Ofcom says “75+”. Ozzy asks, “Which 75+?”

Hard at work

Ofcom’s Media Nations 2026 report is full of useful stuff. It tells us live TV is declining, streaming is rising, newspapers are shrinking, YouTube is growing and people aged 75+ still like a good TV set.

So far, so familiar.

But it also hops cheerfully between 16–24, 16–34, 55+, 65+ and 75+ age groups. Statistically, there will be perfectly good reasons for this. As a read, though, it presents a confusing picture: one minute we are comparing someone in their sixties with a 24-year-old; the next, we are treating 75+ as if it were a media segment.

It is not.

A 61-year-old, a 71-year-old and a 79-year-old may all sit somewhere in the Baby Boomer universe, but they do not necessarily use the same media, trust the same information, notice the same advertising or buy for the same reasons.

That is where Ozzy comes in.

Newspapers: crumpled or quietly useful?

Ofcom shows print newspapers in sharp decline overall. Fair enough. But “in decline” is not the same as “of no use”.

Our Ozzy panel data suggest that newspapers remain a meaningful information and advertising environment for some Baby Boomers. Some still use them, trust them and notice advertising in them. Others barely touch them. Our Ozzy segments point to which ones.

The Ozzy lesson? Do not write off a channel simply because the average is falling. The people who remain may be precisely the people a brand wants to reach, if the product, proposition and context fit.

Television: still blaring, but not one big answer

Ofcom is right: older audiences remain heavily broadcaster-led. TV still matters.

But television is not a magic spell. “They watch it” does not automatically mean “they notice our ad”, “trust it” or “will buy”.

Our insights, along with plenty of other research, suggest that many Baby Boomers are often unimpressed by advertising that feels lazy, irrelevant or as though it has been created by someone who has never met them.

So, the brief is not: “Buy TV to reach older people.”

It is: “Use TV to reach the right older people, with an ad that gives them a reason to notice it.”

On demand: all power to the remote control

Ofcom’s most interesting finding for advertisers may be the growth of catch-up and streaming among older viewers. Baby Boomers are not abandoning TV. They are taking greater control of it.

That changes the advertising game.

Some on-demand environments remain advertising-funded. Others are subscription-led. Some give viewers a cheaper option with ads; others allow them to pay for fewer interruptions. Either way, advertising attention is becoming less automatic.

If the advertising is dull, irrelevant or patronising, the viewer now has more ways to avoid it than ever before.

Which makes the insights from our Ozzy segments doubly useful: first, to inform the creative brief, giving the agency no excuse to produce rubbish and second, to identify the other trusted environments that can support the TV work and increase relevance and standout.

Hang on. We appear to be heading back to the 1990s: integrated marketing, where I grew up!

Smart speakers, smartphones and podcasts

Ofcom highlights the growing importance of connected devices, audio and podcasts. But a device trend is not yet a media plan.

Ozzy insights, and my casual observation of mates’ behaviour, both suggest that, for many Boomers, these are everyday tools, not gadgets for the children.

The smart speaker is the kitchen companion: radio, reminders, recipes, questions and quick information. The smartphone is the pocket-sized research assistant: search, messages, maps, comparison, booking and sometimes buying. Podcasts are chosen time with a host the listener has actively invited into their day.

For some of our 6 Ozzy segments, the first useful conversation with a brand may start with a podcast, a smartphone search or a question asked in the kitchen, long before, or after, a TV spot.

The key words are “some of our 6 Ozzy segments.” Not every Boomer is a podcast listener, a confident smartphone shopper or a voice-tech enthusiast. But the ones who are may be more open to a relevant, useful and well-timed conversation than to another generic ad break.

The Humbug point

Ofcom offers a broad view of what is rising, falling, fragmenting and shifting. That is useful.

But, on its own, it is not enough to help a brand deliver more effective advertising to Baby Boomers - the generation sitting on around half of Britain's household wealth. Indeed, their shifting application of age brackets may even encourage advertisers to continue treating this vast and varied generation as a convenient 55+ audience!

Ofcom tells us what is happening to media. Ozzy segments tell us which Boomers are most relevant to a brand, where they go for information, which environments they trust, how they respond to advertising and what might make a message resonate.

Put together, Humbug and Ozzy can help a brand brief its media and creative agencies with something much sharper than:

“Target 75+.”

Now there’s a thought.