The 65+ Opportunity: A Smarter Approach to Media and Targeting

Marketers love a neat demographic bucket. ’18-34’. ’45-54’. And the most misused of all: ‘65+’.

On paper, it looks efficient. In practice, it’s one of the bluntest instruments in media planning. The over-65s aren’t a single audience they span two decades, from retirees still working, travelling and streaming their favourite TV shows – to octogenarians dependent on carers and often offline entirely. Treating them as one audience risks both wasted spend and missed opportunity.

Households headed by someone aged 65-74 now hold more median wealth than any other age group in the UK. Many own their homes outright, enjoy substantial pensions and have higher disposable income than younger cohorts. That makes them highly attractive to sectors – from financial services to travel, retail and healthcare. But only if brands plan with intelligence and precision.

Personas, Not Age Buckets

When we segment by behaviour, rather than by age alone, distinct personas emerge:

• Active Explorers – often 65-74, healthier, wealthier, streaming BBC iPlayer while planning their next holiday.
  
• Health-Challenged Planners – typically late 70s+, reliant on TV or smartphone, researching mobility aids and healthcare services.
  
• Legacy Givers – financially comfortable retirees who form the backbone of charity donor lists, split between digital and traditional channels.

These groups behave very differently and a single ‘65+ campaign’ will miss both the active traveller and the housebound donor.

A Split Market

The latest data highlights just how diverse the 65+ audience has become:

• Broadcast TV still dominates with over 75s watching an average of 5h 41m per day on broadcast TV. This viewing is steadily declining, especially among younger retirees and brands banking only on linear TV risk losing reach. [chart 1]
  
• Broadcaster on-demand (BVoD) is up 30% YoY among 55-74s and 75+. Of the over 75s, 64% now use VoD services monthly, proving appetite for catch-up and digital viewing is surging. [chart 2]
  
• Subscription Video on-demand (SVoD) adoption is also rising: Disney+ usage among 65+ almost doubled in a single year (from 7% in 2022 to 12% in 2023), showing they continue to adopt new platforms. [chart 3]
  
• Podcasts are emerging: 12% of 65+ now listen weekly (RAJAR 2025), up from 5% in 2021. Their favourite genres? News (46%), politics (37%) and talk shows (32%). [chart 4]
  
• The digital divide persists: One in five over-65s is offline, meaning 20% of this audience is invisible to digital-only campaigns. Older audiences are still not “mobile-first”; over 75s spend just 3 minutes per day on social media, so campaigns are more effective on TV, tablets and broadcaster catch-up apps. [chart 5]
  

This is clearly not one single audience. It’s a split market demanding multi-channel, persona-led planning.

Smarter Tools, Smarter Targeting: From Age to Receptivity

At Harvest, we plan around receptivity – not just age or rough demographics, but exact moments when people are most open to messages.

For instance, the Active Explorer might be receptive when planning a trip, the Health-Challenged Planner following a medical appointment and the Legacy Giver when reviewing their finances.

For over-65s, digital adoption is driven by connection, convenience and necessity, not novelty or entertainment (pensioners are the most active NHS app users) and their behaviours create clear, targetable signals.

The tools to make this possible already exist. Google’s Performance Max and Demand Gen use intent and browsing signals to distinguish the cruise holiday purchaser from the mobility scooter buyer. Meta’s targeting works in similar ways. The caveat: programmatic display requires care, as thin or misleading signals can waste spend.

Why It Matters for Strategy and ROI

‘65+’ is not a strategy. Behaviour-led planning, enriched by personas, AI signals and a receptivity lens is sharper, more respectful and more effective. For brands, that means:

• Less wastage by avoiding irrelevant impressions.
• Improved targeting by aligning media with real habits and contexts.
• Higher lifetime value by meeting audiences when they’re most receptive.

For charities, the risk of oversimplification is especially acute. Donor bases are ageing – but not uniformly. A 68-year-old donor may be reachable on Facebook and ITVX while an 82-year-old donor might never go online but reads the Radio Times cover-to-cover. Planning that treats them the same risks alienating both.

The over-65s are a growing, wealthy and diverse audience. Treat them as such – and the commercial returns will follow.

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