But THE demo, the one advertisers and content programmers most covet, are men and women between the ages of 18 and 49.
I am 49. I turn 50 in December. My demo-clock is ticking fast. I am in a race to find out who determined that on December 16, 2009, the day I turn 50, I will be a less-valued member of the audience than I am today. I want names!
The reminders of my ticking demo clock are everywhere. Just the other week, in a story about Jay Leno on the eve of his prime time television premier, The New York Times mentioned that NBC bases all of its advertising sales for Leno’s show on that 18 to 49 demo. Every dollar.
I see. So NBC wants Jay Leno to host their prime time show. But they don’t care if he watches it. Because Jay Leno is 59! The advertisers wouldn’t pay an extra dime to have Jay Leno as a member of Jay Leno’s home audience.
JAY LENO IS NOT IN JAY LENO’S DEMO.
AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO THINKS THIS IS ABSURD.
(deep breath.)
To make sure I’m not crazy, I called renowned Atlanta psychologist Robert Simmermon as I set out on this inquiry. No, he assured me. I’m not crazy (at the moment). In fact, said Dr. Simmermon, based on fairly widely accepted developmental stages of adulthood, 49 is an entirely arbitrary marker.
“There are changes in the 50s, but also in the 20s, 30s, 40s and 90s,” says Dr. Simmermon. “If you used the same logic with the demo from 0 to 18 you would be marketing diapers and baby bottles to college students and pizza to infants. The vast differences in experience between these age groups within the demo,” adds Simmermon, “make ‘the demo’ a bizarre classification.” In other words, I’m not crazy.
Our 24-year-old researcher, Emma Lacey Bordeaux, read my first draft of this piece and reacted this way: “Why do you care about being kicked out of the advertising demo? Why should anyone care?” she asked as only a junior member of the demo could ask.
“Why should she care?” answers psychologist Simmermon, who was knocked out of the demo several years back. “That is just the attitude of the insiders, the popular kids from 18 to 49. It’s not a big deal, except to the guy with a shiny head. Yet look at how many millions of dollars are spent on hair products.”
There’s something else that really irks me about this. The very year I’m told I exit the key programming demo is the same year I enter the medical demo for getting my first colonoscopy. Goodbye. HELLo.
This demo investigation I’m embarking on is a work in progress. I begin with skepticism of the 18 to 49 conventional wisdom, but an open mind. Please join me as I try to get to the bottom of who precisely set the 18 to 49 boundaries of this all important category, on what foundation, and whether the foundation was and is sound. Who created the admissions policy of this sought after club? I’m actively seeking input from advertisers, programmers, psychologists, professors – anyone who has substantive knowledge and insight on this important matter.
I call this new column “50on50” because I plan to write 50 essays on issues relevant to me, and, I hope, to you, as I approach 50. Whether it’s leaving the demo, or entering the colonoscopy, I will not go quietly.
|
TOMORROW AT |
 |
Why my mother-in-law’s secret arm signal is evidence that the 18-49 year old audience demo is outdated.
 |
About Michael Schulder: Michael Schulder is a Senior Executive Producer at CNN. He's also a man on a mission. A mission to take on the myth of the 18 - 49 "Demo" and create a New Demo for a New Age. Schulder is a frequent contributor to Anderson Cooper’s CNN site AC360.com: News and Commentary Direct from the AC360º Newsroom. |
