Thursday, October 02, 2003

Paid online content a big market for the 50+?

eMarketer had an interesting article about the increasing willingness of people to pay for online content. They found that ‘personals and dating’, business and investment and entertainment content are still the three most popular online content categories; representing 65% of the total spend.

I found it surprising that the one market sector declining in size was entertainment and lifestyles. ‘Personals and dating’ is growing like there is no tomorrow.

I wonder if the marketers at CBS have read this report since they have just launched a new chargeable content service ($30/year) aimed at the 50+ (Retirement Weekly). Arguably, you could say this is about financial advice rather than lifestyle, so maybe they have done their research.

Perhaps I am getting over sensitive to the slushy copy but I think they could have done better than this as the product description. ‘…In today's world, no one is guaranteed a secure retirement. But you can enjoy the comfortable, soul-satisfying retirement you envision. Retirement Weekly gives you the information you can use today to improve your well-being tomorrow…'. Surely you could have done a bit better than 'soul-satisfying retirement you envision' !!

It will be interesting to watch how much chargeable online content will be directed at the 50+.

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